![]() ![]() The Image Trace option in Illustrator allows users to turn hand-drawings and raster images into vector images. It is a useful tool for creating graphics that can be easily edited and manipulated. ![]() NOT BEFORE! You will make your life unnecessarily complicated if you start adding those things right away.Image tracing with Adobe Illustrator is a process of converting raster images into vector files. When you have the main lettering done and you are happy with it, you can go ahead and add embellishments, colours, textures or 3D effects. Turn the lettering upside down-when your mind can’t read what it says it can concentrate better on the positive and negatives spaces.Squint your eyes or blur the word-sometimes that helps in seeing huge gaps or other problem areas.Concentrate on three letters at a time.“Turn the lettering upside down-when your mind can’t read what it says it can concentrate better on the positive and negatives spaces. You can adjust the spacing while you refine as well, but to make it less overwhelming I kept this as a separate step. Now that you are happy with your traced lettering check if the spacing between the letters needs work. That way you won’t be scared of experimenting and trying out different solutions. Duplicate layers when you are not sure about the changes so you can always go back to the previous step.Keep the navigator open so you can see the lettering in a small size at all times-it helps to have a wider view of the work so you can see the balance better or if something is standing out as wrong.Change between black and white background while you work-changing the contrast often helps in seeing some problem areas and keeps your eyes fresh.Are there any points missing? (Between two horizontal or two vertical points there should be a connecting point that is on approximately 45 angles).If you are working with letters on a slant, is the slant the same for all letters? (Sometimes not mathematically but optically).Are the proportions of all the letters the same relative to the height and weight?.Are the thicks and thins in the right places?.Check the angle of the handles-they should always be at a right angle (except the diagonal or some corner ones).Check if there are handles that are out of wack-they should never cross each other or be too long.Check if the point is in the right place-is it on the horizontal or vertical extrema?.“Change between black and white background while you work-changing the contrast often helps in seeing some problem areas and keeps your eyes fresh.” Things to check if something doesn’t look good: When you have your guides drawn, lock that layer and add one more on top. What you see is more important and if something seems off even though it’s aligned, change it. That doesn’t mean that you have to adhere to it like crazy. The important thing is that you have some kind of measure in there to make sure that everything is approximately aligned. For the guides, I also use the Pen Tool or shapes if needed, depending on the artwork. Now you can draw out your guides on a second layer. When you are happy, lock that layer so you don’t accidentally move it. Lower the opacity of the entire first layer to a point where you can still see it but it doesn’t bother you when working. This step is only important if you do a live trace but as we are using the Pen Tool, we can skip that! Step 3: Adjust opacity You do not have to do any processing of your image. Step 2: Add your imageĪdd your image to the first layer. But since we will be working with vectors, the size of the document doesn’t really matter. Set up the file by opening up a New Document and setting the size accordingly. Please turn on JavaScript to view this video Step 1: Set up the file I recorded the entire process for my “Bonjour” piece and made a time-lapse video so you can see this entire process at work. You are about to start the vectorising process! I have used Affinity Designer, but you can go ahead and use anything that has a Pen Tool. Just be careful to take a picture as level as possible so it’s straight. You don’t have to make any other adjustments to the image. If you used a sketchbook, a photo will be enough, and since we are tracing with the Pen Tool, the quality of the picture doesn’t matter. If you used iPad, you can just save the artwork as an image and send it to your computer. When you are done refining, you need to get that sketch into your computer. All that matters is that the piece is balanced and that you have a rough idea of how you want it to look. Your sketch really doesn’t have to be perfect. If I’m pressed for time, I will use the iPad for this stage, but if I have a little more time I would go and take my sketchbook out and start drawing lightly, adding details as I go. At this stage you already have a pretty good idea of what you want to do, you just need to refine it. ![]()
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