If the artist wasn't already good without the 3D model, everyone would be able to tell because even with 3D bases, there's literally only so much a newbie is able to do. That's kind of why I don't even care anymore when I hear about pro comic artists who trace over 3D models, because nine times out of ten, if it's good, it's good. Sometimes they might trace like 80% of the pose but decide the last 20% is gonna be played by ear and it'll be a fantastic work of art even with a traced base because the artist has all that practice and understanding that's only being supplemented by the tool.

The artist who's practiced for years will have a more accurate base to roll over but you'll be able to see where stylization occurs, where the artist veered off the decided path to put their own touch, you'll see differences in line weight, lighting, contouring, coloring, etc. Like, even if it gets the point across, it still doesn't make a fantastic work of art. There's often no stylization or personal touch that comes from years of doing it, there's only so much tracing can teach about contour lines, lighting, stylistic warping, etc.

The artist who's still new and not that good at it yet, their posing and composition will be better & assisted, but you'll still be able to tell it's not that good. if you take an artist who is still not very good and an artist who has years of practice and skill under their belt, and have them both trace over the same posed 3D model, you're still going to be able to tell which artist had the years of practice. Reality is a fabrication, nothing is real, lmao.īut in all seriousness, the biggest reason I'd say not to feel bad about it is the fact that. I'm gonna be honest, if you've ever read some comic books (the IDW Star Trek series is the first that comes to mind) they straight up trace screenshots from the movie and when they don't do that, they're tracing and painting over models from like, Autodesk or Maya (the posing gives it away.) These people are paid artists getting paid to do this. Tools like this are incredibly useful for things like perspective, proportion, tricky combat scenes, etc. Not cheating at all, these tools were made for you to use them just like a ruler was made to assist making straight lines!

3d draw app