Photo by Charles Deluvio on Unsplash

Yes, absolutely!

Have I ruffled some art-feathers? Maybe so, I like to rogue every so often. Many of you may disagree with me but, I ask that you continue reading to see my logic.  

I for one was incredibly grateful when my art instructor said she does it all the time.  I was taking a professional watercolor painting class and being less confident with my drawing skills I didn’t want that to be the thing that took the wind from my sails, especially since I had paid quite a chunk of change to learn from this teacher. When she gave the class her permission to trace and use her projector, my reaction I’m sure, was audible, as I let out a huge sigh of relief. She explained that she wanted to get on with the fun stuff, the painting part of our class. Things took on a whole new light for me.

I had made a pivot in my artistic journey.

I don’t usually approach a new painting by tracing my design however, I will trace complex elements or very largescale things. Like me, drawing can be the one thing that holds them back from trying a new medium or diving into a new project, especially for young students. Some of us artists are less technical or find the discipline of drawing to be just too challenging.

Now does this mean that as an artist you never have to learn to draw? No, you do, however, sometimes it is alright to allow ourselves or our kiddos to trace something especially if they are learning a new skill like painting. I will caveat this and say that I spend a considerable amount of time drawing and sketching to continue to improve and help my eyes to see differently.

Here are a couple of tips to help with the process of creating:

1. ) If you decide that tracing is a viable option for your budding artist then you will want to be tracing printed off royalty free images.

2. )You can also have your student trace your own photographs or part of a photo. This can be done with a projector like this one if you wish to enlarge the images or by using a light source behind the image or placing it on a window.

3. ) Another option that I use, especially with my young students is to grayscale an image so that it takes the pressure off. This allows for the student to really enjoy the process and not be so concerned about getting the image correct. In my experience this is a part of the process that can be the most discouraging part for a new young student. The grayscale option can also help out if you are wanting to do your art lesson but you don’t have a huge amount of time, this can help alleviate the time crunch.

4. ) Another option is to use carbon transfer paper under and image but carbon side down on the substrate. Then put image on top and with a pencil trace the actual image, the carbon paper will put the image onto your substrate.

Tracing in itself can be a real skill builder. It helps your student to slow down, make careful marks, pay attention to details, observe the whole and the parts, refer to the reference (lifting the tracing paper and checking). All these skills help to hone the artistic eye and observation skills.

So, go on, get on with your art lesson, you have the teacher’s permission to trace!