How to convert a hand-drawn illustration into a digital graphic
The following is a tutorial on how to use Adobe Illustrator to convert a hand-drawn illustration into a digital graphic. More than specifically, we will use Illustrator’s
Image Trace
office to convert a cartoon into a vector prototype. A vector image is made up of a large set of points that tin can be infinitely scaled (up or down in size) without losing resolution.
To start the process of preparing the analogy for web, accept a high resolution photograph (viii.3 megabytes) with an iPhone vi. We didn’t take a scanner on hand.
Setting up the canvass
In Adobe Illustrator, open a new file with its profile set for
Web, its size set to 1280 x 800 pixels, and its orientation set up to landscape. This is a large enough sail to create an epitome large enough to be prepare as a feature image on Storybench.
Upload the photograph by clicking
Place…in the
File
menu.
Cropping the photograph
Nosotros want to use the
Clipping Mask
function to ingather the photograph and remove all the backlog information that makes no sense to trace or even include. In theObject
bill of fare, click
Clipping Mask and then
Make.
And then drag the borders to crop the photo.
Convert to grayscale and rasterize
Next we convert the drawing to grayscale, which I am told makes it easier to trace by the Adobe Illustrator. In the
Edit
menu, select
Edit Colors
and so
Convert to Grayscale.
Next, rasterize the image and so you tin trace the epitome. Click
Rasterize…
nether the
Object
menu. Select
Grayscale
under
Color Model.
Tracing the image
Now for the fun role. With the illustration selected, click
Image Trace
in the
Window
bill of fare.
Adjacent, click the checkbox adjacent to
Preview. By sliding the Treshold push y’all can make the lines thicker or lighter.
Next we desire to convert the traced image into a vector, i.e. a set of points. Get to the
Object
carte, select
Epitome Trace, and click
Expand.
A closer look reveals the points that make up each piece of the analogy.
Ungroup the points
Next, we want to ungroup the points. This will allow the states to motility around individual elements or smaller subsets of points, similar if we want to motility the referee farther away from the actor. Select
Ungroup
under the
Object
menu. Sometimes you may need to ungroup several times.
We tin can also select subsets of points and regroup them. Once you’ve selected this subgroup (using the
Shift
fundamental to help), clickGroup
under the
Object
bill of fare. Here we’ve moved the histrion away from the ref.
Adding colour
Since the football game player was modeled after a Seattle Seahawks role player, we decided to make him the Seattle Seahawks blue. To re-create a color from an image,
File
>Place…
a screenshot of the color on your canvas. (I took the screenshot from a Seattle Seahawks logo).
To make a swatch with this specific shade of blue, we desire to open the
Swatches
box from the
Window
card. Then, click the eyedropper tool in the left carte and click the screenshot of the color.
It will show upwards as the primary color in your swatch box. Click the
New Swatch icon which is on the bottom-right, just left of the trash can icon. It will ask yous to save the new swatch. Click
OK. Now information technology will be saved on your list of colour swatches.
Select the football player by dragging the Selection tool (or black arrow on the summit left) across all the football player points. When the histrion is selected, click the new swatch you’ve just created. Voilá.
Delete the screenshot of the color and consign your epitome using
File
>
Export…
Some of import options here. Make sure
Use Artboards
is selected to include the full canvas that you have been working on. If it is unchecked, the image exported will only exist as tall and wide equally the elements y’all’ve traced, i.e. the player and ref. Click
Consign. On the following
PNG Options
box, y’all have the option of selecting
White,
Blackness,
Transparent
or
Other
from the
Background Color
dropdown menu. Transparent is corking for superimposing PNGs over other images.
We chose white and ended upwards with this:
All images thanks to Luna Bajak.
- Author
- Contempo Posts
Source: https://www.storybench.org/how-to-convert-a-hand-drawn-illustration-into-a-digital-graphic/