Tracing

Despite the controversy surrounding the topic of art tracing and its place in the relevant communities, it can be a great start for those who want to experience the joys of digital painting but are unsure where to begin.

While a similar result can be achieved using other well-established applications, Tracing makes it easier for beginners to get accustomed to the basics thanks to its ease-of-use and accessible layout that lets you instantly load the image you want your art to be based off of and start adding your splash of originality that can later morph into complex drawings that you can fully call your own.

When booting up the app, users are greeted to a comprehensive and helpful introduction guide showcasing the available features, which is a nice touch for those who want to avoid figuring out how to use the functions on their own.

Thanks to its dedication to closely follow Microsoft’s latest iteration of the Fluent design language, the program’s intuitive interface seamlessly blends in with the rest of Windows’ built-in applications.

The layout is relatively straightforward and easy to get used to, with the most important functions placed inside the top toolbar, where one can change the brush type for better accuracy, or pick a custom color from the RGB or HEX spectrum for added flexibility.

The app has support for the most popular image formats, with the extra benefit of being able to start up the camera app to instantly take a digital snapshot of a physical drawing that is then implemented as a second layer underneath the main canvas where the tracing itself takes place.

One of the program’s flagship features consists in its easily accessible slider for adjusting the transparency of the background image, which can be useful when certain brushstrokes are harder to see due to the contrast or color palette. In order to preview one’s progress or quickly glance at the target image, each layer can be individually hidden at will through a dedicated drop-down menu.

Given the built-in support for Windows Ink, users have access to rulers, protractors, alignment grids and automatic shape recognition functions to aid them in their artistic endeavors. An additional Ink Replay feature previews the drawing process for those who want to create time-lapse videos for posting on social media platforms.

In terms of improvements, an automatic save prompt can be useful to avoid accidentally closing the app and losing all the progress in the process. Finally, a list of the recent images and ink files can help users save time instead of manually looking for those items in their computer’s storage to drag and drop them in the app.

Whether highly complex applications such as Krita seem daunting and cumbersome to use, or the idea of paying for a subscription in order to access the benefits of dedicated programs such as Adobe Fresco feels like overkill, Tracing can be an excellent alternative or a great start for pursuing an artistic hobby thanks to its ease of use and elegant design.