Some artists take years, maybe even a lifetime, to perfect their work. The amount of time and passion that goes into turning a thought into a visual masterpiece is what makes art so precious to billions of people. It took four years for Michelangelo to paint The Last Judgment on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, about five years for M.C. Escher to complete his Metamorphosis drawings, and over fourteen years for Leonardo Da Vinci to perfect the Mona Lisa. But someone in the modern day can recreate these images easily in just a few hours by tracing them, which detracts from the emotions and originality of their original artists. 

Many young artists trace pictures of other artists’ drawings or paintings to gain more experience with creating art, but in reality, they are not creating anything at all. They are merely copying other work that has been thoroughly planned out. While tracing can sometimes lead to practice for aspiring artists, it omits the creativity and decision-making that most artists have to face whenever they create a new piece.

Even if a young artist were to trace only for practice, many art experts believe that it is not beneficial and can actually hinder progress. Tracing makes it possible to bypass the instincts and motor skills required to create meaningful art. When someone traces a picture, they are skipping past the thousands of thoughts and changes that the original artist made. They lose the experience of doubt and uncertainty that makes art something truly natural and reflective of the mistakes it takes to create a great painting or drawing.

Additionally, by tracing a picture, artists may lose their sense of style. Tracing is just mimicking the work and ideas of other artists, instead of generating new ones. If people trace other artists’ work, they lose originality, and their artistic ideas will be based upon someone else’s.

Oftentimes, art is a reflection of life experiences that artists have been through, and when someone else tries to recreate this, they lack the personal connection required to capture the passion of the original image. Even if they trace every line perfectly, they will never experience exactly what the original artist went through, and therefore will never be able to portray the intense and unique emotions involved in the reference. A traced image takes away the impact and passion required to truly make art reflect the artist.

Visual art is something that many people enjoy because they can see emotions that the artists were experiencing while painting or drawing their masterpiece. In fact, the Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines art as “the conscious use of skill and creative imagination especially in the production of aesthetic objects.” Traditional art captures all of this, from the experiences that inspired the artist to put it on a canvas, all the way to the struggles that artists have to go through to make sure the lines and dimensions are just right. Tracing has none of this. No years of hard work, no endless hours of revising and perfecting and certainly no creativity. At its core, tracing is the emotionless copying of lines that others have created, and is not art.