This might be an irrational question, but I really wanna hear people's opinions

[wise iris]

I struggle with getting characters' proportions right so I often trace the ref sheets I've made of them.
Is this considered cheating? What can I do to be able to make my characters look like themselves without relying on tracing?

[sage rivet]

its art. if you find this easier and youre happy with the art you produce, it doesnt matter what other people think

but i guess technically, according to other people, this is a terrible way to do art and you should js learn anatomy 🙄

i dont agree with that though, js have fun

[wise iris]

What worries me - outside of what people might say - is the possibility that this process is causing me to stagnate. Tracing my references obviously allows me to have fun and be quick when drawing, but I also feel held back.

I'd love to be able to sit down and and draw characters consistently without cheating, but for now, I just don't want to feel like I'm somehow "less of an artist"

[sage rivet]

youre never less of an artist

uhh ill reply after school lol

[wise iris]

It's cool, don't worry

[onyx nymph]

a lot of talented artists will actually encourage tracing.
you'll eventually learn through repetition (or at least you should)

but yeah nothing is cheating in art, but if you're doing commissions you definitely shouldnt trace except for the guidelines.

[obtuse sonnet]

I recommend you to study body proportions using the circle and line technique! It helps a lot! I personally don’t trace the art in the canvas, but I put the pose I wanna draw on the other screen, and one more screen to draw. Then I was able to draw basically the similar pose. Hopefully that helps!🤗🤗

[tepid nymph]

tracing is a useful tool to use for learning esp in this context, so you're not less of an artist for doing so esp since you're tracing your own work and not someone else's ^^
if you'd like to go be more comfortable with proportions and not relying on tracing, then i recommend practicing with figure drawing and studying proportions like hokc said :0 being able to better understand form and proportion would def help steer you away from "stagnating" and expand your capabilities. im personally a big fan of using a blocking method to break poses down into simpler shapes and building up from there ^_^

[wise iris]

Oh, so you're saying that using shapes will help with improving my muscle memory when it comes to proportions.