Beatrix Potter & is it ok to copy or trace a drawing?

Beatrix Potter

Potter was quite a revolutionary for her time. She was an entrepreneurial businesswoman who supported herself through her paintings and the spin off Peter Rabbit merchandise. She also bought large swaths of land in the Lake District to make sure the land was preserved as farmland...AND... she eventually gave this land to the national trust when she passed away. Beatrix Potter was definitely forward thinking!

Natural History Illustration

On top of all this she was very well known for her contributions to the Natural History Illustration and Scientific worlds with her beautiful studies of mushrooms.

Copying & Tracing

So why am I talking about Beatrix Potter and copying or tracing drawings in one blog? Well, a little while ago, I thought it would be fun to have a go at copying some of her drawings so that I could see how she put them together.

Copying a master is such a great way to learn how to draw in different styles and to learn the technicalities of drawing. It's really interesting to see how the artist uses line weight (how thick or thin the line is) to create definition, highlights and shadows.

As you copy a master, you start asking yourself questions. How did she start it? What were her observations in order to choose the types of lines she did? What was her inspiration? This all adds to your learning.

 

Copying someone else really pushes you outside your comfort zone and helps you to learn and grow.

 

I've even had students copy famous comic book artists! Comic books often get dismissed in the art world, but being a comic book artist is an incredibly challenging job! In just a few frames, with very little text you have to convey your story. This means that your artwork must speak the loudest - facial expressions, movement, emotion, thought - all with a few strokes of the pen!

 

Tracing a drawing can do the same thing and is a great way for children to get started.

 

It's a valid way of learning to draw.

 

As you trace each line, you are starting to understand that the drawing is put together by a series of well placed lines and shapes and this is starting to train your brain to observe how a subject is made up. What lines and shapes do you need to create this subject?

 

This is one of the reasons why I have provided the colouring pages, so that your children can either copy these or trace them to help them to start training their brain to 'see' the lines of the subject, not the subject as a whole.

 

So if your child is not yet confident to draw free hand, then please encourage them to using tracing instead. Eventually they'll grow in confidence to try drawing for themselves.

Some of my 'copies' of Beatrix Potter's drawings!