Is Tracing the same thing as Copying?
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 15 ธ.ค. 2022
- #art #bensound #tracing #copying
The painting I copied (for those trying to catch me not giving credit) was Alphonse Mucha's "Zodiac" and the photograph reference was purchased here: referencepictures.gumroad.com...
Ha! Take THAT!
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Okay, so there's obviously much more than can be fit into a 1 minute video and I am in NO way a legal expert, so...
1) The purpose of this video is to clarify the difference between tracing and copying. I saw WAY too many people thinking that tracing was copying and... it's not.
2) We as artists have the full and complete right to copy (EXACTLY IF WE WANT) anything. ANYTHING in the world. You see a photo you like? Copy it. You see a work of art you love? Copy it. A national monument? Go for it!
There are NO laws or any moral imperatives that say you can not copy what you want. Make a complete 100% replica. Have fun.
This is how we learn. This is how we grow as artists.
3) If you post that copy of someone else's work and claim it's yours with NO credit to the original artist... this is still okay. There are no laws about this.
Is it morally good? No. Are you a bad person for doing it? Probably.
But it's not illegal. (that I know of)
4) Copying someone's work and selling it, making prints, or profiting from it in any way. That's copyright theft and is illegal.Duh
Don't do that.
5) In the end. If an artist inspires you to create art and you feel compelled to copy their works... CREDIT THEM.Praise them. Lift them up.
It's the right thing to do.
And by artist, I mean photographers, cosplayers, models, sculptors and any other art that inspires you to create.Share it with the world. Don't keep it for yourself.
Be proud that you found art that makes you want to create. Say "I copied this person's art because it's amazing and I want to figure out what makes it tick."
There's no shame in that. But there IS shame in claiming it's yours.
So, you know, don't do that. Okay?
Thanks for the explanation! 😆
Ok! :D
Noted
Just a reminder, you might want to pin your comment, since it ends up so far down in the list 😅
But honestly thank you for this explanation, so many people lack understanding of this stuff, and it not even their fault. It's just that nobody ever teaches people these things, so thank you.
@@thecrustyrat Thanks. I thought I did pin it... ha ha
You are the internet’s art dad and we all adore you 💛
♥
@@ssavaart HIII! ILYSM you have helped me improve my art and finally find my style! (Btw animal crackers was awesome!!!)
Art dad that I want but will never had
@@ssavaart I never really had a loving dad, so thank you for being here and giving us content art dad
If he's the art dad, then Bob Ross would be that one cool uncle that is super chill
It's 4 am in the morning and my last braincells are trying to understand what you're saying cuz..."tracing and copying and copying then tracing" -
Oh btw love your videos. Your art style is gorgeous
go to bed. pls. 💖
@@hissifit lmao i did. Slept for about 3 hr. And now i gotta go study. Highschool sucks.
Yeah it’s 4am right now for me too.. i should go to ZzZzZzZzZz
It's 1:00 a.m. for me let's go
The online stigma around referencing, tracing, and copying is insane. People seem to think you’re a bad artist if you can’t summon images from your brain. I really love this perspective!
There is literally no stigma on referencing if one does it right. Tracing/ copying should be used for educational purposes only. I do appreciate him stating to ask permission before publishing works. Me as an artist though Tracing is well beyond a crutch and people who do it all the time don't learn to actually draw and create their own works. This is just one thing I can't fully agree with.
@@houndgirl7365 like he said tracing is a tool. If it's a tool you don't want to use, that's perfectly fine, but S.Sava is an amazing artist with his own style that admits to using tracing. On top of that some people need copying. Some artists have the genuine inability to conjure images in their brains, or some things just don't come out right without looking at a picture of it. If you don't want to use them for yourself that's fine, but it's not something for you to 'agree' with if others need or want to use those tools. They aren't less of an artist for using it.
@@danihaack7842 Thank you. I'm an artist that just has no ability to see out proportions properly on my own, and I used to get so stuck trying to figure out how long to make an arm that I wouldn't make any progress on the actual arm or any of the body for that matter. Tracing was the only way I could improve other parts of my art, and at the same time it has taught me how to shape eyes, faces, Muscles and Anatomy of legs and arms, and so much more. I'm so much better than what I was because I traced over and over again the proper lines, made by someone who knew what they were doing. I don't trace much now because I learned so much from my years of Tracing, and the only time I use it is when I'm trying to 1) Speed Up The Process, like for a personal project(Storyboarding or something where no one but I will see it), or 2) If I'm going to add my own artistic spin to it(Made a CoD MW2 art piece recently for friends who liked the new MW2 that came out, where I took an image of Ghost, traced certain and specific lines of his form, then spent every waking hour over the next three days coloring it it with just hatch marks). I learned a lot from tracing, and I've come a long way from using it in my earlier stages as a growing artist.
@@danihaack7842 thank you so much, I cant see images in my head and references save me
@@houndgirl7365 I feel like it’s fine as long as you’re honest, I’ve had people get super angry at me for tracing over the lines of a photo I took, as if you can’t be proud of your art unless you do it without any exterior inputs.
“Tracing, no copying” is my favourite out of the three. It feels like it really uses tracing as a jumping off point to breathe life into something new.
it’s the best way to achieve likeness imo without diverting from your own style
“Tracing, no copying” is just basing isn’t it?
We artists are no robots, even the pros at marvel/DC use tracing as drawing practice.
"tracing = cheating, we need to cancel tracers" - 🤓
@DerpyDudes there is a time and place for tracing. If one has the skill and it's their own works or works from THEIR work that was done by THAT company is different. People especially young artists who only/mainly trace only hurt themselves
@hound girl tracing can be a learning tool aswell when I first got into art (at 16ish) my uncle who's a professional artist would encourage me to trace things I didn't understand like anatomy or foreshortening it helped me improve immensely
@@amandatownsend5132 yeah I traced stuff for like 3 years as a kid and I'm sure it contributed to my actual drawing skills
@@houndgirl7365 You talk like an strict teacher would, when people learn and draw how they want
How is it hurting themselves if they are actually, well, drawing?
It'd hurt way more if they were stressed out because proportions aren't right, the pose doesn't look good, etc, and ended giving up
There's not a bad way to do art
you are honestly one of my favorite artists
Thanks so much! ♥
Ofc ur an An fan (but I mean this in a good way)
Literally
@@ssavaart YOU’RE SOO COOOOL
Oh I'm so so glad that you pointed out that tracing isn't necessarily stealing. I use 3D models to make my posing - which usually takes me an hour minimum to get just how I want it - and trace the pose I made. I CAN do it without tracing, but this makes me more confident, and doesn't actually make any difference whatsoever to how much work I've put in.
And it’s like - tracing doesn’t mean we stop building our skills! It means we’re using tools to achieve success! (Edit: especially as far as anatomy and such)
Same!
People forget that copying is how many classical artists learned!! Tracing is something I'm STILL learning how to not criticize myself for! THANK YOU!! ♥️
The Princess Bride reference!! 💜💜💜💜🥹
I LOVE THAT MOVIE
ITS SO GOOD
I've wanted to rewatch that movie so bad but I forgot the name till now
I LOVE IT SM
As you wishhhhhhh! i love that movie
I used to actually trace all of my drawings before I got good at drawing, and I seem to believe that tracing actually helped me slightly with how I got better at art and drawing hands, which we all know is very hard (lol).
Tracing definitely does help you get better at drawing. It’s a super old technique
I traced so many hands earlier on, because I wasn't confident that I could do them, that when I actually tried it for myself, I traced hands so many times before, I actually got a decent looking outcome on my first try without tracing. It's just a tool to learn, grow, or cut down on time. So don't feel bad for needing to use it sometimes!
after art school, I lost my love for art because I had been trained to be so self-critical. Tracing silhouettes of humans as the basis for my art helped me regain my love for the medium. I think nowadays we get so caught up in copying and copyright that we forget we can just make a drawing for ourselves
I trace and copy in my art and I'm not ashamed of it. I never claim not to trace. I'm a painter not a drawer and I'm fine with that. I do gouache paintings and I love how my art turns out. Even though I trace, I don't think it cheapens my art, it just makes it different from if I wouldn't have traced.
bro, that Inigo Montoya reference was beautiful
A couple of years ago, I would always trace my art because I wasn’t happy with how it turned out when I freehanded it. I didn’t post any of my art, so it actually helped me be more happy with my art and improve. Now, I am really happy with my art and I freehand all of it! So, I would say that tracing for learning purposes as long as you don’t post it, is fine (especially for young artists!)
tbh i think posting it is fine, in scenarios like this where he really only traced the face. i use posing programs, because getting through that base sketch and just not being able to do anatomy as well as the people i see on youtube basically becomes a brick wall that i pass about 5% of the time into a finished piece. now i’m more motivated.
there is lines to be drawn (heh), when it comes to tracing an entire piece and claiming it as your own, but i think if it’s a small part, it is specifically a reference photo or drawing, or if it’s a posing program, and any number of things, go wild
@@triangulum_mori I totally agree! Thank you for clarifying
I've always been told copying is bad and tracing is horrible, so thank you for telling me. I appreciate it. Have a good day!
I think people get really touchy about tracing/copying since it involves "taking" from other's work-- I think that concern is really valid, but I also agree that copying from photo, and other artists work can help you understand important concepts and really, help you form your own unique impression of "how to draw". I think the most important thing is just to acknowledge everyone's work that you used to help yourself out. Credit them, tell people about their stuff as well as yours. I've had people in my actual life when I was younger who would copy my drawings, and then pretend it was their own-- it sucks!!!! so please,, just don't do that. Love you scott ,, this vid is awesome💛
*walks up to mirror*
"Why hello me.. can i reference a photo of you"
" "
"K.. got permission"
lol
Tracing is also a good way to learn. My art isn’t perfect but it’s improved a lot over the year and at the beginning of the year I would trace things to figure out how to do things like hair, positions, body shapes, etc. and now I know how to do all of those on my own.
I'm a digital artist. I trace alot of my references cuz I figured I'm better at sketching traditionally than in Digital so I just go for the easy way and use tracing as a "tool". There are people who would shame me for doing that so what I do is sometimes is, I sketch the reference traditionally first then take a picture of it and draw over it in digital. It's still tracing but with extra steps just so others would shut up. I feel bad for even considering their opinions. Btw, you're my favorite artist now.
I admire all your art works, you inspire me so much!
Wow, thank you!
I love your outlook on making art and how you don’t always focus on the frustrating parts of being an artist!
I LOVE YOUR VIDEOS I LOOK UP TO YOU SM AND I HOPE TO BECOME AN ARTIST LIKE YOU SOME DAY!!!
I was in your live today!
Also I love the hair one it looks like the Lesbian flag aswell.
❤️🧡🤍💗💖
Did you guys see the lesbian flag??? I saw it,the colors on the two women hair is the lesbian flag colors.
I’m self-taught, so tracing photos of my pets has been a huge help with learning shading for me. In a digital art program, I first make a silhouette with a base color, then make a new layer, make the base layer invisible, and trace over the parts of the picture that have lighting and shading. I then make another layer for the facial features, then merge the layers down and blend the shading into the base. My most recent product of this method looks almost identical to the original photo!
Tbh I don’t have a style yet so most of the time I copy and practice (to learn) till I find a style that suits me and feels natural :)
I love the last one where the hair is linked together and fades
Just BEAUTIFUL
I use bases a lot to get the idea of poses. It helps me get the understanding of how our bodies work. Especially when we sit down. Getting all these good bases has helped me achieve what my short goals are to becoming a better artist. We artists help each other, remember that. Love you all!
This helps me solidify my feelings on it, thanks!
Now that'a the best explanation i've ever seen... Thanx alot Scott sir... 😊👍🏻
This video and your pinned comment spoke to my artistic soul. I’ve done very little art since an art professor chastised me in front of the entire class for copying a photo of a bird as a reference. Thank you for simply encouraging more art in the world!
Absolutely My Pleasure ♥
Wow. Just wow
Their both useful in their own ways!
You are soooooooooooooooooooo talented❤❤❤❤❤
tracing is such an important tool- ESPECIALLY for poses. i struggle so much with posing my characters and it’s so much easier if i trace my reference photo
One of the ways I taught myself to draw was taking other artists work I liked and tracing it and making it my own characters (I didn’t post it anywhere) and soon enough I was able to incorporate bits I liked into my own style :>
This is such an awesome video! There's a lot of stigma around copying as well as tracing- which in turn can hinder other artists from growing and discovering new methods of making. I especially see it in the young artist crowd and sometimes I even stop myself from dissecting my own work, due to this being instilled into me when I was a beginner artist in the online sphere. At the end of the day, they're tools we use to help us understand how certain things work and can really help flourish our understandings of different mediums. Thank you for the video!
Thank you for making this. Ppl be making me feel guilty for tracing 😭 I love your videos smm! ✨💙
I always every day watch your videos and your videos inspire me so much, That I even have motivation to draw paint and craft! Thank you for your company!
Thank you so much 😀
you never fail to amaze me- im a very young artist (minor) who’s been drawing for about five years but the things i have learned from you are incredible. i myself am not into watercolor but i love how you use it. your positivity makes me feel so happy. when i was in periods of depression and had art block your videos helped me create new masterpieces. i’m so thankful for you :) have a good day
Thanks so much! ♥
Tracing is a very good skill to have. It's how I not only steadied my hands, but also how I learned to draw hands. Always credit your source tho.
You are so talented! I just wish I could draw like you..🙂
When my art teacher told me to trace an object, I thought I was doing something dirty.
“copying” and “tracing” don’t sound like words anymore
Tracing: drawing/writing over something.
Copying: basically making the same thing as something
This channel makes me feel so good inside it’s just too wholesome!
Hey Scott, could you please make artwork of Cyana from Cosmic Wonders? I’m sure you’ll enjoy painting her. Cosmic Wonders could use the exposure, and I think a video about the series would help tremendously.
Your everyone's favorite online art dad, and honestly same thing for me your the best! ❤
Thank you so much! I have always been confused between copying and tracing! Thank you, really.
I TOTALLY LOVE YOUR ART! YOU DESERVE MY RESPECT!❤
You are my favorite internet artist. Thanks for inspiring me to pick up art again!
Wow, thank you!
I love the princess bride thing, thanks for making brilliant videos
Excellent, we can save the shorts now in favorites .
Thank you.
You are one of my favorite inspirations :}
Bro I'm so early
I really need to see this man's face today, I had a rough day and sooner or later I'm going to a psychiatrist
I had a rough talk and Sava always makes my day
Sending Big Hugs from the Hobbit Hole. ♥♥♥
@@ssavaart thank you :>
I never knew I wanted to hear tracing and copying so many times in a single sentence- *as always, thank you for making us all better artists and discovering our art anew! Never forget how much we adore what you do! (rhyme)*
I learned how to draw from looking at pictures and trying my best to redraw them just by eyes alone. Was hard, but it worked. I still sometimes do it, though I'll freehand a lot of it to make it my own
I've spent the majority of my art journey feeling horrible whenever I had to trace something because I just couldn't get it right or having to copy the way someone else drew something because the way I tried to draw it just didn't look good. Although no one has ever directly told me that this was "cheating", I still felt as if I was somehow not doing art "correctly" when I did these things. Thanks to you, these terrible feelings have begun to lessen over time and I've come to see tracing and copying as tools for me to improve my skills and pave the path to producing my own original works. ✨️So, thank you Mr. Sava! ✨️
Wow i always learn something new from you! Thank you & God bless! 💚
Love the princess bride reference
I love the princess bride reference and of course, your art.❤
I found tracing (for me) to be the best way to really get the hand-eye and motor aspect of drawing down pact. I had a good number of people try to teach me how to draw with little to no result, even with daily practice (early on). Tracing made something click, within a few months I was drawing the pictures I had traced and then started putting my own spin on them, the rest is history! It brought out something I needed, to be able to draw what I'm looking at.
I encourage people to trace if they feel the need...and furthermore, tracing in itself is a skill one can get better at early on 😂. My traces did not always look like they do today.
Scott already knows this - but use any tool at your disposal to create art, it isn't "cheating".
my most favorite art is the art i copy… but i wanna try and practice making art my own. Thanks for the inspiration ❤
That makes me feel better because I always feel like I’m making art that isn’t truly mine that I’m just copying someone else’s amazing art
This is such a big help! Thank you Scott!
Thank you!!!!! Ive recently really gotten into digital art and its so much fun. My favorite way is to trace an image, remove the refrence from the line art, and color while occasionally looking at thr refrence. I really enjoy it because its relaxing and it usually comes out looking good!
However, sometimes i feel like a fraud or like i cant draw bc all im doing is following the lines of an image and coloring it in like a toddler with a coloring book. But seeing that other artists like to trace images for refrence, makes me feel a lot better. I know that at the end of the day what matters is that i am enjoying myself in the moment, and i am working to think that way more often. Thank you for sharing your art process and your view on things, it really helps the community!!!
You've got it perfectly. What matters is you're making art and having fun. ♥
Thats some Really good adivice, Something that i recomend for drawing weapons, especially when you are a begginer artists is tracing the basic shape and eyeballing the rest, so It will look right while matching your artstyle
KING SHIT!!!! Thank you for destigmatizing this, i talk a lot about "stealing shapes" in my art streams. If I'm having difficulty with a pose, i'll pull up a reference image and block out the shapes for whatever part im having difficulty with, and then build off of it from there. Theres been such a weird stigma around tracing recently, but not all tracing is art theft!
I have that thing where I can't picture any images in my head (aphantasia) and that makes imagining anatomy and the way it would look if a body part moved...well, impossible honestly.
The way I cheat this is by sort of memorizing what looks and feels right by tracing over other artists pose reference images or by tracing over photos of people over and over. And I feel so dirty for it! These aren't prints for sale or anything or that get posted - just my practice sketches and the amount of imposter syndrome I get over it is a little ridiculous 😅
Also I was shooketh when I discovered at 28 years old that when other people say 'picture it in your minds' eye' that they were being literal and it wasn't just, like, a saying or something 🤯
Thanks to that 2 second clip, I have to watch Princess Bride again. Thank you.
I've been teaching myself how to draw using tracing so I can practice how to move my hand with the pencil
I agree! Coping other artists is a great way to learn and better develope your artistic skill! I think a lot of people have the idea the coping=stealing in their minds because a lot of people will use one of the methods you mentioned for profit without giving credit, at all, and it's a very blatantly obvious sort of thing. But using coping and tracing in any of these manners, wether to learn, for reference, to speed up a process or simply to practice, is perfectly fine.
You explain things so nicely! You are a huge inspiration to me as an artist, and I love your art! Thank you for sharing! Have a great one! ❤️
I love this shorts. You adress very interesting topics, and I find them really useful ❤
In art I learned how to look at the photo or reference while moving the pencil and referencing your paper every now and then to help achieve proportions :D
I really needed this video to clarify things up, I always were scared to trace as i thought it would be considered copying but no, I can trace too as long as I give credit ofc but i too were scared of, giving credit yet still being taken down by the owner, especially famous anime characters
I love how you aren’t bashing tracing. I once bought tracing paper and the checkout guy glared at me and said I was buying cheating paper. Sometimes I will trace my reference and lay it over my drawing to figure how I’m messing up. It’s super helpful.
Really appreciate this video, something I’ve been self conscious about recently and I appreciate your input! Keep doing what you do!
Love your art😁
omg thank god i’ve been needing this bc i’ve been feeling so guilty for tracing even tho it’s my own art work this made me feel better
I'm currently doing a project in college with a friend in the style of art nouveau and I have fallen in love with this art style. So it's really cool to see you, an artist I admire a lot, remaking an artwork of Alphonse Mucha in your own style
personally i dont like tracing or copying, im only really okay with it if its for practice and id rather learn how to draw something without tracing or taking a lot of reference from one image, but that doesnt mean i dont think of your art as “real art” or something stupid like that, youre art is still genuinely beautiful and a big inspiration to me, and i wish i could draw hair like you 😭like its so pretty, keep up the great work 👍👍👍
Tracing becomes a problem when you rely on it too much, like a crutch
Also I cannot stress enough how much difference a reference image can make! I used to only use them when going for hyper realism and in a class, etc, and if I had an image of it in my head at all, I wouldn’t use a reference, but it turns out, even when you think you know what you’re drawing, a reference helps TONS! ESPECIALLY if you’re a digital artist who can just slap it on the canvas!
The fact that I know exactly what scene from the princess bride that was 😭
This was a great video, like all your others it educated me and helped me understand my art more, your videos always put a smile on my face :D. (I appreciated the Inigo Montoya quote 😂 )
I cant beleive how talented you are
you and your art inspired me a lot.😁😁😍
Woah!!! 🤯 never thought it this way. This makes so much sense.
this is such a wonderful explanation
I always thought tracing stuff that wasn't your own was bad, and tracing real life pictures of yourself.
Nope. It's all good. Just see my pinned comment for more details.
Can I just say how sweet it is that he hearts pretty much every comment.
Well...not EVERY one. I try though. ♥
You inspire me to get better at my art
I think this video helps me feel better... Not because I trace or copy (I used to copy from internet images as a child, it was a start ofc) but because my mom also really liked drawing and she was good at it. She passed away some months ago...she was so young... And well yesterday I started questioning if my mom did a bad thing by copying drawings that she found on google about movies that she liked, then posted them on Instagram. She didn't consider herself an "artist" in a serious manner, she just did it for fun so I doubt she knew that it was considered as a bad thing. But I got anxious because, did my mom do something bad? And well today this video pops up and it kinda puts my soul in peace. Thank you
honestly, i think you're my favourite creator. I love your content :)
You're too kind. Thank you! ♥
Thank for for this so much 🙌
Did not realize how much I needed this. I just started my art journey two years ago and a lot of my earliest pieces were fan arts traced from official art or other fan art with different coloring and backgrounds. I did not think too much of it back then since I was trying to learn, yet then I started getting more invested in art and hearing about art thieves, art tracers, and stealing work. It got me nervous that I was doing an objectively wrong thing (I am lucky that I only shared it with my friends and do not have any social platforms to post them on or I might have ended up with a real problem). Now looking back, I do not feel guilty for all of my tracing since it was very important in developing my art skills (and like I said, I never shared it beyond my inner circle). Better still, my art has improved immensely over the past few months and no longer trace; now I am drawing from scratch (with references of course) characters in all kinds of poses and stances from my own machinations. It may be thanks to all of the time I spent tracing that I am where I am now, and I do not feel ashamed of it.
Thank you so much for uploading this video :DD
This is one of the best descriptions I’ve heard. Bravo
I love Mucha’s Zodiac 😊