>Take photos of myself then trace the poses This is cheating,

Ask Noah.

>>2760964
who

>>2760963
Whom are you cheating besides yourself? No one here gives a shit whether you do art the right way, it's your life. Just be aware that tracing (or even copying to some extent) won't do jack shit for your art career.

>>2760963

No, that's actually retarded. On the other hand, if you would just reference yourself, then it is all good and proper.

If it helps you understand the things you need to understand, go for it.

N O R U L E S
O N L Y T O O L S

>>2760963
>>2760970
I fear that the slippery sloppery will make me fail and stop studying and just half ass stuff with this.
How do I stop myself from auto-destructive tendencies like that?

>>2760972

Learn to meditate, literally silence your mind and merely focus on the task at hand.

File: Daddy_a4a008_5732764.png (6KB, 640x480px) Image search: [Google]

6KB, 640x480px

>>2760963
Actually never mind.
I'm tracing right now and this is even more boring than studying or from reference.

Dodged a bullet

>>2760967
better tell sakimichan.

>>2760963
What are you going to do if you will want to draw a cute girl?

>>2760963
>>2761006
There's actually nothing wrong with using an underlay, but it depends on what you're trying to accomplish.
Product designers often build digital 3d models and then draw over top of them instead of plotting everything out by hand.
It can also save time if you're trying to design different ideas over the same shape (like clothing over a body or car designs over a specific frame), in which case it's just a waste of time to draw the baseline every time.
It can be useful for many things, but as you've already found out, it's not enough to rely on for everything. In order to be a good artist, you must understand when and why to use all of the techniques you learn

There is absolutely no such thing as cheating in regards to creating artwork. The process is unimportant - what matters is the result.

>>2760963
Renaissance painters would trace the refraction of light