There are many tools available to help artists get what they are trying to achieve faster and more accurately. I think tracing is just another valuable time-saving tool… especially for artists on a deadline. Really, it’s no different from using a grid, except it’s less time consuming. I agree, however, that permission should be obtained before tracing someone else’s work or photo, and in the case of deceased artists’ works, we should give credit to the original artist. If your goal is to learn anatomy and proportion for freehand work, then tracing should be kept at a minimum and just used for comparison. jmo 
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