Creative tracing

Creative tracing is a derivative style of art that is based upon using other art (photos, drawings, film stills, rendered art, et cetera) to trace, or copy freehand, and modify. The result is a drawing that is not identical to the original but is a work of its own creative value, although it is based on existing work. Creative tracings are technical drawings even when they are based on photographic reference material.

The tracing can be on paper (using e.g. tracing paper, and/or a light table), or can be made digitally using an image editor. The copy is created on top of the original. It is also possible and common to copy the image completely freehand side by side, but then it is not tracing, strictly speaking.

Example of a photographic reference...
...and drawing by Louis Malteste (c. 1920s).
Example of a photographic reference...
...and drawing by erik (2000).

An interesting digital-analog-digital technique is used by Lee Warner: he prints photos (or photo composites) on art paper in pure magenta and draws over the printout with a soft black pencil. He then scans the result and deletes the magenta color channel to leave the black-and-white pencil drawing.