Transcript:
Hi, I’m Juan Villamil, better known in the illustration world as Juan sin Miedo. I’m a designer and illustrator, and today I’ll show you how to vectorize an image. 3 WAYS TO VECTORIZE AN IMAGE WITH JUAN VILLAMIL First of all, we need to understand the difference between how a vector works, and how digital images usually work. Typically, the digital images we see are made up of pixels, as we know. On the other hand vectors, unlike pixel-based images, are based on mathematical formulas. That is, with this picture here, when we start to get closer and zoom in, it begins to look “pixelated,” as it’s commonly known, and we begin to see each of these pixels. Whereas this image we have here which is made up of vectors, as you can see, even if I zoom in, does not pixelate. This means that we can make it both very small, as small as you want, or we can use it and extend it to larger formats without it losing image quality. This is why this technique is used to create all images of logos, branding and the like, so that it can be adapted to any format and any application you need. It is also a very good technique for illustration, because each stroke can be easily edited, like I am selecting them here, and they remain independent and I can also easily organize them into layers. Now that we understand this, let’s see how an image is vectorized. To do that I have prepared a small sketch here that, if we zoom in, we can see it’s made up of pixels. There are coarser ways of vectorizing an image. A very popular one is Live Trace. However it is an option where you really lose a lot of quality and does not generate the results you expect. To begin, I’ll lock my sketch and I’ll create a new layer where I’m going to start vectorizing. To vectorize, the most common method and one that affords more control is Pen. Pen can be used in many ways. Here I will choose a color for contrast. This image also looks fine, and here I begin to vectorize. I click, I hold and drag here to generate these curves… And so on. I can use keyboard shortcuts like Shift to generate nodes which are symmetrical, and I keep doing the same to create the outline of my sketch. This is one way, which is the one I prefer. However, I will show you other ways using the same sketch. Another is using Stroke instead of outlining the entire image, that is, I draw half of my stroke and, with Shift + X, I can make this a stroke and give it a value. I click on Options, and done. All these values can be adjusted with Shift + W and here I adjust these values… Perhaps I want this a little wider. And it’s done. Another way I like to do this is with the Blob Brush tool. With the Blob Brush, I can use the sensitivity of my tablet, if I have one. I’ll start drawing… Just like this. Whereas the other brush generates a stroke, this one creates a shape. And it’s a simple, organic and fast way to vectorize. I don’t want this. I’ll remove it… And here I have a much cleaner contour than I can start editing. I can use the Pencil tool to clean and adjust some lines. With Eraser I can also clean other shapes here CLEAN WITH PENCIL AND ERASER to generate some line values. And done. It would look like this. I select the color I want for my outline. In this case I want something close to black, but around here… Done. Here I have my vectorized contour line. Here you can adjust some parts and clean with Pencil plus the Smooth tool to remove some nodes. As you can see, we have different ways of vectorizing. These are a few that I know and recommend, but use whichever you feel comfortable with. Pen generates far fewer nodes. With Stroke, if you draw it and expand it, it generates lots of nodes and it’s difficult to control its shape. And Blob Brush is in between the other two: it generates more organic shapes, but with many nodes. I hope you enjoyed and learned with these tips. If you want to know more about vector illustration, I invite you to take my course Vectorial Illustration: more volume and rock and roll. Vectorial Illustration: more volume and rock and roll A course by Juan Villamil Sign up now! SUBSCRIBE