It\u2019s easy to dismiss this kind of response as naive or just somebody trolling. But if you’re interested in drawing by observation without tracing, it’s a question you should be able to answer. If drawing is so difficult, why not<\/em> just trace?<\/p>\n This is not a new question. It\u2019s been speculated that artists throughout history, including Norman Rockwell<\/a>, Thomas Eakins, Johannes Vermeer<\/a>, and even artists from as far back as the 1400s<\/a>, have incorporated tracing into their drawing process. These artists used lens devices to help them better understand and capture what they saw, yielding some of the world\u2019s great masterpieces. Today, the practice of tracing photographs has proliferated throughout the representational art world as a quick and convenient alternative to the challenges of drawing well.<\/p>\n So, if lots of artists are doing it, and have been for centuries, can tracing really be that bad?<\/p>\n If you\u2019re familiar with what we do here at Vitruvian Studio, you already know that we prefer to draw by direct observation informed by measurement, without the aid of tracing or grids. There are, however, some legitimate uses of tracing when learning to draw, if only in a few specific contexts. In this post, we\u2019ll tackle the tracing issue head-on, and look at the pros and cons of tracing as a learning tool. Can tracing be used to teach you the fundamentals of drawing or will it prevent you from reaching your full potential? You be the judge.<\/p>\n If you\u2019re just starting to learn, the act of drawing can seem overwhelming. Something as simple as holding a pencil and moving it appropriately on the page can be difficult and frustrating. Tracing an image can help you focus on the physical demands of drawing without worrying about whether you\u2019re getting it right. It can help you develop hand-eye coordination and muscle memory that are important for controlling the materials of drawing. \u00a0It’s like a kind of rehearsal for your future drawing development.<\/p>\n This kind of exercise is also useful for learning to make decisions in the first stage of drawing. We typically begin by “blocking-in” the major masses of the subject with simplified, straight-sided shapes. Students sometimes struggle with this concept. Typically,\u00a0we try to include too much detail early on. Tracing references is a convenient, inexpensive way to practice blocking-in. By tracing along the longest, broadest sweeps of the contour, you can learn what to ignore when establishing the biggest shapes.<\/p>\n It\u2019s important, however, to use the pencil in the same way that you will when you\u2019re not tracing. When drawing \u201cfreehand\u201d, we tend to start with light, soft and temporary lines while we get our bearings. Tracings, however, tend to yield a sharper, harder and continuous line that results in a flat and cartoonish look. If you trace to get used to the act of drawing, try to do it as if you\u2019re not tracing.<\/em><\/p>\n An instructor at the New York Academy of Art would sometime prescribe a tracing exercise. For those of us struggling to draw the figure, he would photocopy a master drawing and tell us to trace it. He told us to pay particular attention to the curvature of the contour. Observe where it is more rounded, where it is flatter, and where it overlaps other contours. Consider the anatomy of the figure while you do this and try to understand why<\/em> the contour changes the way it does. Even draw the bones and muscles and try to relate them to what\u2019s happening on the surface. Then, once the tracing is complete, draw the figure again \u2013 but freehand this time, and at a larger scale.<\/p>\n This exercise packs a one-two punch. Tracing an example helps you learn about how a master artist represented the human figure. It focuses your attention in a way that merely looking doesn\u2019t quite accomplish. It\u2019s the visual equivalent of reading aloud while studying for a test. Reproducing that drawing at a larger scale provides an opportunity to practice, and also demands more input from you. Since\u00a0a larger drawing will require more description than you can see clearly in the smaller reference, you’ll need to improvise a little.<\/p>\n This kind of tracing exercise provides a way of closely studying another artist\u2019s work, and squaring it with your own knowledge and ability. It\u2019s an effective way to discover what you need to work on when learning to draw the figure from observation, or even from imagination.<\/p>\n \u201cForeshortening\u201d is the word we use to describe how an object looks when viewed on end. For example, if you were drawing a figure with an arm stretched out toward you, it would appear \u201cforeshortened\u201d. We typically struggle with foreshortening because the outer shape of the object we\u2019re drawing is not what we expect. We think of limbs as being long and skinny and tend to draw them that way, even when they appear quite different in a foreshortened view.<\/p>\n Tracing can be an effective way to study the effects of foreshortening. Try drawing an \u201cenvelope\u201d, or a rudimentary block-in, on top of existing images of figures in various foreshortened views. Doing so can starkly illustrate the difference between our expectations (limbs are long and skinny) and what we\u2019re actually seeing. This kind of tracing can help free you from your preconceived, and incorrect, assumptions about what figures look like.<\/p>\n Linear Perspective is a challenging subject for students learning to draw. It often involves measurement and calculation and can seem a little too much like math. But having at least a basic understanding of how perspective works is important for conveying 3-dimensional space in drawings.<\/p>\n Tracing images can be an effective way to explore how vanishing points work in perspective. A \u201cvanishing point\u201d is the hypothetical spot where parallel edges receding away from the viewer appear to converge. Any two or more parallel elements in a picture that recede back and away from the viewer will share a common vanishing point. Students are often skeptical of this principle when drawing from life. Our brains simply aren\u2019t wired to notice things like this. But tracing on top of a photograph to see where receding parallels intersect can provide convincing evidence that vanishing points are real and should be taken seriously when drawing.<\/p>\n All of these instances show how tracing can provide an effective way to learn specific skills or concepts when learning to draw. But too much tracing can hinder your development. Here are some reasons why:<\/p>\n Drawing well is ultimately about making good decisions. It\u2019s about observing your subject carefully, understanding why it looks the way it does and recreating that appearance on the page with an effective method. A successful drawing is the product of analysis.<\/p>\n But tracing is often done mindlessly, with no analysis at all. Tracing doesn\u2019t require you to study your subject or examine your choices. If you\u2019re just copying lines, you don\u2019t have to ask questions or solve problems. When you trace, do you consider the light source? Do you think about where the shadows are? Do you think about the underlying structure of your subject? Are you thinking about perspective? Do you\u00a0plan your composition? Do you consider alternatives to how the image you\u2019re tracing presents the subject? The answer to these questions is usually \u201cno\u201d. In other words, when you trace you probably don\u2019t truly understand what you\u2019re drawing, or why you\u2019re drawing it that way. In our opinion, this diminishes the overall drawing experience.<\/p>\n Paper is flat. But when drawing observationally, we normally seek to create the illusion of volume and space on the page. In other words, we want our drawings to appear<\/em> 3-dimensional. Achieving this kind of illusion requires you to think in a particular way about what and how you’re drawing, considering carefully the various 3-dimensional characteristics of your subject.<\/p>\n When most people trace, however, it usually results in a very flat, cartoonish drawing. The tendency is to trace contours with a continuous, unbroken outline that appears to sit uniformly on the same plane \u2013 like a chalk outline at a crime scene. Even if the shapes are basically correct, it can be needlessly difficult to make such a flat-looking drawing appear 3-dimensional and lifelike in the end.<\/p>\n Tracing is one thing, but drawing freehand is something else entirely. Being good at one doesn\u2019t automatically mean that you\u2019ll be good at the other. If you\u2019re not careful, you may find yourself clinging to tracing because you\u2019re afraid to try drawing without it \u2013\u00a0or maybe you do try, and the results are disappointing, and you go back to what feels better.<\/p>\n But there\u2019s no need to be afraid of drawing from observation. While learning to draw freehand is challenging, and will definitely push you out of your comfort zone, it will also empower you. Just like any skill, there are many small steps to take along the way, each of which provides its own reward.<\/p>\n We live in a photographic age. Every day, we are bombarded with hundreds of images that are derived from some type of lens device, and we tend to accept them as truthful.<\/em> This is a state of mind known as being \u201ccamera conditioned\u201d.<\/p>\n But photographs aren\u2019t truthful. Instead, they distort reality in countless subtle ways. Lens effects, exposure settings, compression artifacts, software biases and more can have a dramatic impact on how any photograph appears to us. Yet we still often point to photographs as the ultimate manifestation of accuracy in imagery. \u201cWow! That drawing looks just like a photograph!\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n Tracing a photo may seem like the quickest route to accuracy in drawing, but if that\u2019s how you approach it, the distortions you fail to notice in your photo reference will carry over into your artwork. That, combined with the tendency mentioned above to trace simplistically, in a 2-dimensional way, can yield some pretty weird looking results. This can be quite discouraging, especially considering that tracing is supposed to be easy.<\/p>\nWhat Can You Learn About Drawing By Tracing?<\/h2>\n
Benefit #1: Tracing Can Help You Get Accustomed to Drawing Processes and Materials<\/h3>\n
![\"Trace](\"http:\/\/media.vitruvianstudio.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/25115517\/prudhon-blockin-trace-for-web.jpg\")
Benefit #2: Tracing Can Help You Understand Anatomy and Structure<\/h3>\n
Benefit #3: Tracing Can Help You Understand Foreshortening<\/h3>\n
![\"Trace](\"http:\/\/media.vitruvianstudio.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/25115512\/sistine-chapel-foreshortening-tracing-for-web.jpg\")
Benefit #4: Tracing Can Help You Understand Linear Perspective<\/h3>\n
![\"Trace](\"http:\/\/media.vitruvianstudio.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/25115513\/perspective-trace-for-web-2.jpg\")
The Pitfalls of Tracing<\/h2>\n
Pitfall #1: Tracing Doesn\u2019t Encourage You to Analyze Your Work<\/h3>\n
Pitfall #2: Tracing Can Result in Flat Drawings<\/h3>\n
![\"Trace](\"http:\/\/media.vitruvianstudio.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/25115520\/chalk-outline-tracing.jpg\")
Pitfall #3: Tracing Can Become a Crutch<\/h3>\n
Pitfall #4: Tracing Doesn\u2019t Guarantee Good Results Anyway<\/h3>\n