Tips for Using Tracing Paper

Hi, I'm Mia Whittemore, and in this lesson, we're gonna be talking about tips for using tracing paper. So tracing paper is a great tool for artists, because it allows you to transfer over your design to your final paper, and it also can be helpful for sketching out your final designs. So when I use tracing paper, a couple of things that I like to use it for are almost testing parts of my sketch before I actually do them on the final paper. So for example, in this sketch, I have half of it that I liked, but I was unsure about what I wanted to add to the top. So tracing paper is really cool, because, of course, it's see-through. So I can draw almost on top of my sketch without actually going onto the final piece of paper. So I can plan and see if I like the composition before I do it on the final piece. So for example, I might just add in a couple of flowers up here. And then I can take away the paper if I need to, so I can see how I like the progress. And tracing paper is really nice too, because you can even erase off of it. So you don't have to worry about getting it right on the tracing paper either. So you can erase and change things and move 'em around until you like what you have. And if you like what you added to the tracing paper, so if I wanted to keep this and keep working from it, and in the end, if I wanted to take my tracing paper and use it to transfer my drawing to a new paper, I could even just keep going from here and trace over what I already have. And just do that for the entire piece. So another tip for tracing paper that I like in particular is I love doing symmetrical designs. So symmetrical designs, of course, are the same on both sides. Here we go. So the first thing I did when I created this is I folded my piece of tracing paper in half, pressed it down so I had a nice crease, and then I drew only on one side of the tracing paper. So then what I can do to finish the design so I have it completely symmetrical is I can fold my tracing paper. And I wanna have the side that has the pencil on the outside. And then I'm just gonna complete the design on the other side, because I can see right through. Now, I recommend for this part, having a piece of paper or cardboard or something underneath that you don't mind getting a little bit of pencil on it, because I'm gonna be pressing onto the design, which is going to transfer the pencil onto whatever surface is underneath it. So I don't wanna actually get my final paper dirty. So I think I'm just gonna take a piece of sketch paper. And then, because I can see through, I'm gonna press down and I'm just gonna copy over my design. Now don't worry about it being super perfect. Like my lines aren't exactly matching up, but that's okay. In the end, it usually works out or you'll be able to just eyeball and fix it when you get to the final paper. For doing this on tracing paper, I recommend using a pencil that has a lead that's a little bit softer. So like pencils that have a B, like a 2B or a 3B, those would be nice, because the lead is softer, so it transfers easier. And tracing paper is one way that you can transfer over your designs. If you have a light box, that also works too. Or even going up against a window with your sketch underneath and in a final piece of paper on top, you can do that as well. It's just whatever your preference is. I almost got everything here just a little bit more. Sometimes you have to press the paper down a little bit so you can see. Press it down firm. And you don't have to use big sheets. You could cut the tracing paper down to size. If you want to use a bit of a smaller piece, that works too. Oh, I forgot one down here. Okay, so you can see why you wanna have something underneath this too. I was already pressing through when I was tracing. So I wanna keep it clean. So now with this tracing paper, I'm gonna open it up so you can see that it just mirrored my symmetrical design, so it's on both sides. And if I wanna transfer it over, this is the side that has the pencil. So I'm gonna flip it over, get it onto the paper where I'd want it. And then you would just take your pencil and you would draw over the lines that you just made. And you can actually be a little bit messy with this part. Like if you need to kind of scribble a little bit to press down, because it's only gonna press the parts on the other side that have pencil on them. You might find that it's also helpful to tape down your tracing paper so it stays in place. You could even tape it at the top, so you can flip it back and forth. And just to give you an idea, now you can see that it's starting to trace over the design and it's a little bit lighter. And if you want, you could even erase a little bit very gently, so you have just a light, little sketch underneath that you can work from. So then you could keep going and just finish up your design so that the whole thing is transferred onto the paper, and then you're ready to go. So I hope that these couple tips are helpful for you for using tracing paper, and that you can use them when you're planning out your final designs.