Making Comics Diary Ep 7- Creating The Cover

[@jngarrettart]

This was great! In my opinion, tracing is only “cheating” if a student is trying to use it to bypass actually learning to draw (in which case it’s “cheating” oneself of the opportunity to be able draw a wider range of subject matter), if someone is trying to trace someone else’s artwork/photography and pass it off as their own, or if someone claims to never use tracing when in fact they do (the latter two being honesty/integrity issues). I agree with you - why shun a tool that can speed up part of your workflow as a professional? The goal at that point isn’t learning to draw, it’s getting the job done, and using a model to get a car drawn more quickly and consistently sounds like an excellent use of tracing and a fabulous way to save valuable time on a long project. It’s ultimately all still funneling through your own artistic vision anyway. From what I’ve seen, people who can’t yet draw well freehand often can’t trace well either, because they don’t understand the underpinnings of what made the original work, but with more drawing experience, they can make more informed choices about which lines they choose and what kind of weight those lines have. Keep up the great work! 😁👍 (Edit for clarification: I do also think students can sometimes use tracing to learn effectively, say if it’s used as a way to get a better feel for how someone else made lines or proportions, or to create a base quickly for rendering practice. Balanced with other approaches, again, it can be a useful tool.)

[@EricMerced]

Well said! I remember when I was younger I would actually trace a specific Artists drawings not to copy them and pass them as my own, but to try and understand how he drew his characters. It’s how I learned to use shapes for the body parts. Helped a great deal. So as you’ve said, tracing is helpful when used correctly. I don’t like the fact that I have to resort to tracing a single object but, yeah, I also don’t like the idea of spending over an hour on a single prop 😂

[@jngarrettart]

That’s great you learned so much from this method! I think it’s a little like having a master “hold our hands” a bit while we’re learning. Oh, I don’t think you need to feel bad at all about that. Personally, I figure any technique that’s good enough for a film pipeline is good enough for an individual artist’s work too, especially when the goal is the end product. Reference, photo bashing, and tracing have all been used quite effectively in the world of story production for movies. 🤷🏼‍♀️ You can obviously draw, and based on the work I’ve seen you do, I fully believe you could draw a car freehand if you wanted to spend the time on it, but what’s the point of taking the long way around on something like that when there’s so much else to get done in a comic? On that note, I know we’ve talked before about Jason Brubaker, and I recall seeing he’s used the same technique for complex vehicles to keep things consistent. Another thought here, Disney’s “Paperman” was basically all flat shapes built (traced, if you will) over a 3D form, and then finished with hand drawing. I don’t think speeding up your workflow on a prop makes the work you’ve done any less “yours”. It just makes your workflow more effective at getting you to your destination.

[@seanfrye9808]

All Artists use references, even if they won't admit it!

[@EricMerced]

True! I really struggled with keeping my thoughts on this in this video because I didn’t want to sound like a jerk about it. But thanks for your comment.

[@seanfrye9808]

@@EricMerced Great video, good info.