“Don’t trace” originally started as a warning against tracing as art theft (as in, tracing someone else’s art without permission or credit is art theft) and then over the intervening years turned into “you can’t use references because it’s cheating” and I think that’s one of the worst cases of the telephone game I’ve ever personally experienced
you are allowed to trace as practice
you are allowed to trace your own work (for example photographs you took yourself or to keep architectural consistency)
you are allowed to trace things the original artist is encouraging you to trace
you SHOULD use references
you SHOULD be allowed to pick up other artists’ artistic tics you like (…as long as they’re not offensive, like blackfacing, but that’s a different kettle of fish)
you SHOULDN’T go around moralizing at other people about how they learn best because you can and will lose friends that way and you can and will hurt other artists’ development that way.
Also other than art theft there IS no such thing as cheating in art okay use sparkle pens and fan brushes to your heart’s content why is that even a thing I have to say (…and yes I’ve had conversations in the analog world about fan brushes as “cheating” I’m so tired of snotty artists who think you shouldn’t be allowed to use tools that make things easier because they can do it the hard way)
titsay
baratheonpilled
vaporwave
theartofmadeline
yousharknotpass
izzy806
blakekathryn
jbbartram-illu
turnnoffyourmind
