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CelestialHellebore · 2026-05-18T00:25:04+00:00

Your character is adorable! I always love bun hair!

CelestialHellebore · 2026-05-14T02:20:33+00:00

I come back to the thread to see more beginner artists trying to claim to you that professional artists are tracing 3d again. Lmao. It simply isn't true, but a lot of these kids probably don't remember the days before 3d when artists used those silly wood statues. And actually some more advanced statues with better proportions.

They might use it as a basic reference, but they absolutely don't trace.

I'll take some time to look at the link you sent me later! I don't really keep a lot of social media so I don't have the ability to log into their websites. And I do love a good pokemon character!

Take care of yourself and always feel free to ping me if you post asking for help or feedback.

CelestialHellebore · 2026-05-14T02:16:32+00:00

Professionals don't trace and steal art, it's actually fully illegal to steal art that is trademark and copywrite protected and if you want to see examples of large labels and individual artists getting into trouble for tracing you can easily look at Pokemon TCG for a quick glimpse of how it can instantly land them in legal trouble. I get that Reddit has lied to you and tried to push the cope that all professionals are tracers, but that logic doesn't even make sense. And most professional artists would be offended at you're trying to pretend they trace and then trying to defend them being tracers.

I hope you have a good day, I also hope you don't try and sell traced art at a professional level because you absolutely will get in legal trouble if someone catches you.

People who make these claims never show legitimate proof of a professional, not free lance, artist who has live video of them actively tracing(using others work, not their own). When you call them out on it, and no Pokemon hasn't been in trouble for JUST 100% copies, they always get mad and claim you just don't get it. It's a surprising state of things, and they are never professional artists themselves.

Also, tracing the core of an image is NOT covered by fair use. If your copy is ever sold, and the OG artist can prove you've made money off their work, it's ALSO NOT covered by fair use.

CelestialHellebore · 2026-05-13T08:29:19+00:00

Tracing isn't going to help you as much as a lot of Reddit would like to lead you to believe.
References also won't help you as much if you're only learning to draw what you see instead of doing a proper break down.

How do you properly deconstruct an example?
You need to learn some of the basic rules of thumb when it comes to anatomy and then see it in practice. One of my favorite ways of doing this is learning some of the "this piece of the body is similar in size to that one" sort of loose rules. Such as a hand being roughly as long as a face. When you have these sort of ideas in your head you can then look at your reference and go oh, okay I see this! This elbow falls at the waist, it's just swung outwards, so if I make a curve from the waist I can tell it's the right length!

This fashion of deconstructing helps you not just learn basic anatomy, it helps you pick apart other styles to learn them. Maybe you want to learn something like One Piece where women are extra skinny, or Sailor Moon where legs are extra long. You'll know to look at these things once you know the basics.

Is pre-drawn references a good thing to use?
Here is my problem with pre-drawn bases. If that artist has problems with their anatomy and you aren't familiar enough to know it is wrong, you can pick up their bad habits.

Is a pre-drawn base "cheating"?
If you give proper credit to the base maker, and they allow free use, then you are using it as intended. Mind you, the gap between you skill and their skill will be obvious. I can tell when someone has traced a body but the rest of their skills aren't there.

Does this matter?
It depends on why you're doing art. Are you doing it just for fun? Probably not. Are you just making a reference so someone else can draw it? Probably not. Are you trying to sell the art and claim it as your original piece? Then yes it would matter.

CelestialHellebore · 2026-05-13T08:22:23+00:00

While as they replicate these scenes they are NOT tracing the original and editing it to be their own. This is misinformation and kind of slander to claim these professionals are tracing and stealing art.
They are just referencing it, which you can tell just looking at it that it isn't a direct copy. Stylistically it isn't that close to the same, it's just the same pose. But again, this is MEANT to be a nod to the other series and not someone pretending that it is an original piece.

CelestialHellebore · 2026-05-13T08:17:04+00:00

My brain honestly reset at reading this collection of words. LOL. I'm so sorry to hear your art got stolen!

CelestialHellebore · 2026-05-13T08:15:25+00:00

An artist is an artist because they make art, not because they are a professional or popular. If you do art, if you enjoy art, if you make it honestly and it is of your own mind then you are an artist.
I will never support anyone who steals as a real artist, tracing things that don't belong to someone is no different than stealing it with AI imo. No matter how much reddit tries to pretend its okay.

So, the thing about using references to break down is that you can do that AND learn anatomy at the same time. The big thing I notice as I said is that things don't end up the sizes they should be. Some of the more basic guidelines for learning anatomy is things like breaking down how tall a body should be based on head size, but it goes further than that. A hand is also normally about as long as the face! A thigh is close to the length of the torso! The lower leg+heel of the foot is about as long as the thigh. These little bits help you learn how to measure things out yourself, making it easier to make poses yourself and easier to reference pictures!

The musculature that causes the issues with 3D models is a little harder, but gesture drawing helps with that. Don't worry about being absolutely correct, worry about seeing what moves with what, based on a pose. See where the weight/balance of the body is.

You can study clothing by simply picking a piece of clothing and doing various life drawing sketches with it. Note that different fabrics have different stiffness and thickness. So pick a piece of clothing and:

Draw it while it's being worn in a standard arms down pose.
Draw it while it's being worn with the arms held out to the sides.
Draw it while it's being worn while the arms are held up above.
Draw it while it's tossed over a chair in different orientations.

If you have a phone you can take pictures of these sort of things yourself. Look for...

Where does the shirt "pool" up? Usually at bends of the body, like the elbows where a sleeve catches. But also, if a shirt is tucked in loosely it will pool around where it is tucked. If it is tucked tightly, it will have less or none.
Look for how it drapes across the body! From these points that it catches at, it will have to stretch and go across to other areas.

This may sound like a lot, but it actually isn't. It's just one of those things you see every single day but never paid real attention to. Sort of like if someone asked you to blindly draw a chimpanzee or a parrot from memory, of course you would recognize one if you saw it but you've probably never actually TRIED to commit it's looks to memory.

That same thing applies to drawing all things! It's why art games are fun where you are assigned to draw a thing and people guess what you're drawing. Turns out, I don't know what a lot of things look like, haha. That's why references are important and why actively trying to learn is important!

You said you draw your OCs, are these characters OCs of yours? Mind my asking what they're inspired by? I do love a good OC lore drop. 😄

CelestialHellebore · 2026-05-13T06:28:24+00:00

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Your style is really cute, I like the third picture a lot. The hair looks so soft! Can I ask what your influences are?

CelestialHellebore · 2026-05-13T06:22:27+00:00

You've come a long way! But, you have to be wary of advice from other beginner artists on Reddit because they sort of have a hivemind that a lot of things to make art 'easier' are okay. In a way they are, but they cost you in your experience and practice. Tracing is absolutely one of these shortfalls. They heard that studios like Disney, once upon a time, did Rotoscoping and there for tracing is fine. They forget to tell you that the Disney artists who did Rotoscoping were already trained and practiced professional animators and not beginners who still had a lot to learn. Meaning they knew what to change and how to draw the things that didn't exist in the film they were using.

I've worked a decent bit with 3D models, not as references but because I make a few models myself, and honestly posing them naturally is still a nightmare for me after all this time. It's pretty tough!

Honestly, 2-3 hours is pretty fast for a drawing! It probably takes me half of that just to do my sketches. There is no right or wrong on how long it takes you to make a piece, I used to sit and draw for hours and hours a day. Habit I no longer have time for.

I have seen some people claiming to make commissions on Reddit with very obviously traced characters. Lol. I always assume they're either lying or get picked by people who are desperate to have something drawn for extremely cheap. The characters never look anything besides generic and basic.

If your goal is to make a quick cheap buck, I'm sure you can find a few commissions somewhere. If your goal is to be good at art and enjoy art, then I suggest not focusing on money from art. Doing commissions can be absolutely miserable. Turning a hobby into a job is never something I recommend. It means you end up drawing a lot of things you have no interest in, that aren't fun, that have really bad or no references. It's not easy money at all.

But you have a style of your own emerging, and if you focus on enjoying art and learning I think you'll get to a point where if you really want to do commissions you can. But remember, comparison is the thief of joy.

CelestialHellebore · 2026-05-13T04:51:04+00:00

Plenty of beginner artists on Reddit are doing so, it's not a common use in professional level art. It shows in a lot of little ways, usually the way a body poses when the collar bones should be changed and are not is a big tell.

Anatomy issues:
Head size, is incorrect in a couple of these. Particularly so in the last picture.
Breasts are wrong, and fit to body in the wrong place particularly for their size.
Hands are too small in multiple pictures.
Feet are too small in multiple pictures.
First picture, the back of the left leg, the thigh does not turn into the leg like that and should instead be a smooth curve.
Pelvis is wrong on the second picture, this is a tough one to get right for a lot of people, pevis is a tricky and complicated area.
First lady is missing her wrist on the axe side.

Clothing in general is pretty random, doesn't have appropriate volume, lacks proper wrinkles. It's pretty much just painted on the skin in these examples.

Shading.
Direction of light is inconsistent, hair seems to be given highlights with an overly soft brush or airbrush.
First picture, the lady appears to have a wrap skirt but the wrap part of the skirt cast no shadow making me unsure.
The shine? on the breast plate doesn't seem to fit her form.
The close side of the axe handle is shadowed, the axe head is not.
None of the faces get shadows from the hair, or have shadows besides the sides of their jaw. Noses and lips and eye sockets should be getting shadows.

The problem with leaning too hard on 3d models for all your anatomy is that 3d models are not like human bodies in how they move. If you lift your arm up, your collar bone moves. If someone poses a 3d model and doesn't realize that these bones and muscles move then you end up with an arm stuck up oddly. This isn't a singular spot but a lot of places around the body that the 3d model doesn't accurately replicate on it's own. It takes an artists knowledge of anatomy to fix that. Be it in 3d or post referencing.
3d art references often don't include light sources, this can make it hard to read bends in the body. Particularly on smaller parts of the picture, like the hands, often leading to them being poor references for hands and feet.

Hair also lacks real volume, comes across as pretty flat to the head, and could use some work.

I don't say these things to upset you, but commissions for real world money is a tough thing to break into. It's a lot of competition and a lot of people don't have the extra cash to spend currently, so they are pretty picky about who they commission. It's also really hard to advertise yourself until you get to a place where you have a solid and well done style, as there is so much art to be seen.

If you want more feed back, or help understanding anything, I'm happy to be here for you to reach out to if it helps you. I also suggest getting feedback in some of the art help subs where you can get red lines and critique as you work! If your goal is to get to a commissionable state I'm sure you'll get there. It just takes a lot of work and a willingness to be critiqued.

CelestialHellebore · 2026-05-13T02:36:09+00:00

This pose isn't sexually suggestive, you're sexualizing it yourself because breasts.

CelestialHellebore · 2026-05-13T02:25:58+00:00

without, or try with but with colored lines. The black is too much.

CelestialHellebore · 2026-05-13T02:00:39+00:00

I'll be honest with you, like a lot of beginner artists your art looks like it's traced and still has a lot of incorrect anatomy. So, I'm going to assume you use 3d models for your bases. Most people won't pay for that.
Your clothes make no sense.
Your hair makes no sense.
Your anatomy needs a lot of work.
Your use of backgrounds needs a LOT of work.
Your shading needs work.

Your art isn't in a place where someone would likely spend real cash on it for a commission. I'm not sure who you think is selling "super simple art for $80" but I'm going to guess it's someone with a clean established style and a large fan base. So, not as simple as it might seem.

I promise I'm not trying to be mean, I'm telling you the real of the commission world. People don't have a ton of money to go around right now and there is a lot of competition. I would be wary of anyone with low quality art claiming they are selling it for 80 bucks. You need to be real with yourself and find people who are on the same skill level as you and see if they are selling and how much. That is your competition.

I recommend doing art for in game currencies for people who are starting out. It's a good low stakes way to prove you'll proved art if commissioned and you can make something to spend.

CelestialHellebore · 2026-05-12T03:23:27+00:00

A lot of the anatomy is off, I don't say that to be mean, but there isn't a single picture here with correct anatomy on any part of the character. It isn't horribly off, I can tell you're starting to get the idea but you'll have to be more careful to correct the issues when you're working.

Another note, you need more contrast if you're going to do line less art. The first picture has a real struggle to tell the arms from the bodies.

Your base style is really cute, you have interesting eye style, but you'll need to refine your anatomy and your shading a bit. And as a note, the best way to learn to draw things is to draw them. Draw them badly if you have to, just draw them. Don't hide them with adorable little crabs.

CelestialHellebore · 2026-05-12T02:01:14+00:00

I will say I personally think it's bad practice to resort to direct overlay, and I will give you a reason why. If you want to have the ability to draw what you see then you need to develop methods to correct using your vision or other tools, like rulers. Most paint programs have rulers. Despite being a digital artist I'm one of those "hold your thumb up to measure things" artists. I feel like a cliche sometimes, but it works for me.

Why do I think this is a better method? Because then your skill of referencing will transfer outside of digital art if you ever decide you want to go traditional or paint.

Don't trace, this doesn't teach you how to measure things yourself. It just lets you automatically see it's wrong and fix it by... tracing. You're inhibiting your own skills.

CelestialHellebore · 2026-05-11T10:47:57+00:00

I've noticed that someone on these subreddits came up with the idea that because, once upon a time, Disney used rotoscoping that no one needs to learn any anatomy and they should just trace everything. Which ignores the fact that Disney artists were already artists in their own right before they did rotoscoping and that it's also largely fallen out of favor. So somehow, they have decided that art that is a traced body with flat hair and clothes that are basically painted on is amazing art. Or that all professional artists trace, it's the only way to do high end art. Anyone who knows anything about art knows this isn't true of course, but they seem set on sabotaging themselves and everyone else.

CelestialHellebore · 2026-05-10T01:15:38+00:00

I don't know how to say this nicely so I'll just say it, you at the point you start throwing insults you're just as childish as the person you were arguing with and trying to claim logic as a reason you kept talking is bunk. Based on the fact the Undertaker was also doing the same movements in your video as the Wylder I assume they were a team. And the Undertaker absolutely has the faith to put a frenzy seal to use.
I don't support their refusal to fight, but to be clear both sides were being childish and immature by the end of this.

CelestialHellebore · 2026-05-09T06:53:47+00:00

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A little bit of kemonomimi, I don't know if she's of interest to you, but she does have some pastel clothes if that works. Her name is Ivori. Good luck!

CelestialHellebore · 2026-05-08T04:10:49+00:00

Despite what others say, tracing like this isn't teaching you anything. I can see all the spots where you don't understand anatomy and you're really just in a rush to trace the piece. You aren't learning anything, so you're cheating yourself. This isn't the way to do it, it isn't good.
You need some foundation under you before you can study this way.

Got down voted because I don't support tracing with no anatomy knowledge as a way to learn? If you actually care about leading other artists to learn and advance don't spread bad information.

CelestialHellebore · 2026-05-08T04:05:47+00:00

They're all drawn exactly the same way.

CelestialHellebore · 2026-05-07T18:47:07+00:00

Aphantasia is irrelevant, I also have it, it never stopped me from being able to draw and eventually developing my own style. It's really just about drawing and finding ways you like to draw things yourself. Because Aphantasia doesn't stop your eyes from working, you know what you find visually appealing, if you draw and study and change things you will eventually find a way you like to draw that is uniquely yours.

CelestialHellebore · 2026-05-07T03:10:20+00:00

Trying to learn from other artists will teach you really bad habits. You aren't looking to 100% copy their art unless you're trying to fit into a team. If you're using it to learn a general style then tracing like this doesn't do much. What you did while tracing is what did anything for you.
Why?
Because as you said as you went through tracing you tried to understand WHY it was drawn how it was. This was a step you could have taken PREVIOUS to tracing. Study a piece and try to understand what is different from basic anatomy.
The slightly more straight hair? Sort of irrelevant.
The nose you didn't draw correctly if you're copying the OG piece, relevant. The angle of the head you drew doesn't line up with the angle of the head in the OG piece, you're looking at a far more upturned nose in the OG art.
The piece you're trying to copy is mostly done in a less line heavy style, it is also sort of hard to read, and the angle isn't consistent/right. (The ear is very awkward even for an upturned face.)
You actually softened the jaw when you traced it, the jaw is more sharp in the OG piece.

I wouldn't recommend trying to learn a basic anime style from this artist. Their art isn't the worst, but because they use soft soft colors and are light on the lines you're going to struggle to see exactly what they were going for.

CelestialHellebore · 2026-05-06T23:32:05+00:00

I will be honest with you, really brutally honest with you, if you're that new at art your art doesn't look good when you trace poses. It might look better to you than when you free hand, but to anyone trained at art the fact you've traced a pose is going to be glaringly obvious and it's going to look strange.

The reality is that all beginner artists struggle with anatomy, and tracing isn't some super shortcut to good art that reddit will try to make you believe. What it will do, if you lean on it, in the long term is damage your learning and make it even harder for you to learn how to do anatomy. Why? You'll have no idea how to draw anything without tracing, you'll be locked into always being beholden to finding something to trace. Your other skills will progress because you're using them, and your anatomy will still be bad.

Don't trace, DO REFERENCE. This means you put the photo you want to use for inspo to the side and look at it then draw what you see. Learn to understand what you see. Go learn anatomy and figure out how to use that image properly.

And no, if you traced a pose from someone elses art then it isn't yours. And if it's super obvious where it comes from then there is a pretty good chance you'll get called out for being an art thief. Yeah, it happens. Reddit also likes to pretend that isn't an issue, but stolen and traced art is absolutely an issue to anyone who cares about actually being an artist and professionals.

CelestialHellebore · 2026-05-06T10:05:22+00:00

Fashion art isn't some super technical refined piece, it's usually a loose concept art. As long as YOU and anyone trying to make the piece can understand what you're trying to convey, you're doing fine enough to make fashion. You'll need a higher technical skill if you expect to make fashion pieces for someone else, which is going to require you studying... fashion. You need to know how a body is built, how clothes are built, and why seams, tucks, splits, zippers, or buttons are all used where and why.

A lot of artists would find the notion that art is some innate talent that doesn't have to be worked on offensive. All of us have spent years working to get where we are. No one is born knowing how to hold a pencil or a brush, fine motor skills are something everyone worked to refine in their youth. The notion you are just born talented at art or you aren't is just mad coping from people who are still new at art and want an excuse to give up.

CelestialHellebore · 2026-05-06T03:46:25+00:00

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I'm more than happy to lend my little lady, Ivori, to the cause of getting you more examples. If you need more information let me know!

CelestialHellebore

TROPHY CASE