Is it considered "cheating" if I take a pose, like a stock photo of someone posing, and then in an image program like GIMP or MSPaint or Photoshop, I sketch OVER the Person who is posing? I wanna try and do that for a bit alongside just naturally drawing straight from hand.
There's no cheating in art as long as you acknowledge what you're doing. If you're going to trace, tell people you used references and what you did with them. I don't recommend tracing (drawing over) because you won't learn anything from it. However, I recommend drawing the pose until you nail it. You'll learn and have it naturally.
*Frustrated* I despise you so much because of how right you are and now I feel scummy for even thinking of the tracing thing. Thank you....thanks a fucking lot. ((Not angry at you. Like I said, just very very frustrated.))
Theres nothing wrong with practice! Just keep drawing until you feel comfortable with how it looks. Theres also nothing wrong with starting over, there have been times where I nearly complete a picture and then erase it completely just to make sure I redo it the way I want it to be. Main point: Practice makes perfect and have fun in what you do!
Don't feel frustrated, you can do it for fun, just don't claim things as your art. When I first learned how to paint, I used to take really famous classical paintings, trace the characters, and then just train painting. Depending on what you're doing, tracing isn't morally wrong. Most people who make master studies/painting reproductions trace, and depending what you're doing. If you're going to paint from a photo reference, might as well trace rather than spending 8 hours constructing a grid from the photo to have perfect proportion. Technology is there to help, too. I don't think tracing is interesting if you're purely drawing though, you're really just better off looking at something and trying to draw it on the side, because that's how you learn. If you do it systematically, you'll understand how things work easily.
Sad part is I start off having fun. Then mistakes happen...and more mistakes...and more and more and it becomes "AAAARRGH, MY VISION SHALL NEVER BECOME TRUE!!!" And often times the stuff I end up settling on I look and say "This is a piece of shit...." I am just....very hard on myself about my art. I consider myself shit.
Don't feel too bad, I feel the same way about my stories, poems, and scripts. I call it the Artist's Curse. We seem to never be happy with our work, even if, and sometimes because, other people really like it. I cannot read over my stories. Even though all my friends and fans love them, I think they're shit. The worst things I've ever done. So, I know how you feel. And I doubt you're bad at it. It means you want to get better. It's that drive so many other professions lack. So take that Curse, use it to drive yourself to betterness, and turn it into a blessing
