Is it “cheating” to trace when creating a painting?

I’ve always resisted the urge to trace images from photographs but recently I’ve been wondering why.

Lots of artists do it. Does it really matter if I haven’t painstakingly rendered my subject in pencil before the painting process begins? Is it less of an artform if I do? The dream and vision are still there. Some artists don’t even create there own paintings – take Damian Hurst’s famous spot paintings, he’s only done 25 out of 1,365 himself.

It’s something of a personal dilemma.

There’s a part of me that says if I haven’t drawn freehand the value of the work is somehow less. How? I’m not sure, but less all the same. I don’t have any arguments to support it, it’s just how my mind works. But I’m finding my reticence worn down.

The reason for my quandry is I want to paint more.

I spend many hours on the pencil sketch and masking but only an hour or two maximum actually painting. And that’s the fascinating part I want to do more of. I’d also like to be able to offer small architectural works. The time I’d need to devote to produce pieces I’d be happy with and I’d have to charge accordingl. I can’t justify the relative time and cost

The hand of the artist is still evident in tracings as in drawings.

I’ve always thought that tracing removes the individual style of a piece but looking at other people’s attempts to trace, I know that’s untrue. Sure, you may have to look closer to find it, but it’s still there. Most of my style comes from how I apply the paint. Although quirks in perspective and errors in rendering contribute, I’m not sure how much.

I also know from my years in paediatrics that tracing is not as straightforward a physical process as you might think.

There is a degree of control required to trace accurately and produce a confident line.

Of course, tracing an image downloaded from the internet without permission is entering into a murky area I’ll not go. But, I have no copyright issues to contend with. All photographs I use are taken by me.

So why the reluctance?

Again, I think it’s psychological.

So, I’ve decided to conduct a few experiments. Test pieces so to speak. I’ll complete a few works by tracing the original photograph and see what the results are. If I’m happy, I may be forced to rethink.

So here is my first attempt as a work in progress.

I’ll share the finished result in a few days!

So what do you think?

Is tracing acceptable in art? And why?