This is a tutorial/infographic I made based on tracing vs. referencing.
I hate tracing. I am adamantly against it to the point of being hostile. I do not believe tracing holds any merit in terms of education, nor in terms of morality or legality.
But, I also recognize that this aggression I share with others towards tracing has created some hostility to legitimate referencing methods, and some people feel that using ANY reference is a form of cheating. Where it gets problematic is I’ve seen it cause people to block themselves off from a tool entirely that would otherwise help them learn.
Tracing causes issues on two fronts:
Legally/morally: It is a direct duplication of an existing work
Educationally: It becomes a mechanical reproduction and doesn’t challenge you anatomically when drawing
It bypasses the crucial gesturing/sketching phase of drawing
Referencing, meanwhile, is almost always used to build a gesture or sketch. (Very rarely will you have someone go from a reference to lineart in a single step. It definitely can be done, but this is more specialized and at this point isn’t really concerned with learning.)
Most people I’d say are familiar with side-by-side referencing, and it’s typically the default people will use. Most people won’t fault this or take issue.
Where people get concerned is with more close forms of referencing, such as via overlay methods.
To be up front: yes, side-by-side referencing is going to typically be more productive for your learning than overlay references. HOWEVER:
Overlay referencing (and other ‘close referencing’ methods as I call them) still is focused on creating a gesture from an image, and does not produce lineart directly.
It still challenges you as you draw. Not as much as side-by-side, but there are some poses that are too challenging to do at some skill levels, even with side-by-side. Close referencing shouldn’t be excluded as an option, and even can allow you to attempt a more difficult drawing than you’d otherwise be used to.
It can even be a way to push you over a difficulty hump: tackle a tough pose with a closer reference, then next time try it with a side-by-side one. You’ll find it a bit easier to do side-referencing.
If you were to take two artists of the same skill level, and have them do 20 draws of similar poses, and one only did close techniques and the other only did side-by-side, at the end of it they would likely be able to draw those poses without any reference with equal efficiency and accuracy.
Closer referencing methods are often used professionally as well. Rotoscoping is one of the most notable examples of this, though many illustrators will also do the same. These often will use 3D models or live action photos in the same manner
I still suggest trying side-by-side first, and switching to close referencing if the results simply aren’t working. This is more in the interest of speed and morale: spending an extra 2 hours gesturing out a pose you cannot get and then give up on isn’t as effective as using an ‘easier’ method to actually finish it. You will stay more motivated, and you will have more time to practice further poses. Finishing a piece via the ‘easier’ method still teaches you something, while giving up may teach you less in some cases.
You don’t have to reference the entire image. Sometimes a reference for a single part works, and this applies for both methods.
When close referencing, still keep it as vague and loose as possible. You’re creating a gesture. Overlays should just be to help you figure out where things go, not necessarily how they look. Learning to work with looser gestures effectively will help further your mastery.
You should always be sure that you’re in the legal/moral right to use a reference, but this is extra important for close referencing. This is why I use posing dolls (such as DesignDoll) to assemble complex scenes myself. They are my own scenes and reference material.
This is only tangentially related, but generally it can be good to go over a gesture multiple times. Regardless if I use a reference or not, I personally will often do an initial gesture, then a polished gesture, and then finally the lineart, at least for my more ‘professional’ works.
