I actually looked that up a while back, technically, no. While editing an established drawing by someone else is against the rules, tracing or using a drawing as a reference for your own is not.
To me, it doesn't make sense. In my experience teaching art classes and talking to art professors, an edit of previous art or a collage is still considered art, in some cases high art.
From what I can gather, DeviantArt just doesn't want to have problems with lawsuits, which I can't blame them for, but it negates a whole section of art.