Redraw in Illustrator

In Illustrator, many people have shown me their ways of doing things. I have learned from some of the best in the industry and also many of the worst. It is interesting that the quicker and easier methods were learned mostly from the later of that group, but then that is often the way of things. This is based on the CS2 Illustrator, but it will work, with slight modifications, in virtually all Illustrator programs. Also, it is based on the idea that the reader has had some sort of Illustrator experience already. If not, then keep an eye out and I will be sending many different tips to those that wish to read them.

When working in Illustrator it is easy to build a vector art image from an existing raster image. Many people use such things as Stream Line or other programs, which work for them but leave the picture looking edgy and odd. (In some rare cases the image turns out just fine. It takes a very high resolution scan for this and usually when you are redrawing something it is because the original is far too small or to low resolution to use in the first place.)

To avoid these problems it is a simple process that, when done properly, will allow the user to redraw the art simply by following what they see. Here is how it works:

First bring the picture into Illustrator, scanning through Photoshop, or any other scanning program of your choice. When brought into the program, simply place the picture in the center of the work area and resize to whatever size you chose. Be sure when you resize the image that you do not go to large or to small, for this will not allow you to see the smaller details of the image when redrawing. (Illustrator does not let you zoom in as close as other programs and thus you will need the picture to be at least as large as the picture area of the Illustrator program. Take it out to the lines that are permanently placed on the page, being aware of how much detail is actually on the page that you are going to redraw.The more detail, the bigger the picture will need to be.)

Once you have your picture on the page go to the layers pallet, then to Windows
Next, go to the drop down menu in the Layer's pallet. There you will find an option that says New Layer. Point to it and let go, or click on it, depending on which system is being used. This will bring up another pallet that allows you to name the layer, choose its color and a few other options. All you need to is click OK and move on. Once this layer is created, it will be highlighted to show that this is the layer that is now being used. Once on this layer, simply begin to draw the picture that you see and, when finished, simply click on the original picture's layer and click on the trashcan that is on the layer pallet. A box will come up and ask if deleting this layer is what you want to do. Click OK and the original layer will be removed leaving only the drawing that you have worked on.

Another interesting trick that may help if the image that is presented is to dark or has far too much detail to draw without accidentally drawing extra lines is to simply change the color of the original picture before turning the layer into a template. This can be done by clicking on the image and then going to the menu bar and clicking on Filter
This will work with virtually any type of picture that you can bring into Illustrator and once the pen tool is mastered, this will allow you to draw virtually anything that you wish to put your time into. Have fun with it and try it with photos of the family. This is a great way of making cheap presents as you can adjust the lines afterwards to make the face do anything you chose, all you have to do is play with it in Illustrator, Photoshop or something of the like. Good luck!