striker138 wrote:Woot frowns upon using straight live traces. I am sure if you used a trace, and cleaned it up, and recolored it, or whatever, it would be completely passable. I see shirts all the time that look like they use traces in one form or another, but they are typically reworked to the point they don't look it.
I have to join this discussion; here is my oppinion
Reference means "I looked at it to make sure it looks right." While many artists create things straight from their mind or memory, many artists will usually use many of these. It is called a reference because you "refer" to it.
Copying an image, whether freehand or, worse, through live trace, isn't really art in any viable sense. Art involves creation. Xerox machines aren't artists. But then, neither are forgers. It's great if you can replicate the Mona Lisa. Good for you, skillboy powerhead. But you're not DaVinci. That's why museums don't regularly have high profile forgery galleries.
To put reference in a clearer contrast: I can't write a book on the civil war by picking and choosing parts of Shelby Foote's trilogy, quoting them, and linking them with conjunctions and short phrases, even if I cite every quote. I need to add my own commentary, make connections between sources, and create a new book. I "refer" to the earlier ones to enforce my individual argument. I do not simply handwrite someone else's words in a different script.
I hope that clears everything up
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