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How-To Transfer Artwork: Projecting & Tracing

Wicked Art Airbrush Studio

503,527 views

Learn how to project and trace an image onto your canvas or painting surface while preserving the correct proportions. I demonstrate how I set up a digital projector, square the projected image, choose useful reference lines, and create a light tracing for a portrait painting.

Is projecting or tracing artwork cheating? I don’t believe it is. Even though I can draw portraits freehand, projecting a reference can save hours of preparation—especially on commissioned work. It provides an accurate starting point, but the artist still has to create the painting.

This video also covers important projector features such as focus and keystone correction, choosing a suitable background, controlling the room lighting, preventing the projector from moving, and checking which areas have already been traced.

Please note: The specific Artograph projector shown in this older video has been discontinued. This video is intended to demonstrate the projection and tracing process rather than recommend a current projector model.

Correction: Throughout the video, I mistakenly refer to “keystone correction” as “ketones.” Keystone correction is the feature used to compensate for image distortion when the projector is positioned at an angle.

00:00 Projecting and tracing artwork
00:18 Is tracing cheating?
04:09 Choosing a projector for artwork
06:19 Important projector features
08:12 Digital projector advantages
10:05 Projecting in a lit studio
11:15 Background and image alignment
13:17 Tracing the portrait
19:00 Time savings and final result

#ArtProjector #TracingArtwork #ArtTutorial

20 Comments

@billieshoemate4392 4 years ago

"With art, it shouldn't be about how you get there. Just the fact that you got there."
-Michaelangelo

@superkillr 5 years ago

Funny, nobody considers it cheating when a tattoo guy does a tracing for a portrait or reference material. Nobody wants them doing freehand portrait work in that case.

@MsWearer 5 years ago

People who say tracing is cheating aren’t really professional artists themselves. Most professional artists can easily draw something but it takes longer. Time costs money.

@MatteLson66 5 years ago

I completely agree that using a projector isn't cheating and it saves a ton of time. I'm an art teacher and I definitely know how to draw. Sometimes I sketch on a piece of paper, and if I wanted to transfer that sketch onto something bigger, why the heck would I redraw everything? Also, getting a sketch onto the canvas is maybe 5% of the artwork.

@chilingamalambo 2 years ago

This is the comforting message I've been looking for my whole life, now I can go out there and draw with a free conscience.

@RichardsModellingAdventures 5 years ago

Give a traced drawing to anyone who can't paint and ask them to go for it. The results will clarify the outline of an image is only a small part of the artwork. Projecting saves me a huge amount of time and that makes being an artist more cost effective and productive, its a win win for everyone.

@Manny_News_Blogs_Tutorials 4 years ago

The secret in realistic drawing and painting is in rendering tones and shades. Even though you could get the correct proportions by tracing the outlines you will have major problem if you don't know how to render depth and roundness via shading, or if you fail to render light and dark properly you cannot achieve realism that you want in your art work.

@effluent 3 years ago (edited)

I came to the same conclusion myself. I can also draw a good likeness of someone but it takes 4-5 hours to get it right. I don't bother sketching out a face for a painting on canvas, I just project the photo onto the canvas as it is quicker. And at the end of the day, the client wants an accurate likeness and most times couldn't care less how you got there

@m27238 5 years ago

This is the best videoI have ever learned from on Youtube

@ladytammy6886 4 years ago (edited)

When doing a huge canvas, a projector is time saving!! Otherwise it's graphing out in larger scales and it's really exhausting especially on huge scale. Ohh and the other thing is, is that I usually paint my background colours first as that's what I see before I draw the image onto the canvas.

@RDM-346 2 years ago

I was a professional billboard painter in the 70's. We used an opaque projector when we could, but as for billboard painters, good pictorial artists were few and rare even when projected. I am an oil and pastel artist now and I know painting is always a new challenge, projected or not. More often on landscapes you can't copy the photo exactly anyway to make a good painting, colors or composition. Good video!!

@pancake_ghosty 4 years ago

A friend of mine is a full time artist and uses projectors for images he's created himself digitally. He works BIG so the projector just helps him speed up and keep deadlines. He's a phenomenal artist and paints these outlines into 3d realistic images. He said himself that he just doesn't have the time to meticulously draw out the proportions before painting so he just projects.

@chrisnorton9531 5 years ago

I think it's time to invest in one of those bad boys. Keep up the great work Trevor. Thanks.

@joannsmith9 2 years ago

This was exactly the information I’ve been looking for as a newbie thank you so much

@SG-cw4di 4 years ago

Even some of the masters used a camera obscura which is basically a homemade projector. Not everyone can trace using a projector and achieve a quality product with good craftsmanship. You actually have to learn that part lol good job thanks for sharing your process!

@phoenixrising1675 1 year ago

Most people can’t free hand. Let’s just be honest. So you doing this is absolutely amazing…. You have a gift…

@Orecatmeatprocessors 5 years ago

Trever:
Wow! This was a priceless video. I have never been able to figure out how airbrush artists got the image on the painting surface. I mean one that would really work. I have tracing paper, etc. but this is the real deal! I'm going to buy one of the digital projectors like you said. One of the sad realities of life: I wanted to do this years ago, but, like most people, I didn't have the time or money. Now it's comical I have the money but at 81 not so much time! Thanks again this video means a lot to me! Glen

@josephkingston9252 2 years ago

I like your decorum you're very serious and compassionate about the work you do and I appreciate the work you've done to help people solve crime.

@Apollo_Blaze 5 years ago (edited)

Mind blown here....yikes...am I the only person who has never known of this type of projector before?...this is incredible...I have used the old kind in the past...to be able to load a photo on a thumbdrive and use this is another level. Thank you So much Trevor for posting this....I am so happy I saw it!