[Him]

Recently there was an incident on tumblr where someone had 'traced' another person's image to draw their own character. Now it's a huge deal and stuff so it got me thinking. How many of you people actually consider tracing to be art theft?

Personally in my opinion as an artist, I'd hate it if someone took credit for something I worked hard on. But I feel like if you're tracing to improve like your eyes or poses I think that's fine. So long as you ADMIT the art is not yours. AND you link to the original piece to the original artist. I see nothing wrong with referencing others work, but when you start posting them claiming that you did this on your own, then we have a problem.

So what do you guys think? IS tracing art theft to you? If so why? And are there limitations to what you consider art theft and not art theft? Or it's just plain unacceptable?

[Tohopekaliga]

There is nothing wrong with tracing.


As long as it is presented as such. It is dishonest and wrong to trace something and then say you did it all yourself. But there's no real issue (to me) if someone traces something and then says, "I traced this thing," link, "and then tried out changing the clothes" (or whatever modification).

It's just one way to help get a handle on how the lines come together.

[Lawtan]

Hmm...
Well, I'd say it would depend in part on the intent of the art, the intent of the tracing, etc.

Examples I would not consider theft:
1) Sketches trying to learn from "the masters" (Leonardo, Salvador Dali, etc.)
2) Art that is meant for tracing/practice drawing. (How-to's)
3) Using multiple drawings as research/reference for your drawing.

What is theft.
1) Using references that request citation without citing.
2) Tracing/copying another's art without citation/consent.

And...that's about it for me.

[Him]

Okay so what if someone, traces a piece of the drawing? Like say they traced nose and the ears because of whatever reason.

[Lawtan]

Depends. I have used tracing other drawings to practice before I draw my own thing, but direct tracing of different parts from different drawings...
This is gray area to me.

[Him]

Well the person I am talking has been caught before. And the image they drew had some of the face traced and some shoulder placement. But as far as I know, they've been caught before and was reprimanded by the people they stole from.

So why do you think people think it's okay to trace something and post it as their own? And why do they insist on doing it after they've been caught?

[Lawtan]

Well, it goes back to a lack of patience, and people often want instant gratification.

A similar thing I see in many places nowadays (with politics, with projects, etc)

[Him]

Well I wish they would try themselves, credit people, and stop the stealing of art. Anyone have similar experiences? Thankfully no one wants to steal my crummy art xD

[Vincent]

Or maybe they just do stuff like that to receive praise or whatever since they don't get much in their life and want to be proud of something in their own eyes? XD I don't know, only thing I can think of...

[Him]

Well some people do do that. They'll outright steal someones work and just put their name on it. But i'm talking about small sneaky stuff. Like tracing a portion of a drawing but since you drew the rest it seems you did it yourself. But that's still stealing art work. Unless they credit the parts they used.

[Vincent]

Hm. If it's tracing some parts and drawing the rest in themselves, there may even be some people who don't see it as stealing at all. Their mind may not even just be in stealing.
They may say 'Oh, hey! That person is an amazing artist, I should see if I can learn a thing or two from their style!
And that's all where their mind may be. Not anywhere in 'Oh, if I did that it might be stealing.'

Because honestly, if I try to think about myself doing that, stealing would be the last thing on my mind if I draw something , and it turns out well, and I want to hear praise and critique. XD I dunno.
Everyones different. :3 And we all make mistakes. x3

But for those that are doing it with 'I'm stealing this' actually on their mind, then yeah, they are pretty much to blame. They're doing it intentionally.

[Him]

Yeah I guess but what if their reaction is hostile. Like "NO I DID'T STEAL IT ASDFGHJKL rather than. "Oh I did trace a little I'm sorry and I'll take down the work." Now then you know someone doesn't think they're stealing at all.

[Lawtan]

I'd actually chalk that up to defensiveness. If they don't think they stole it, than a "Hey! You !@#$ing stole my work!" would automatically have the human defensive reaction of "No I $%^&ing didn't."

Now if it was said "Umm, I can tell that you traced part of my work. Please either cite my work or take yours down." and they responded similarly, they are a kingly jerkass.

There was one person who stated that they were receiving lies from people that something was their work (When he knew it was someone else), and as such apologized, but he would not cite something when he was not sure whose it was. (This is another socket wrench here. The kings of jerks try to tell anyone willing to cite that a work is theirs/from theirs when it is not, for incitement and attention)

[Him]

Yeah I've never seen any lie about having stolen work that's not there. If they wanted to make sure it belongs to them using that google image findy thing gives you a list of site where the actual picture is posted. it might be useful.

[Nexess]

See now in my opinion that's just theft. If she first traced it to practice it to add to her own piece than ok, that's fine, but to purposely trace it right onto your art is theft, purely because that part of the work isn't actually yours, it's whoever you traced it off of.

[Lawtan]

Oh, the last part I was talking about was theft, however, I was stating that the theft (especially online/on tumblr) would not be resolved through anger/bluntness.

When a person gets angry at another person, the latter almost always gets angry in return, and two angry people, unless they have some talent for working under anger, never get a job done.