No copying. Ever. If you are a beginner or a expert, copying artwork is always frowned upon.

Your viewers will be unhappy with you.

You destroy your self confidence in your art.

You lose all creativity in that piece.

Copying is evil.

Some people argue that using a photograph or another drawing as reference doesn't count as copying.

Well... if you don't replicate what you see already, yes that is okay. I personally don't do this because I feel a little bad when using reference pictures, because it still feels like copying to me.

Obviously, if you don't know what a tiger's face looks like, yeah, feel free to use a reference picture!

When you are drawing something from direct observation, like a tree in the park, that works amazing too!

It's when you take someone else's work and trace every line, that is what's messed up in the art world.

So don't do it.