It can be a really useful skill to know how to trace a picture because it allows you to add much needed precision to your drawings and artistic ideas in general. Not to mention that the very process of tracing can noticeably improve your drawing skills since it also involves following design patterns and lines carefully. Besides that, more people also seem to be interested in AI Face Generator. You can know more from the link. Additionally, once you know how to trace a photo and do so regularly, you will soon increase your speed with such tasks and gain a great skill. However, tracing initially can take a lot of time and many don’t prefer to do that. Be that as it may, you can also use an alternative way of tracing and implement tools such as VansPortrait to automatically get a tracing of the image that you upload.

Trace a Picture Without Tracing Paper

If you want to know how to trace a picture from your phone, the VansPortrait online tool is one of the simplest answers. Thanks to its AI and Machine Learning based design, it can automatically read an image and make a tracing picture within a few seconds. You can then use this image in any way you want. This image, for instance, can be the best example to practice drawing with, as you have the ideal tracing to refer to already.

A really great feature offered by VansPortrait is that it can also convert your image to an anime styled image. This is useful in many ways. It can help you take the next step in your design after you’ve done tracing or give you completely new perspectives on your artworks and drawings. All you need to do is click on the anime option after you have uploaded the image. More interestingly, there are also some popular Vtuber Maker which use similar technology. Try it if you like.

VansPortrait

How to Use VansPortrait?

  1. Use the link above to get to the main page of the tool. The Upload Image button will take you to the VanceAI Workspace, so click there.

page of VansPortriat

  1. This is where you can use the upload box to select an image for upload or just drag and drop it there. The drop down menu on the right contains the tracing and anime options. Click on Start to Process to proceed.

Start to process in VansPortrait

  1. Go to Processed > Preview > Download Image to save the image in your device. Apart from that, there comes some fancy AI Portrait Generator, making fancy selfies at a fast speed. Get to know more about it.

turn photo into line drawing with VansPortrait

The application is excellent at tracing, especially when it comes to portrait and selfie drawings. The above example has most of the details right though there are some wavy lines here and there but nothing too distracting. This great AI cartoon generator makes cartoonish become an easy thing.

VanceAI now also launches its software version. VanceAI PC is full-featured desktop software developed by VanceAI that lets you instantly process local photos in bulk with more customization options, which will significantly simplify your workflow and boost your productivity. Free Download

VanceAI PC workspace

How to Trace a Picture?

Let’s go through some useful techniques that you can use for tracing pictures effectively and without much trouble.

1. Tracing Paper

One of the most common ways to trace a photo or drawing, a tracing paper can just be the item you need. To get started with this, you will need to place a tracing paper between the drawing and a plain paper. Naturally, the drawing comes first, followed by the tracing paper under it and the plain paper at the bottom.

Tracing Paper

Though you need to be careful with tracing paper as too many mistakes can make the result look untidy. Not to mention that you would need to erase and keep drawing lines again and again. The best way is to take it slow and draw small parts at a time.

2. Thin Paper

The simple combination of a thin white paper in addition to ample light can do the trick for you as well. All you would need to do is place the thin paper on top of the drawing and get started. However, do make sure there is enough light for you to keep track of each minute detail of the drawing since missing anything can make the final tracing look off.

Thin Paper

These papers can be easily bought online or from stores. However, they can tear easily so make sure to gently trace everything and that the light is coming from the right direction.

3. Baking Paper

Baking paper is yet another amazing tool to trace a photo with good results. The process for these papers is similar, as you need to place them on top of or under the original drawing. In this case as well, you will need to rest the baking paper on top of the drawing and start tracing it. The paper is thin, so be careful when tracing. Apart from that, you can scratch your pencil on the paper to cover the area of the drawing as this will give you the highlight.

 Baking Paper

You can get the highlight and follow it along in order to trace it with as much accuracy as possible.

4. Mobile Phone Flash Light

Alternatively, you can use any one of the papers suggested on this list and use your flash light as the source for your tracing. Another great way of doing this is to simply have the photo open up on your device and placing a paper on top of the screen. However, the risk here is to press too hard and affect your screen. So, make sure to tread lightly and preferably using this method of simple drawings. If you can do this, it can prove to be one of the quickest and easiest ways of tracing a photo while improving your skill.

Mobile Phone Flash Light

5. Use Printer

The disadvantage of using papers can be that you need to finish tracing a picture from the beginning to the end else you may get confused where to start again. With a printer, you can simply print out your drawing in multiple ways. One, you can get a color print, which will be exactly like the original. Two, you can get a black and white version of it. After that, you can simply use those prints as templates for future projects. Not to mention that printing hardly takes a minute of your time.

Use Printer

Conclusion

From these five tips, plus the VansPortrait tool offered by the AI image enhancer application VanceAI, we can easily figure out how to put a picture to trace. Doing tracing of your drawings and art can ask for a small amount of effort and time but offer useful benefits. If you are new to tracing and don’t want to spend a lot of time on it, you can make use of VansPortrait or your printer. Otherwise, make use of any of the papers listed above to draw a tracing yourself, which will also improve your own skills.

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Amaya Hamilton
Amaya Hamilton
A passionate content writer. Mostly likes to write about technology and social media related topics. You can see more of my work over on my own blog Amaya Hamilton.