I truly didnât expect to have to do this again.
Itâs been a while since I saw this art going around without any text that explained how the pics were made (tracing, I mean). So I kindly asked the artist to put a correct description. I donât remember exactly what I wrote, but I made sure to tell her it wasnât âanon hateâ and it was just to tell her that here on Tumblr, we appreciate when an artist says if they traced or copied something. Itâs just an artistâs etiquette. Itâs always the same story, thereâs nothing wrong with tracing/copying, but you have to say so because youâre using another artistâs work and youâre not crediting it.
So after a while following her, I didnât see any answer to my question, but I noticed a change that made me realize she had actually read that message, and partially ignored it.
^this disclaimer. Itâs what made me send another message, which of course had to be with my url because she disabled anons (I didnât want to scare her, seeing how this blog was used before).
I knew from that disclaimer that she was perfectly aware of what referencing, copying, and tracing were, but I decided not to assume things, so I asked her to specify that she wasnât âreferencingâ (the act of looking at a picture to draw something, usually adding something different and/or yours, like changing the pose, the character etc.; usually a drawing which used references doesnât look like the reference itself, but you still get that the subject is the same*) but she was actually âtracingâ, as you can see from the pics above. It surely isnât referencing.
But wait! What if itâs just copied**?! Well itâs still not right because she said she was referencing, she didnât say âIâm not tracing however Iâm copyingâ neither she ever credited the âcopiedâ image. That said, itâs still not copied. To copy an image and having that kind of proportional perfection with the image copied you must be a monster. That means that everything should be proportionally perfect, but here the bodies arenât. Why is that? Simply because if you resort to tracing, it means youâre quite lazy and/or donât have the ability to copy it, so you just add a head to a different body (of course they donât click together because theyâre 2 different subjects), and so you inevitably lose the sense of proportions. If it was copied, the artist still had to pay a great deal to proportions, and probably also draw the basic structure of the drawing, to make sure everything was ok. Also, if you copy something and it comes out exactly like the original subject, why shouldnât you be proud of it? why hiding it? I know that itâs hard to understand if youâre not an artist, but everything would be clearer if you just try it. Take a picture, try to trace it and then try to copy it. Youâll feel the difference.
To finish this rant (because yes Iâm tired of seeing artists who struggle to have 10 followers and 10 notes with their original art, when people like @romansigh purposely cheat and betray the trust of their followers, and get away with it because nobody actually notices or has the courage to say anything). I tried being clam, good and understanding with her, but her answer meant it didnât work.
*Many of the artists of this fandom use references when drawing, especially when theyâve never drawn a character before. To make this clearer, if I want to draw my OC, I wouldnât need references for the face/body/clothes because itâs something I created, so I know how to draw him (I could still need references for the pose).
**To copy: in art -especially in manga/anime style-, it means looking at a pic (or at nature etc) trying to reproduce it as close as possible to the original work. It requires a lot of effort and ability.
Red haired girl, by Samuel Silva. This is a GREAT example of copying. (itâs made with ballpoint pens)
This could use some work, but itâs still copying. As I said, it requires a lot of exercise and ability.
