Not that this has anything to do with me...

Please think for a moment, stealing art is not just taking someone else's efforts, it's disrespecting all the hard work they did in their lives to reach the point they reached now. Wouldn't you hate it if you finally reached that point in time where you were satisfied with your art only to have it traced by someone else? It might look easy and you might think "It's just one picture, they'll never notice" but you have just completely disregarded everything they've done thus far! All those hours put into learning, sketching, practicing, until calluses develop on their hands; all those hours spent away from friends, away from family to learn and improve; everything they aspired to be and worked for thus far was rendered inconsequential due to a single trace. 

You may claim it's out of respect, but it's not true at all. You are just degrading their actual works. 

If you feel like you lack confidence, that you want to get there faster, sooner and aren't patient enough to improve, there's nothing I can offer you. Art is hard work. I have been drawing since I was 7 years old, learning basic shapes to pencil crayon at a family friend's place. I learned traditional methods and never once tackled humans, mainly learning still life and landscapes. However, those years of hard work helped me when I found things that inspired me enough to create something for myself, even if it's just composition in a small way. Through the years it's clear to see my struggles, the changes and all that and I've worked very hard to get where I am now. 11 years is what it took to get me here now.

Next time you see something like this, please stop and think for a moment, what it'd be like to have your best efforts stolen. By creating something for yourself is the first step to confidence.

If you have stolen before:

1) Apologize to the person who you stole from
2) Either take down or credit all stolen works
3) Continue on drawing, but improving for real this time!

This applies to all mediums!

I'm not actually directing this at anyone but it'd be nice to let people know >< 

Shout out to OndineNova who recently was discredited D: