Turn Drawing into Vector: A Step-by-Step Guide

Introduction

The world is turning digital lately. Though the process is slow, eventually, digitalized everything will be the new normal. Illustrators and artists know how peaceful and satisfying drawing and painting on paper is. But with emerging technologies, digital skills have become essential to broaden your audience and sales.

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If you are a professional illustrator or aspiring to be one of them, you must know the whole world is your audience. If you get a sale from any foreign country, they will probably want a digital painting or illustration to make the process easier for both parties.

This is why you need to know how to transform your Hand Drawn Portraits into a digitalized version. In this blog, you will understand how to turn a drawing into a vector with a few easy steps.

Section 1: Understanding Vector Graphics

Vector graphics are computer-programmed images using commands or mathematical statements that put lines and shapes in two-dimensional or three-dimensional spaces. Vector graphics describe a point of series of points to be connected. Vector files are sometimes also
called geometric files.

Source: Google
Vector graphics are essential for several factors in design. In the following part, you will understand why.

Section 2: Preparing Your Hand Drawing

You have learned the importance of vector graphics but must understand how to prepare your hand drawings for vectorization. In this section, you will understand everything regarding this.

1. Draw the design

Try to find the drawing that you want to vectorize or start sketching one using a colored pen or marker rather than using a pencil. Why? Because you will be scanning the picture if you want to vectorize it, and to do so, you need to have a clear sketch of that drawing so that the scanner can quickly scan it and you get a clear outline of the sketch.

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2. Digitize the design

Professionals prefer to scan their rough sketches while vectorizing them to get high resolution. Images. Change the settings to get a high-resolution image in whatever option you choose to digitize your image. If you select a black-and-white image, you can set the setting to monotone to maintain the image quality.

3. Make a neat design

You are making vector graphics, so you must know that the rough sketch marks should not be on the output. If the sketch is made with a pencil, use an eraser to erase the extra sketch markings for a neat and clean design. It would help if you practiced a bit more to get a better hand on cleaning these small spare parts, but it will all be worth it in the end.

4. Trace the design

You can play with the vector tool, such as levels, using cmd L on Macs or ctrl L on Windows. Or curves using cmd M or ctrl M. To trace the design, open a blank document, go to the file menu, and select a place to insert your jpeg onto the file.

5. Set the presets as per your preference.

Ensure the preview function is selected, and click on the preset menu in the image trace tool. It might take some time to find your best-preferred option from the menu. But do take your time.

6. Convert the traces into paths by

After tracing the image, go to the toolbar and select expand. Your trace will be converted to paths. And this is how you can convert a sketch to a vector. Now, you can play with your design as much as you want.

Section 3: Vectorization Process in Adobe Illustrator

One of the best vectorization software is Adobe Illustrator. In the following section, you will understand the step-by-step process to do it.

1. Create a document and import the original picture.

Go to file and click on new. You will get a new document to turn the drawing into a vector. Now, you need to import your original picture to Adobe Illustrator. Click on the file and then place. Now, you will need to resize the image using the anchor point.

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2. Vectorize the image

You have to trace the image now. Select the image, open the object menu, select the image trace panel, and click make. Also, if you choose the image, a menu will appear on the right side to trace the image.

3. Adjusting the image trace settings

Now, you have to adjust the settings from the preset options. You must choose several colors, including 3-color, 16-color, and low-fidelity photos. You can use the grayscale option to add a gray shade to the image.

Source: Youtube

4. Detailing the image trace

The next step is to add fine-tunes to your vector art. Click on the panel window open on the side to access various options. You can toggle open the advanced option, where you will encounter more options to change the number of paths.

5. Expand

If you are completely okay with the preview, click on expand. This is how you can finalize the image trace and transform your image into an editable vector art.

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6. Edit the vector image.

Now, you can edit the vector images. It will appear as a collection of various vector shapes in many colors. Initially, the shapes will be grouped. To make individual shapes, you need to ungroup them first. Go to the selection tool (V on your keyboard) and click on the image. Then right-click, open the quick options menu, and select ungroup.

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7. Save and export the file

Now that you have completed a vector art save it and ship it in any file format. To achieve it, click on the file and then export. You will get export as an option and select your preferred option, and that’s it.
Also read: Sketching vs drawing: what are the major differences?

Section 4: Tips and Tricks for Vectorization

In the following part, you will find some beneficial and unique tricks and tips to improve your vectorized image.

● For drawings & sketches

When vectorizing a drawn image, it is advisable to use the logo with a blending option and limit the colors to white and a weak gray. This way, you can preserve the details of the drawing.

● Scanned images

Try to choose custom colors from scanned images. If you want blended edges, then use artwork with blending. Also, to make black & white images, use grayscale.

● Blurry images

High-quality image forms such as PNG tend to get less blurry than JPEG or JPG because of how the algorithm works. To make up very blurry images, you can shrink the image a little, and to do so, use cubic interpolation to preserve the image’s integrity. This way, you can effectively enhance the image quality.

Section 5: Vectorization Examples

In this section, you will see examples of vectorized images.

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Source: Google

Section 6: Utilizing Vectors in Design

Vector graphics are one of the most versatile forms to make anything you want.

Section 7: Common Mistakes and How to Avoid Them

Nothing in this world is perfect; you might also make idiotic mistakes while vectorizing a picture. But don’t worry, this part has got you covered. Here, you will learn about widespread mistakes and how to avoid them easily.

● Color Mismatch & banding

This usually occurs when the software fails to reproduce the colors and gradients of the original raster images. You can avoid this by adjusting the color mode using an eyedropper, color editor, color picker, and gradient editor to fine-tune the colors.

● Pixelation and jaggedness

This happens when the software fails to capture the details and pixels of any image, texture, etc. You can avoid this by adjusting the resolution and quality of your scanner. You should also choose the appropriate vectorizing image. Lastly, you should manually edit your vectorized images with tools such as pen, brush, eraser, and node editor to correct any mistakes.

● Irregular shapes and misalignment

If the software fails to preserve the shape proportions and positions of the original raster shapes, then it might result in misalignment and irregular shapes. You have to align and crop your image beforehand. You have to make sure that the image is centered correctly. Make sure to remove any unnecessary parts from the image. Move, rotate, flip, scale, and skew are advisable to fix any remaining errors and edits. And this is how you can easily convert drawing to vector Illustrator.

Also read: NFT Art Creation Guide

Conclusion

The future of vector illustration will be invincible in this coming age. If you can grasp this skill, you can quickly implement it over anything. Always remember all the key points and steps from this blog.