Can You Really 'Cheat' at Art?

When it comes to art, there's always someone ready to criticize. And in the case of the LUCY Drawing Tool, the number one criticism we get in social media comment sections is that it's cheating. But seriously, what does "cheating" even mean in art? 

Think about it, when tube paints were invented, some people thought it was cheating to use them instead of mixing pigments by hand. Others say it's cheating to use a ruler or even the end of your pencil to measure out your drawing. And some people even think drawing from a photo rather than from life is cheating.

But the thing is, “cheating” is subjective. And when it comes to the LUCY, it's just a tool that helps you transfer an image from a source to your drawing surface. It doesn't do the drawing for you. Plus, artists have been using tools like this for hundreds of years. Would we accuse Vermeer or Rembrandt of cheating? Of course not.

In fact, the LUCY Drawing Tool is a great way to learn to draw. It helps you see how to translate a three-dimensional world onto a two-dimensional surface. And if you want to take it to the next level, you can even try the LUCY Learning Hub, which has courses including the LUCY Drawing Course that combines the LUCY Drawing Tool with time-tested drawing methods to give you a hands-on learning experience. And if you're learning, you're never cheating. It would be hard to find somebody to disagree with that.

And don't even get us started on the AI art genie that's been let out of the bottle. With machines creating art with just a word prompt, accusing someone of cheating for using a tool like the LUCY seems kind of silly, doesn't it?

So in the end, the only cheating in art is plagiarism. As long as you're creating original art with your own two hands, who cares if you use a tool to help you along the way? The Old Masters used every tool they could get their hands on, and their work is still hanging in museums hundreds of years later. So let's focus on the art, not the process.