Trace Over a Photo to Create Vector Art

Create vector art by using it as a template and trace it in Illustrator.

Open an image in Adobe Illustrator

It can be a bitmap or vector image. We're going to use this bitmap image of a Califoria poppy.

Think of this image in terms of its component shapes, not as the thing itself. Look at each petal, sepal and stem.What colors and shapes do you see?

Begin tracing with the pen tool

Let's begin with the large petal first. Use the pen tool to create a vector shape based on the shape of the petal.

Continue to trace the shapes...

Add fills to your paths

When you're finished tracing, use the Swatches or Color palette to add colors to your illustration.

You can choose to leave or remove the strokes from your illustration. Here I chose to remove the strokes and add gradient fills.

Open both the Color palette and the Gradient palette. Select the object (one of the petals, for example) and apply a gradient fill by clicking on the gradient. Illustrator's default gradient is white to black.

Change the color of the gradient

• Click on a tab on the gradient ramp, adjust the color in the color palette (you might need to convert a grayscale black to a CMYK or RGB color)
• Or drag and drop a color to a tab on the gradient ramp

To change the direction of the gradient, choose the Gradient tool, then click and drag across the selected object. Change the blend point by moving the middle slider. Additional color tabs can be added by clicking on the ramp. Adjust color as above.

Vector beauty!