WARNING THIS IS A LONG TUTORIAL

tutorial requires you have knowledge about the workings of your program as i do not know the individual terms for each (can be done with a steady hand and the paintbrush and lots of layers as well if you don't have the pen tool)

You too can create your own little characters with your pen tool as seen here in my gallery vector madison


What is a vector you say? Vector is a term describing illustrations as done with bezier curves. when you create something in an images program like photoshop you'll notice that when you zoom in you see jagged lines. that is because these programs work primarily with Raster images. images that are comprised of pixels. Vectors do not use pixels. instead they use a mathmatical formula creating a smooth curve and lines. No matter how big you make them the quality is never lost. The file size is determined by how many points make up your image.

That said we are going to cheat. True clean vector creations done solely in a illustration program ( like adobe illustrator or macromedia freehand) take a lot of time the more detail you want the longer it will take you often times taking professionals weeks to finish.

we are going to start the traditional way with the pen tool and clean it up with other tools available.

Step 1
Pick your image you want to trace from. something pretty simple and without too many shadows is best. You'll want to create each shape on a different layer on top of this so lock this layer.

Step 2
I start with the face because it is your foundation of the image. se your pen tool and select a starting point. starting in a corner is best. starting in the middle of a curve can be difficult to end.I start where the ear and the face meet. select your next point with your pen tool and without unclicking drag it to match the curve of the face. ( don't trace the neck yet) continue doing this using as few points as possible. if your pen tool doesn't want to curve where you want it 'ALT' click the last point and continue The curves want to travel a certain distance to complete their path which is why sometimes when you click to close to your last curve it gets all crazy. this takes a bit of practice and alot of ' UNDO'.

when you have your face shape complete click on the first point to close your shape hide this layer to move on

Step 3
Next i do the nose, mouth, ears, & eyes. you don't have to recreate exactly your image. This is about creativity, your simply using this image to guide you.
Trace the outline of the mouth or just create a simple curved mouth line i just traced the top curve of her eyes to make her eyes appear cartoony and happy. I traced the darkest part of her nostril detail and the little curve under her nose. and i also traced only the darkest part of the ear curves.

Step 4
Now for the neck trace the edge of the neck all the way to the shirt collar if not a little past it. You will have your shirt on top so it will cover the extra. you can do this step before the face if your worried about your curves not matching up.

Step 5
Trace the hair. have fun be a litle random you don't have to have each strand perfect. you and also just trace the outside shape of the hair. My daughter has really wild spikey hair when I put her in pigtails so I really wanted to use that.

Step 6
Finish with the shirt or clothes ( yes you can do the whole body just do your body parts first then details of the body then the clothes!)

Step 7
Now that you have each of your shapes defined we need to fill them with colour if they are not filled already you can do this a few ways. You can make your path a selection by going to the paths pallete and filling with the fill tool you could start out with your tool filling the shape as you define it and some programs simply allow you to select the fill and stroke for each path you create( i like this option )

Step 8
make all your layers visible EXCEPT your original image. See any gaps? If they are really bad gaps you may just want to create that shape again. If they are pretty small just grab your paintbrush and match the colours and seal the gaps. ( this is NOT the tradtional vector method, here this is where we are cheating and what makes this not a real vector)

Step 9
Highlights and shadows. obviously it looks pretty flat. Well it's supposed to but we can make it better. You can do this two ways with the dodge/burn tools or the paintbrush. I prefer dodge and burn.

If you use the paint brush tool either select a shade slightly darker or slightly lighter respectively and paint where you feel shadows and highlights should go. I have one layer for highlights and 1 for shadows so you can adjust the opacity. if you use the burn/dodge just paint directly on the shape you want to change. for the neck i just filled the neck shape with a gradient usuing a slightly darker shade for the shadow but you can do this with the afore mentioned methods.)

Step 10
Save as a PNG so you can reuse your kid character!

I added a slight bevel and drop shadow when putting her on my LO

That's it really. The idea is really simple it's the application that's hard which is why I showed you how to cheat. I have a few that i have NOT cheated on but they literally took hours to make.


I attached the png file of my design so you could see it a bit closer. Good luck and post your comments & questions as well as your finished products here!

Attached Images

madisonvector.png (95.0 KB, 239 views)

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YOU'RE AWESOME TANYA!!!!! I can't wait to try this. Hopefully I'll get some free time this week! Whoo-Peeeeeeee! Thanks so much for writing this out!

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Hey Tanya-

Do you know anything about Photoshop Elements? I really use Paintshop Pro, but I just got Elements 2.0. I tried this in PSP, but i couldn't get multiple layers to work with vector layers. Can you help me in more detail, maybe using Elements? I really want to make one of these. They are soooo cute! thanks!

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I would like to know for PSE as well, as that's what I use, and these are adorable!
Rosa

I usually use fireworks for this but that's cause it has better vector tools. for PSE try rasterizing each layer as you complete the shape filling it and all. then hide it if you need to see what's behind it ( only necessary with the face really). I think that should cure the problem. follow the directions just after each shape jump ahead and fill or have it set to fill as you create it and then rasterize the shape.

something that i do when the shapes are being tempermental is create a blank layer and link it to the shape and merge linked or hide all the other layers and merge visible then it's just a plain shape as if you copied it and there is no mask. i know there has to be an easier way but i get stuck in my habits.

hope that helps. I might take on a couple images and create vectors of them for a few people. i haven't decided yet. i couldnt' do too many cause they take some time.

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Thanks Miss T!

i'll see if that helps. The whole vector thing still blows my mind most of the time. LOL!

__________________
Never put a question mark where God has put a period.
-Pastor Joel Osteen

i did this in my graphics class last year, but after I did the masking in PS, I 'colored' it with Illustrator. I'm not sure I understand how the process works using just photoshop

Well like i said this is a cheat. you can create vector graphics in photoshop that are not cheats though. many of the designers and artists i know do so. primarily though illustrator is used or other programs that are more geared towards handling vectors. photoshop is trying to include these items as vector art is getting really trendy right now. just look at some of the designs at pixelgirlpresents.com

I designed this " cheat" tutorial for scrappers because it took me at least a month to handle the concept and create a really decent vector. well to be honest most scrappers are not going to want to spend that much time learning this and in the end their graphics won't be vector anyway because all bitmap images are rasterized. anything that you have on that lo is going to be in pixels so it doesn't matter if you cheat a little. there are a few really good tutorials if you are really determined to master vector art but they are intended for Photoshop or illustrator and programs of the like.

I had a demo of elements around here somewhere I'll see if i can find it and install it to see if i can work the quirks out for yah. I'm sorry i couldnt' be more detailed.


also i know that in photo shop you have the choice of freeform pen ( also called the pencil tool in some programs) or the regular pen. if you want zoom in close and trace with the free form tool if it's in your program

you can determine if the shape is colured or not by selecting shape layers or paths. if you draw a path you can fill it later but if you draw a shape layer it will need to fill as soon as you have 3 points or when you complete the shape if using freeform. when using the pen tool in photoshop you can also choose to make it " magnetic" and it will follow along the strongest outline as you trace. see if these options are available in the program you use. they may be called something different.

Don't you wish allthe software companies would get together and make there terms and tools universal names?

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