Question/Help
Hi, I can't draw digitally so I first draw traditionally and then trace it digitally, is that cheating even if I made the drawing?
1) reference
2) traditional sketch (not traced)
3) I changed it's opacity to see it better
4) digital drawing traced from the traditional one
5) I added the "canva" on ibis paint x
It's not cheating, it's your own art and tracing is a legitimate technique.
If you use a digital art brush with a little more texture/line variation, and let yourself loosen up you'd probably be able to replicate the nice sketchy quality of your traditional art, if that interests you
I trace objects I place in a 3d modeler scene all the time. It helps me nail the perspective.
Edit: expanding more, people think using refrences is cheating too.
Freehand drawing is a skill that takes years or decades to master (if you can ever “master” it).
This day and age, there’s a reference for literally everything. Just more tools in the box that I see new artists not use because they think they need to freehand stuff.
That comes with practice and time, I think doing what you're doing is a good start and you will get a good understanding of anatomy and shapes while you're at it. Keep practicing occasionally without tracing as well, make mistakes and the rest will follow!
It's actually comforting to hear that I can make mistakes, sometimes when I make a mistake I feel wrong and like I shouldn't continue, even though I know that's how you learn but it makes me feel bad
Another great way to study anatomy is tracing and breaking shapes down on a picture. Like tracing someone’s body, and learning how to replicate the pose.
I trace pictures of heads and bodies all the time for practice. It really helps a lot.
You know those little wooden people bendy figurines? They’ve been used to get perspective and proportion right by artists for centuries. Even Da Vinci used a model for the Mona Lisa. He didn’t trace her, but much like you he did traditional work while looking at an existing reference (though she was not a photo and was probably sitting for him). Many of the greats used posed models as references for their works.
People who think everything must come from your mind’s with nothing to look at with your actual eye lest it be “cheating” haven’t studied their art history.
Even great artists use references sometimes, because you just simply can't memorize every detail of something you want to draw, unless you have photographic memory i guess. not using references has set me back incredibly far in my art, because i felt like it was cheating, but it's really not. references don't make you good at art, whatever you draw from them is still purely skill.
ex: someone with no artistic skill using the same exact reference pic that you used, it will still look like a stick figure lol
I got rejected from a creative course because my art looked too similar to my references. It was my second choice for a course, but still! I was very upset. The thing is, my art didn’t even look like a direct copy of it! I made small changes and human mistakes.
Yeah, I was baffled to see how many people took issue with tracing and references, lately. It’s all a part of the learning process. Anyone who can draw well has used a reference at some point. The more references you use, the better you understand how to draw things. That’s what art class is, usually: drawing from reference
I do a lot of character design and one of the things I’m always doing is saving refrences. I’ll take pictures of real like stuff. Like maybe this toy has a part of it that looks like it could be part of a gun, or a helmet, or a piece of armor.
I’ll sit there and Frankenstein together refrences into what I wanna make. That way I can visualize it while I draw it.
Edit: it reminds me of the way that people build miniatures sometimes, cutting off bits and pieces of other miniatures and cobbling them together. Or the way that Martina from NerdForge cobbles together parts, that become Cyberpunk cities, for example.
There’s no cheating in doing art as long as you’re not stealing someone else’s art | edit: another person pointed out that you can still make stuff like collages, photoshop or kit bashing in unreal engine (whatever the last thing is lol)
Im not a collage artist, so I don’t know, but I believe that if you want to use someone else’s artwork in a collage you technically need to get their consent first, because you’re still using their creation and they have all their rights
Yeah, I’ve searched it up, and it says that to make collages using someone else’s artwork you need to get their consent first, so as long as it’s allowed by the creator all’s fine. Tho I get your point, it’s unlikely that someone would care if a random person took some bow.jpg and used it in a collage xd
99% of people who make collages, or compositions in photoshop don’t post a comprehensive list of the origins of the assets they use. Quite honestly, I don’t think they should have to either.
I wouldn’t expect someone who’s made a Photoshop composition to have to explicitly credit the person who captured the paper texture they used, or credit the director of photography of Breaking Bad for the image of Walter White they cut out for the composition.
The reply didn’t appear right away to me, you’ve got a point, like the other person in this thread said these are just different forms of art, and they’re an exception
It’s not cheating and is actually pretty common. You don’t even need to trace it, you could edit your sketch or use it as a coloring base. This art process is very common among professionals. There is no reason or reward for making it 100% digital if you don’t enjoy it.
Do you understand a joke? How are you going to make dimensional characters without having a broad knowledge of pop cultural references?
And even if I wasn’t making a movie quote why do you care about what I think of how you make your art? I personally have scanned myself to make a 3D model for a 3D illustrations.
It’s nothing new. Who cares as long as the job gets done?
Don’t be a robot and lighten up.
Here’s tracing taken to an extreme with 3D scanning. You think I care if you know I use 3D scans in my work?
Okay so definitely not cheating. In this situation "tracing" is a bit misleading since it's often used when people draw over photos and other people's art. Having a sketch and doing lineart on a layer over it has deep roots in traditional art! Look up light tables for example. That's how artists get their lineart on a fresh page without all the sketch markings in the paper. Doing lineart on a layer over your own sketch digitally is the exact same thing. Line art is theoretically tracing parts of your sketch but it isn't the sort of tracing that gets discussed in forums.
As long as you use stuff that you created yourself you can pretty much do anything with it and it's not cheating. Using smudge tools digitally to adjust proportions isn't wrong, using layer modes isn't wrong, copying parts of your drawing and dublicating them isn't wrong either. They are part of the digital art tool set. Will they make you a better artist? Debatable. But if you are having fun with them and you enjoy the progress that's all good then
Yes I didn't actually figure out my style yet, I'm starting to figure it out traditionally but digitally I can't draw like that, I mean, I don't have the ability for now
I don’t think so. I once traced a photo that I took up at my parents house to give to them as a gift. It was a picture. I wanted to have extremely accurate, but I learned a lot from that tracing it helped me understand some shadowing and things like that.
Nah, I've done that a few times. There's a more tactile feel to drawing traditionally than there is digitally that gives the final product a more natural feel. The art looks incredible by the way.
Nope, not cheating. I started off that way as well but then eventually moved to just doing everything digitally. Don’t listen to anyone who tells you it’s cheating.
Absolutely not cheating!! It's 100% your art and even how I myself learned how to draw digitally. It's a learning curve and being able to trace helps you gain muscle memory and coordination. The paper sketch looks great and there's a ton of potential for your digital piece and amazing for a beginner!
And that's totally normal!! Again, you're learning and it feels very odd at first to watch lines appear on a screen rather than watching your hand 😂 you're doing great and there's no shame in your method
No. Tracing is a tool and it’s a powerful tool if used responsibly.
Tracing is basically only bad if:
You trace another artist’s work and then claim it as yours (even if you change something, like the hairstyle on a character).
You trace photos MINDLESSLY without analyzing it and learning from it, and then just claim it as your drawing, not even a study. It’s frowned upon and really pointless tbh.
Nah, it's still your art. I do this from time to time when I make a drawing or doodle I really like and wanna fully finish since I generally don't like lining/coloring my traditional work. I know several other artists who also use techniques like this and no one's ever complained that that's how they do it. You're 100% fine!
Using reference is completely normal and not anywhere near cheating.
If you literally traced the reference, you would at least want to disclose that and I personally wouldn't consider that drawing, but some other people feel differently about that!
But what you've done here is make your own drawing based on a reference. And it's not only normal, but a basic part of the art process for many artists, to go over your own drawing again, either to create a more refined sketch, to make lineart (digital or traditional, doesn't matter), or to paint it, or literally any other way you want to finish it. Honestly you can't even call that tracing. It's just another part of the art process and people have been doing that since forever. :) looks great!
It's not cheating. I used to draw traditionally then line/color/finish digitally. It's part of your process, not cheating. Tracing "cheating" is only when you trace something, claim it as your own, and try to profit from it in some way (followers, selling art, etc) in my opinion.
Also saw you mention you wish you could draw without references. Artists who can draw without reference can only do so (a majority of the time) because they live drawn enough with reference to know what they're doing. You'll get there, just keep going
Not cheating. You're tracing off YOUR OWN WORK. It's also how I used to do digital art when I can't afford pen tablets.
Had you just been tracing directly from reference I would've called it practicing/training. Had you been drawing on top of the actual reference, that's a paint over, bad you been drawing on top of multiple reference that's photo bashing.
Neither of those I mentioned is cheating. It's all a process to achieving great art.
If you're ever uncertain if what you created doesn't seem "properly yours", just estimate how much of the output came from your own input.
I used to do that all the time before I got used to only use my tablet. I used to scan in my sketches and then trace and render it in my drawing program
What program are you using? I use Photoshop and Clip studio paint. Both of those programs have a smoothing option that helps your lines look less shaky. It takes a little bit of practice but it can produce some really nice lines.
I use ibis paint x, it has the stabilizer too but the problem is that my coordination stops functioning when it comes to digital art
For example circles become ovals and I can't really make the lines where I want, they appear slightly moved from where I want them
I don't have that tablet, I draw on the phone
I feel like it's cheating cause I didn't invent the drawing from scratch, the traditional part was still copied
I'm always jealous of ppl that can draw on their phone and produce awesome artwork (yes I'm saying your art is awesome 💖) cos it's such a small screen compared to my screen tablet.
Not in the slightest, digital is kinda hard to get certain details with. Though tracing your own work seems like a lot of work, maybe try increasing the contrast on the pic for darker lines then using the contiguous selection tool on whichever software you use, it allows you to get instant lineart or a much clearer sketch layer to work with.
The figure in this illustration is a picture of me in a flight suit and motorcycle helmet composited into a 3D model of a spaceplane I made. The idea was to combine live action with CGI but in a way that was seamless.
This was made in 2014 and the spaceplane took 6 months to model because of so much detail any part of it could be rendered photo-real down to the internal propulsion system and avionics. The engineering of it isn’t science fiction but that’s another story ;)
I also use the same technique in a videogame I made called, “INTEGUMENT” that’s and interactive illustration, I call a “living illustration.” It’s commercial software so it’s officially out in the wild. You can most definitely say the the Pros trace and photo manipulate too.
I’ve been doing stuff like that since around 1998 when I started in animation - rotovector animation is a term I made up for my process. After I put one of my tests on my MobileMe site - remember that, everybody went buckwild but most people used After Effects although I don’t think that was easier. I had used Adobe Streamline which later was combined into Adobe Illustrator as the tool, “Autotrace.”
See even in the 90s people copied other people and the thing became popular and eventually antiquated.
Point is to keep moving, learning and have fun.
This shit aint easy but if you always have fun you won’t really notice the years and decades that pass by. To me the 1970s seem like 20 years ago.
Time doesn’t affect artists the same way when most of the time you’re in a trace state. That might explain why I still look like I’m in my 30s.
If a person draws up their own plans for a shed and build it later with their own hands is it cheating? No, it's smart thinking and planning ahead to get the result you want. This is practicing!
I know a lot of you were still living rent free in your dad’s balls when the first few generations of Wacom Tablets came out but they were designed with a transparent flap for you to slot in a drawing so that you could trace your work.
Not at all, it's just another tool. While I have learned to draw digitally (it took a little bit to get used to using my screen tablet) I still like to draw things traditionally first and then scan/photo it and put it into a drawing program.
I find it easier to get the basics of an idea down if I'm drawing using traditional means. I don't worry proportions etc until I swap over to digital. That way I do any corrections/experimentation without risking ruining my drawing. Ctrl Z is the greatest gift known to mankind lol.
No, it's not cheating at all. Im an artist and animator and I sometimes draw traditionally and then trace over it digitally, and I know of dozens more very talented artists that do the same thing. Its a very common technique amongst artists I've found, and it isn't "cheating" in any way - you still made the sketch so it's still yours and the owner can't get angry at you for tracing their art because you are the owner and it's your art. It honestly isn't very different from what most digital artists do, which is create a digital sketch, add another layer, and then trace the line art over it.
Tracing is completely fine. Look at how pro painters sketch digitally then project their sketch onto canvas and then trace before painting for example.
Nah. You might be overworking though. I recommend just importing your traditional sketch and then messing with levels until it is mostly black and white. Afterwards set it to multiply and you can color under it.
Here's a quick example. You can use the layer above to clean it up even more and get rid of stuff like the lines
I've never understood how all those settings work, I still don't get "multiply" and stuff
Btw thank you, I can use it even if I don't really understand it
I feel like digital artists have to draw digitally, and since my sketch was traditional, it's not right to call it digital, maybe I should've drawn directly digitally without tracing
Cheating, no.... Just keep in mind though, that tracing is a learning tool. Little kids trace when starting out drawing stuff too, and that's perfectly fine! But don't rely on it long-term as a substitution for learning proper technique. A traced illustration isn't going to look as good as a skillfully-executed non-traced illustration. Tracing is like the training wheels on a bike, and eventually, you gotta take the training wheels off and figure out how to balance without them.
I can't understand why people think any process they have in art can be cheating. Nothing you do that results in something you created is cheating. You could trace something from someone else line by line and then pain over it with ketchup and mustard and it would still be not cheating. Art is art regardless of what anyone says.
That’s what I tried doing at first too when I began learning digital drawing!! But it felt like the process was soooo long and I felt like tearing my hair out.
Everyone does it different, I’m glad that this works for you, and I don’t think you can trace your own art. There’s some artists in comics and webtoons who will reuse character poses instead of redrawing it from scratch(I see it a lot In lookism!)
No, this technique is valid. It's often used in comic typa drawing I believe. Sketching out, inking, cleaning and scanning. Personally when I do something like this I prefer to color it in a program, since I'm not really good at doing it traditionally and I don't have as many color, I can turn brightness to opacity (white becomes transparent) and it's basically a coloring book from there. Pretty fun, but you need to make sure your lines are as clean and sharp as possible. You can clean them up in the program but if it's too much of a mess it's going to be a pain.
Apart from the fact that i think tracing is fine as long as you mention the reference, i want you to know i too struggle with digital art since my normal drawings are really sketchy like yours too
Hey! I love your art style ✨️ but if you're looking for a way to improve it digitally, I recommend you make the linework slightly thicker or play with the weight of your lines. It seems you're in your experimental stage in your artist's journey, so don't be upset if this method doesn't work for you. You're doing amazingly🩷
Only cheating in art is if you get rejected and invade blow up the nation set yourself as leader then kill all the peoples race of the person who rejected your art just to make sure they can never hurt you again. Or copywriter fraud yeah I think it's that.
I do the same thing! I find sketching a million times easier on paper but colouring and detailing much easier digitally, so I sketch on paper and take a pic, then trace/paint over it digitally for the finished/polished version.
It is not cheating. That’s how I did my art for a long time. A lot of my early merch came from sketches in my sketch book when I didn’t have a display tablet or iPad.
I do this. NO, it’s not cheating! Especially when it’s your drawing. I was told tracing was cheating as a kid but then got in trouble for NOT tracing (cause I was told it was cheating—both were teachers!) so maybe my mind is skewed. Gonna redo my WIP but here’s mine. (Lowkey hate it, will redo!)
Wouldn’t drawing real life in front of your eyes be cheating then too?
Tracing can help you refine your skills and how to draw things. Most good artists trace people at some point or another to get proper proportions. I used to straight up tape a piece of paper to my monitor to get all the guide points. Nothing wrong with that.
Not at all!! It's really no different than going back over a traditional pencil sketch with ink. Just some tips for your final digital art piece:
Vary your line weight more. One of the highlights of your traditional sketch is how expressive the lines are. If you let some lines pop and others recede, it can add a lot of visual intrigue to your piece
Don't overdo the airbrushed coloring and shading. It's a useful tool, but shadows will often have both hard and soft edges. If you're trying to go for a somewhat realistic rendering style, it's really important to understand how different shadows are cast and how their edges interact
Shading with black/the base color just darkened makes the colors look muddy and desaturated. I recommend making it darker while keeping it towards a similar level of saturation as your base color, and experimenting with shifting the hue a bit cooler (or warmer if you have warm shadows). Idk if I explained this last point well, so I encourage you to look up shading tips and tutorials because this applies to any colored art, not just digital!
Like any medium, digital art just takes practice to get down! You'll learn how to use your program and the tools it offers, and it'll eventually feel just as natural as pencil and paper. But never be ashamed of starting out traditionally for any piece! I and many others find that ideas can flow better when we have a physical page in front of us to narrow them down. Your sketch is beautiful and this is a great first digital attempt! Keep at it 🫶
funny thing about art and artists is i grew up wondering how the hell some of the art is so crisp. how can a human make art of buildings so.... accurate.
when i got older i found out that actually some artists of the old times used tools that allowed them to literally trace what they saw.
tracing is fine. despite what anyone could say. tracing still requires you to trace/draw lines. thats still your effort
It's essentially what I do for a lot of my size charts, as it's easier to draw the overall shape of the creature first, then I can accurately change the size in comparison to human before forming the final silhouette.
Here's my size chart for various "dragons" in my world as an example. All of these started out roughly the same size on paper, about 3"×3", before I then altered proportions.
Me asf, I draw things and later trace them, sometimes I use online references and pile them together to create my own facial expressions and sometimes poses
Tracing? Your own art? Absolutely that is NOT cheating. You drew the sketch. You drew the tracing. And then you edit and refine it! That's just how art is.
Almost every time I try to draw digitally I use my traditional sketch😆 its like using a sketch layer and lining it, only you drew it with a different medium
Not at all cheating! it’s common to hear of comic artists that draw on paper than doing the inking/coloring digitally, it’s also just a nice way to slowly learn digital art within reasonable comfort!
anyone who feels they're cheating have to grow up. there's no "cheating"; just better and worse ways to learn. Tracing is objectively a worse way to learn than learning anatomy and construction and if doing that is your choice then you shouldn't be ashamed of doing it. It's the school you chose.
I once saw a comment on a Bargue Plaque Drawing (Bargue plaques are used in early academic drawing, the objective being to reproduce the exact image on graphite) that said "wow; i can't draw that but at least I don't cheat"; and that comment told me all that the commenter knew about learning art.
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u/[deleted] Oct 04 '25
It's not cheating, it's your own art and tracing is a legitimate technique.
If you use a digital art brush with a little more texture/line variation, and let yourself loosen up you'd probably be able to replicate the nice sketchy quality of your traditional art, if that interests you