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Use Photographs to “Sketch” in Illustrator

- November 25, 2015 | by April -

The holiday spirit has swept me away.

Here in the U.S. we’re getting ready for Thanksgiving tomorrow which means I’ll be decorating for Christmas this weekend. YAY!

I thought that I’d break the pattern this week with my blog post to show you something more creative, since I’m feeling inspired. I’ve spent lots of time watercoloring, sketching and knitting.

When I’m in that creative place, I tend to lose hours on my artistic projects. But, there are plenty of times that I hit a creative block and most of the time, it’s in the midst of sketching.

I don’t consider myself an artist in the traditional sense and I’m not always happy with my sketches. Because of that, I’ve learned how to use Illustrator to take a photo and turn it into a sketch that I usually work with to make a watercolor painting.

To help those of you who struggle with the same issue, I’ve created a tutorial on how I use Illustrator. I hope it inspires you!

Do you use Illustrator like this? Have any tips to add? Have any questions about this process? Leave them in the comments below.

For those of you in the United States, Happy Thanksgiving!

19 Comments · Filed Under: Creative Tutorials

Comments

  1. Gin says

    November 25, 2015 at 8:59 pm

    Thank you for the idea! Tracing from the photo/pen drawing seems like a much better way to get the image down. Especially when I’m not really feeling creative. 🙂

    I am curious to what you are doing with the watercolors once scanned and placed in AI. I’ve been image tracing the image at a high rez photo level and that just seems like its a bit much but I want to make some watercolor frames for some of my worksheets and I need to expand them since my original image is just a bit smaller. Any tips or suggestions?

    Reply
    • April says

      November 29, 2015 at 12:13 am

      No problem. It definitely helps me to trace a photo when I’m stuck or hating what I’m sketching.

      I scan them in with my Epson Perfection V500. I don’t turn them into vector images–mainly because I don’t like the way it changes them. I’ve tried it a bunch of different ways and I don’t like the look of it. So, I use them as .png files with a transparent background and I don’t enlarge them. I paint them as large as I’ll need them to be to use them on my worksheets.

      Reply
  2. Taish says

    November 25, 2015 at 9:24 pm

    You’re so creative. I have been using Illustrator for over 13yrs and have always been scared to try this. I can definitely use something like this in my designs.Thanks for this amazing resource.

    Reply
    • April says

      November 29, 2015 at 12:14 am

      Thanks Taish! You’re so welcome. 🙂

      Reply
  3. KrisWithaK says

    November 25, 2015 at 10:29 pm

    Aw. I love that berry, April!

    I’m a huge fan of illustrator for sketching too; I like to doodle with pen on paper, but to make things work in illustrator, I tend to do this kind of thing instead of a more freeform thing. It feels like there’s less pressure, right?

    Thanks for sharing the process you use 🙂 I’d love to see some video of your watercolour process too.

    Because they’re ADORABLE!

    xo
    K

    Reply
    • April says

      November 29, 2015 at 12:16 am

      Yes…it definitely feels like less pressure.

      Maybe I’ll try some watercolor painting while scoping. That might be fun!

      Reply
  4. Amanda Sue says

    November 25, 2015 at 11:22 pm

    Yay! I’m so excited about this video… I’ve been wanting to play around in Illustrator. Several members of the studio audience have been really encouraging me to get in there and dig in, but it’s super overwhelming… partly because I just assumed it would be laid out like PS…. which it’s not!

    Reply
    • April says

      November 29, 2015 at 12:17 am

      Once you get over the learning curve of Illustrator, it’s a ton of fun. I recommend Bonnie’s CL course for learning Illustrator. She makes it a lot of fun. 🙂

      Reply
  5. Amanda Creek says

    November 25, 2015 at 11:55 pm

    Illustrator is my favorite tool, by far, when it comes to creating via the computer. I haven’t really done the whole watercolor thing, because my watercolor skills are lacking. But this seriously sounds fun and like I could do this to possibly improve my watercolor painting skills. 🙂 Thanks for sharing, April!

    Reply
    • April says

      November 29, 2015 at 12:18 am

      I can spend hours upon hours in Illustrator. 🙂

      You could definitely do this. And, it makes creating art more fun in my humble opinion.

      Reply
  6. Heather says

    November 26, 2015 at 12:52 am

    Thank you for creating this tutorial! I would love to try this.

    Reply
    • April says

      November 29, 2015 at 12:18 am

      You’re so welcome. Glad you enjoyed it.

      Reply
  7. Sacia Ashe says

    November 26, 2015 at 9:13 am

    This is awesome! I’m really excited to jump into illustrator and try this out.

    Reply
    • April says

      November 29, 2015 at 12:18 am

      YAY! Let me know how it goes. 🙂

      Reply
  8. Sanjida Shaheed says

    November 26, 2015 at 10:13 am

    Hi April!

    Loved what you did here! Ma shaa Allah! Very creative of you to think of a solution that works for you.

    Often that’s the part where we are stuck at, right? Not being able to move forward when we feel we don’t have the resources to do something, when all we have to do is use our resourcefulness!

    Although I have a Masters in Drawing and Painting, I feel like I can use this technique in some projects to add variety. The end result does vary when different techniques are used.

    Keep on being awesome. <3

    Reply
    • April says

      November 29, 2015 at 12:20 am

      Thanks Sanjida! Yes…you could absolutely use this to add variety. I envy your masters in drawing and painting. I wish I would’ve known what I know now when I was younger. If I could do it all over again, I’d get some kind of degree in art.

      Reply
  9. Erika Swafford says

    November 28, 2015 at 2:39 pm

    This is a great tip for artists! I’ve used sketches and photos to help me when I just can’t get a drawing to look right. It’s been ages since I’ve done watercolor. I’m feeling like I need to go back to it.

    Thanks for the inspiration, April!

    Reply
    • April says

      November 29, 2015 at 12:22 am

      You’re so welcome, Erika! I’m so thankful for Illustrator….I love that I can use it when my drawing skills are lacking.

      Reply

Trackbacks

  1. 3 of My Favorite Illustrator Tools | Blacksburg Belle says:
    December 16, 2015 at 2:10 pm

    […] seemed to enjoy my post on how I “sketch” within Illustrator, so today I’m sharing my top three favorite Illustrator […]

    Reply

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