Okay before anything this is not a critism towards this site or any other, im just curious.

Whenever i see someone getting accused of tracing its generally 3 or a mixture of 3 different aspects: Art style, Character or Pose.
From this 3 pose is something i give the least credits to because theres a limit in how many way you can make a humanoid char stand/sit/whatever so for me it really dont make sense to base it on this.

Character is a legit complaint thought if you declare that an artwork is tracing because it uses X artists chars that also means that all and every kind of fanarts from pokemon to doom are also should be considered tracing.

Art style is the one what makes the most sense to declare as tracing because some people have really unique style like for example fuf, thought im not sure if i can call anything tracing when the end result is still something new. If it doesnt also include a char from that artist that means its new art in the same style unless we also want to declare that all fanart with the same style as the original and with the same chars like loads of the amazing world of gumball fanart posted is tracing too.

So just at which point does something become similar enough to call it tracing?

Tracing is when you take someone else's artwork, or pull a frame directly from an animation, and then copy the lines exactly by drawing over it. I've heard that this can be good practice for beginning artists, but is rude to share without permission from the original artist. Using another character or art style wouldn't be tracing, otherwise fan-art wouldn't be allowed whatsoever. It is however possible to copy the basic shape and pose of a character, but change the details, and that would be a form of tracing. But if someone draws a person sitting in a chair and you also draw someone sitting in a chair, but didn't draw over their drawing, it wouldn't be tracing.

"tracing"...huh? I've seen that kind of thing in the ticket center lately.
There're things sometimes called "parody", but if we do it wrong, it becomes a パクリ ≒ "plagiarism"._{← There are twisted people in Japan...afraid to say, though...}

In my own view : don't taking this seriously :

• Art style : For example, We should NEVER use a line drawing [Before Colored] without asking the artist's permission, for sharing

--- Tracing with a transparent paper on a extremly bright screen[iPad?], or using line drawings as they are.
However, it is not uncommon for an artist's fans to find that their drawing habits[art_style] become more and more similar as they continue to look at his/her works.
If I were an artist, I Should draw the lines from a blank sheet of paper and do all the coloring myself, without other artist's art/images.
Well, it's a bad idea to actively copy their drawing habits[art_style], I think.

• Character : Not a few people complain about this. To begin with, some people in Japan don't like novels/anime about Reincarnation

( = Starting over in another world after death, by the same person ). But I think it's nonsense to say that, at least for me.
We can make a Curry by stewing it with carrots +potatoes +spices +meats. Boiling with salt +soy_sauce +noodles +oil +boiled_egg makes Ramen_noodles ← I love them yeah
However, while we Japanese respect them, we rework them in a new style and allow them to evolve in owr own way.
--- So There's no such thing as "plagiarism" in these cases, as there is no problem as using those materials.
It's okay to use some templates/formula , but it's important to know how to express yourself, how to put them into your worldview. _{Well, let's have a curry_and_rice or Hakata_Ramen!}

• Pose : I've heard that even the great artist I know have that problem...However, there's a limit in how many way you can make ... so You're right.

I like composing, and know situations where people say "it's boring!" or "don't copy the chord progression!" (=the method of making song), if it's the same.
But there are many such songs in the world. Also The chord progression is the framework of the song, so if I break it, the song will break.
I guess, Doing something unique because who don't want to be the same as someone else, may Not always a good idea.
It's still the same as with [Character], I think it's important to try new things from time to time,
instead of making the same thing as other artists, Or continuing to make things in a same style that we like.
...like "reinventing_the_wheel"? , but it's inexcusable to be told that we can't take the same path when we're trying to achieve the same goal !

Tracing is little more than taking a pre-existing image and drawing over it. Using a reference is not tracing. Copying something by eyeballing it is not tracing. Mimicking an art style is not tracing. Drawing someone else's character is not tracing. You can only trace a specific picture.

On art styles: You can mimic them with no problem, but it's not possible to trace them. You can possibly familiarize yourself with an art style by tracing pictures using it, and you can certainly ethically copy the art style in your own drawings, but you can't trace an art style itself, just a picture that uses it.

On characters: You can draw someone else's characters, but it's not tracing unless you're directly drawing over a picture with that character in it. Fanart isn't tracing when you're making brand new pictures.

On poses: You can copy and reference a pose in your pictures. In fact, that's a good idea, especially when you're the slightest bit vague on how a pose should look. It's only tracing if you take the reference picture and draw directly over it. Copying the pose by eyeballing it is okay and what you have to do if you need a reference.

gloomy_wing said:
"tracing"...huh? I've seen that kind of thing in the ticket center lately.
There're things sometimes called "parody", but if we do it wrong, it becomes a パクリ ≒ "plagiarism"._{← There are twisted people in Japan...afraid to say, though...}

In my own view : don't taking this seriously :

• Art style : For example, We should NEVER use a line drawing [Before Colored] without asking the artist's permission, for sharing

--- Tracing with a transparent paper on a extremly bright screen[iPad?], or using line drawings as they are.
However, it is not uncommon for an artist's fans to find that their drawing habits[art_style] become more and more similar as they continue to look at his/her works.
If I were an artist, I Should draw the lines from a blank sheet of paper and do all the coloring myself, without other artist's art/images.
Well, it's a bad idea to actively copy their drawing habits[art_style], I think.

• Character : Not a few people complain about this. To begin with, some people in Japan don't like novels/anime about Reincarnation

( = Starting over in another world after death, by the same person ). But I think it's nonsense to say that, at least for me.
We can make a Curry by stewing it with carrots +potatoes +spices +meats. Boiling with salt +soy_sauce +noodles +oil +boiled_egg makes Ramen_noodles ← I love them yeah
However, while we Japanese respect them, we rework them in a new style and allow them to evolve in owr own way.
--- So There's no such thing as "plagiarism" in these cases, as there is no problem as using those materials.
It's okay to use some templates/formula , but it's important to know how to express yourself, how to put them into your worldview. _{Well, let's have a curry_and_rice or Hakata_Ramen!}

• Pose : I've heard that even the great artist I know have that problem...However, there's a limit in how many way you can make ... so You're right.

I like composing, and know situations where people say "it's boring!" or "don't copy the chord progression!" (=the method of making song), if it's the same.
But there are many such songs in the world. Also The chord progression is the framework of the song, so if I break it, the song will break.
I guess, Doing something unique because who don't want to be the same as someone else, may Not always a good idea.
It's still the same as with [Character], I think it's important to try new things from time to time,
instead of making the same thing as other artists, Or continuing to make things in a same style that we like.
...like "reinventing_the_wheel"? , but it's inexcusable to be told that we can't take the same path when we're trying to achieve the same goal !

Thats similar to how i view the issue but after reading throught several people making comment on what is good and what is not it became clear that people dont really have a clear idea on what is actual tracing aka copying. For example there is an artist currently on the site who uses a DNP artists char in an animation, its extremely close to what i could call tracing but its still up here so i guess its fine but got me wondering when do you start to call it tracing?

Basically when you do this
https://i.imgur.com/uUk0gWo.jpg

Using someone else's art in a layer below and you start drawing over it without doing a significant change (like changing the whole angle or changing the whole shape and pose).

tester29 said:Thats similar to how i

Well, I can't guess what other people will call "tracing"...._{So, That was my own view.}

One thing is clear, the act --- as shown by @blitzdrachin, using some art in a layer below --- this is not good.

However, although I don't think anything else will be removed, maybe there are other people who will say like what I said.
...No, I just remembered that there were people who felt that way.

Therefore, in my case, I'm making a new one(art/work/movie...) based on my own ideas.
Means If I'm making fan art, I'm thinking about making everything on my own except for the characters, to avoid any suspicion that I am doing "tracing".

traced
post #244079 post #2039602

partially traced
post #2347310 post #2481761

used as a reference
post #2205710 post #2461076

inspired
post #1651572 post #2309248

tester29 said:
Thats similar to how i view the issue but after reading throught several people making comment on what is good and what is not it became clear that people dont really have a clear idea on what is actual tracing aka copying. For example there is an artist currently on the site who uses a DNP artists char in an animation, its extremely close to what i could call tracing but its still up here so i guess its fine but got me wondering when do you start to call it tracing?

As far as site rules are concerned it's not tracing unless the lineart itself is a near-perfect recreation. (I'm surprised bitWolfy's Kass example is here.)

gloomy_wing said:

• Pose : I've heard that even the great artist I know have that problem...However, there's a limit in how many way you can make ... so You're right.

I like composing, and know situations where people say "it's boring!" or "don't copy the chord progression!" (=the method of making song), if it's the same.
But there are many such songs in the world. Also The chord progression is the framework of the song, so if I break it, the song will break.
I guess, Doing something unique because who don't want to be the same as someone else, may Not always a good idea.
It's still the same as with [Character], I think it's important to try new things from time to time,
instead of making the same thing as other artists, Or continuing to make things in a same style that we like.
...like "reinventing_the_wheel"? , but it's inexcusable to be told that we can't take the same path when we're trying to achieve the same goal !

The chord progression argument feels silly to me, as someone who spent four years in a rhythm section playing a whole lot of the same two or three blues rock basslines.
Sure there's a lot of the same progressions in music but more often than not it's just a foundation for a more-unique melody elsewhere in the composition.

When I think about is it tracing? applied to music I'm more thinking of something like
these
two
Which (when pretending they're instead furry artworks) are probably different enough to pass e6's rule standards anyway.

But the way we process and compose music is a bit different to a visibly-tangible medium. When experimenting around with new stuff I sometimes used to think "hang on, this sounds too familiar" and later realise I was pulling from the depths of my memory a perfect copy of someone else's obscure track.
I've also heard a local arts college advertising using the Undertale main theme with a single note chopped out.

magnuseffect said:The chord progression argument feels silly to me, as someone who spent four years...

I didn't know you can play the bass...that's so awesome.　_{Because I can only use DAW or MIDI.}
～～～～
Sure, I think the argument is silly too, but feel like the people who say "tracing" about art/image are similar.
In music we (usually) combine a limited number of scales of 12 to one octave, the rhythm is also limited to sound natural.
So wonder why they don't know it can't be helped.
Anyway, I think it's important to write from a blank paper, using my knowledge ( not layer ) on both art and music.
Even if it's similar to someone else's.