Path tool (Photoshop) / Lineart tool (SAI), are they cheating?

~Shalambay-Shift Aug 30, 2012 Hobbyist Digital Artist

Okay, so I have a tablet and Paint tool SAI. In the "Linework" tools, I use the "curve" tool and change the pressure with the pressure tool.
The work looks neater, but I've been wondering... am I cheating?
I don't have a photoshop CS, but I have CLIP Studio paint and there's a tool that's similar to the "path" tool. And I use it to make my linearts.
Is it cheating?

When I see speedpaints/livestreams, They use the "Pen" tool or something like that. That's when I started wondering about this...

I know, if people use trackpads, mouse, etc. (Can't use pen pressure), it's definitely NOT cheating. I use my mouse sometimes~

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Devious Comments

~aaawhyme Aug 30, 2012 Hobbyist Digital Artist

Certainly not cheating. Tracing art that is not your own and then calling it your own, is cheating, but simply using a tool that is there for your own use, is simply putting a tool to use! You're still working your ass off to make the picture look nice, so of course it's not cheating!

*weremole Aug 30, 2012 Professional

Its not cheating any more than using a french curve ruler to make difficult curves with a nib pen or brush but at the same time the tablet is a great tool for drawing on the computer using levels of pressure, why not learn more about it? Your hand drawn lines will stink at first but they will get better. Few ever use a single tool for everything.

~Digitoonie Aug 30, 2012

They're called "tools" for a reason. You use them to your advantage to get the outcome you want. You're still putting in the time and effort in using them and if I ends up working to your advantage and improving your craft then no, it's not cheating. Keep on using them tools, girl.

~achipps Aug 30, 2012 Hobbyist Digital Artist

You can cheat on a test. You can cheat people out of money.
You can cheat yourself, but it is your choice and nobody can do anything or have anything to say about it, because it is not their choice.

So just do what you happy and if people like it fine. There are thousands of artworks all around and what they look like is why anyone likes them.

In real life there are things you can do to make art in a bad way, like painting with highly contaminated blood so anyone dies that touches it. Otherwise nobody cares how art is done.

~genstian Aug 30, 2012 Hobbyist Digital Artist

How you come from idea to finished drawing is irrelevant. So long the end ain't a cheat, it ain't cheating.

!pooketz Aug 30, 2012

It's most definitely not cheating.

Using the path tool is practiced in vector art considerably even by professionals. In fact, I don't think you can get around it in Adobe Illustrator or Corel Draw where there aren't freestyle brushes like you find in SAI and Photoshop. Even as it is in that you actually have the option of constructing your lines by hand, the tools are there to be used and if your workflow tends to be more efficient, faster and more perfected using those tools then keep using them! I use digital medium over traditional for most things now because it, for me, is more clean, sharp and crisp. -- My aunt tells me that because I'm on the computer, it's cheating because it helps me. If only she knew how much work was put into the artwork of digital artists, she'd totally understand then that we don't cheat, we use the most effective means of getting what we want from our art. <3

~xxbluedreamer Aug 30, 2012 Hobbyist General Artist

I agree with *shininginthedarkness, I don't think it's cheating as long as you're putting in your own work and effort <:

~shininginthedarkness Aug 30, 2012

The ends justify the means in art. No one cares HOW you got there, just what the end product looks like.
(Copyright violations are the obvious exception to this).

It's not cheating unless someone's getting hurt.

However, I believe that using the pen tool can lead to better line art. Sadly, I haven't mastered this myself =__=;

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Path tool (Photoshop) / Lineart tool (SAI), are they cheating?

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