soo, quick question. I’m new to drawing in general, sure I’ve done a few works now and then, but they were for school related years ago. I’d like to pick something up as a hobby and thought I’d give drawing a try. Anyway, is there a term for trying to copy an artwork or anything. Not exactly tracing, but drawing a picture exactly how it looks from another artists. Just curious, would like to do this to get a feel on how things work, etc etc, until I’m confident to try a go at my own style and drawing things out of my head. thanks thanks, also any tips for a newbie starting off who has no experience? :]]]]
Erm… Theft? Stealing? “Homage”? (that sounds good, since it doesn’t sound so negative).:pleased:
Seriosly, though, more than a few people would take a dim view of that sort of activity. For practice, though, it sounds good, although I’d put my money on learning anatomy and a few basics first than learning style.
Learn realism, anatomy, draw things from real life first before you do anything. Then look up styles you like and manipulate them into your work.
Yah, copying a picture is just that. Many people do it but I think its a bad thing to copy pictures since it becomes a crutch. Its much harder to learn do draw without copying but your artwork will be much better, way more creative, and you would need less references for your own work. As an alternative to copying I suggest at least drawing pictures from different angles.
If you do copy its completely okay for private use, and most other artists won’t look down on it since its so common for beginners.
the main problem with learning drawing by coping someone else’s work is that you end up drawing like a less developed version of them… anything you do will be a fair imitation at best, and you’ll never get any respect for your work (expect “was that traced?” comments to abound).
Also, you also pick up all their idiosyncrasies and weaknesses. (ie; the “don’t copy Rob Liefeld’s style” rule)
beyond that, it’s not a bad way to start… Just don’t end there.
Dig into art books, “how to draw” books, etc to get an idea of anatomy, perspective, proportions. Observe things in real life, bring a sketchbook and scribble quick drawings whenever you can 