People everywhere have drawn something at some point in their life.
However, artists are people who spend a great deal of time perfecting the art of drawing. A few people have the ability to draw very well.
Most people have to perfect their drawing skills through repetition, practice and learning how to manipulate shapes on paper.
One way that people learn the art of drawing is by tracing pictures.
But will tracing improve your drawing skills? The short answer is yes, it does! Tracing a picture or art from other artists can help you improve our drawings if you trace the art consciously!
This might seem like a silly way to learn how to draw objects – but it does work.
Tracing objects will not turn a person into a certified artist. Still, it can help them to improve their drawing skills.
We’ll take a closer look at how tracing objects can help you to improve as an artist.
Why should you trace something?
Tracing has its place in the art world.
While tracing is a form of copying someone else’s work, it gives you an idea about how to draw objects.
Tracing can also help you to naturally develop their skills so that you can eventually create freehand drawings.
Tracing also allows a person to figure out what they need to do to improve their drawing technique. This is a good skill for beginning artists to have.
Tracers are also important in the art world.
When a person consistently traces something, they start to figure out what type of strokes they need to make a picture of a person or an object.
Professional tracers work for comic books. They trace a ton of pictures to improve the quality of the material.
The tracing that is done in comics is used to highlight the scenes within the comics.
Tracers also serve the same purpose in animated movies and films.
They highlight various scenes and characters by tracing the animation. Tracing is a good way for any way to quickly improve their drawing ability. The more a person does it, the better they will be at naturally drawing things.
What Should You Do While Tracing in Order to Learn Something From it?
The key to learning how to draw from tracing is repetition and conscious tracing.
You must consistently trace objects that you want to learn how to draw without aid.
The more you trace an object, the more you will train your brain about how to make that particular thing.
You will learn what strokes you need to make and what shapes must be formed in order to create a picture.
Remember, the brain learns through repetition.
When you constantly practice something over and over, it will become a natural part of you.
This is why professional athletes or singers practice their skills. It helps to hone their abilities and it keeps them ready for competition and entertaining.
Tracing provides the same benefit to drawers. It helps them to improve their craft.
Is There an Exercise to Improve Your Drawing Skills that Involves Tracing?
Yes, there are plenty of tracing exercises that will help you to improve your craft.
You should start off tracing basic shapes and basic pictures.
Next, you should start to trace drawings that are somewhat hard, but not too difficult.
Finally, you should trace things that are hard to draw.
Progress through each stage before moving on to the next one.
You can tell if you are ready for the next stage by consistently drawing objects without tracing them.
You should practice and practice tracing things until you can just automatically draw them out on the paper.
Remember, drawing is not an exact art form. The thing is that you should be consistent when doing it.
Your picture of a mountain should look like a mountain. Everything you make shouldn’t be so abstract that people have to constantly figure out what you are trying to reveal to them.
Also, not everyone wants to interpret your drawings to mean different things.
Believe it or not some people just want to see a picture of an object without trying to figure out the deeper meaning behind it.
Tracing and Freestyle Drawing Comparison
Another great exercise that you can do to improve your natural drawing ability is to trace a picture and then draw it freestyle.
Once you completed both pictures you should compare them to view the results.
This is a good practice because what it does is force you to think about what you need to do to improve your freestyle drawing ability.
Why Some Artists Believe that Tracing is a Crutch
Some artists do not like anyone tracing pictures.
They believe that tracing is a crutch.
They also believe that tracing pictures limits a person’s drawing ability.
True artists want their students to learn drawing through natural ability. They want them to develop their ability to measure things with their eyes and to develop a natural perspective.
Many art teachers frown upon tracing.
They believe it to be a form of plagiarism that art students should not engage in. In their mind, a true artist knows how to make the necessary lines, strokes, and curves that are needed to bring a picture to life.
If they are good enough to do this on their own, then they need to practice these skills through a natural process.
A lot of artists also believe that tracing diminishes an artist’s ability to do things naturally or to make natural-looking drawings.
This might be true for some individuals but not all. Still, the great artists in the past made their paintings and drawings without tracing anything at all.
They had a natural ability to create objects from their mind and they honed these skills.
While these skills are greatly appreciated, not everyone is destined to become a Da Vinci or a Van Gogh. Sometimes, a person just wants to be a good drawer and this practice will help them to quickly develop that skill.
Tracing Saves Time when it comes to Precise Drawings
Tracing saves time because it allows artists to quickly replicate pictures instead of always drawing everything from scratch.
Sometimes, a professional artist has to complete a project within a certain amount of time.
Having stock drawings available is important because it will allow an artist to quickly produce material.
Remember, many of the comic books and cartoons we see have rehashed drawings and characters.
They’re basically performing the same type of scenes, but they might be slightly altered to make them appear different.
This makes sense to keep artists from having to draw everything over from scratch.
Professional artists have to complete projects according to a deadline. Sometimes they can be really pressed to release material.
So, having a stockpile of drawings will help them to produce drawings and artwork at a faster rate.
A beginning artist can also use tracing for the same purpose. They can create their own art book that is loaded with traced pictures.
They can then use this book as a reference when they have to draw certain objects. Remember, people have a tendency to draw the same things over and over again.
This is no different than many different music artists who play the same notes over and over again. Once you have a collection of traced artwork, you will always use a reference to use for your drawings.
No Tracing is Allowed for Great Artists!
If you desire to become a great artist of your time, then you will have to move away from tracing material at some point.
Remember, tracing helps you to develop your ability, but it will not make you a great artist.
Tracing just helps you to improve your natural ability. Once again, no great artist traces anything.
They produce their work with assistance or drawing aids.
Having a natural ability to draw things is helpful. Having an eye for art is useful.
Every artist must continue to improve upon their skills. Trace pictures if this will help.
Just make sure that you are learning form this method and not leaning on it. If you are a professional artist that has to create lots of content over a short period of time, then tracing is something that you must do within your profession.
However, if you are striving to become a revolutionary artist that is trying to change the world, then you will have to eventually leave tracing behind.
Tracing has its place for people that draw, but it will not make anyone a great artistic creator.