This is probably the only time you’ll see examples of traced works on this blog. In my illustration class last year, we had to create an event banner using an illustration traced from a pre-existing image, using a dip pen:

The original is below. My idea was for a dressage show similar to the Lippizaner stallions, a photo of which I used as my reference. As you can see, I Russified the horseman a bit to suit my personal tastes; the Regency period was never my era of choice for uniforms. I even came up with a brief psuedo-history of an imagined Russian riding school– the loopy thing above the rider’s head on my version of Peter the Great’s royal monogram.

All in all though, It looks a bit like an engraving stolen from a book of Dover clip art! This particular version is unfinished, as I couldn’t find the original. I consider it a triumph of technique (This was my first time with a dip pen) but I could never get the damn thing to work satisfactorily with either the paper dimensions or the typography elements I had to include. Ah well . . .