How to Make Scenery in Illustrator CS5
Making scenery in Illustrator is essentially a project involving what digital artists call "compositing." This term refers to combining graphic elements from different sources, such as photos or 3-D programs, into a unified composition. To make scenery in Illustrator, create vector shapes from photos by using the LiveTrace command. Then use the Selection tool to arrange the elements into a final composition. Note that LiveTrace has several options for conversion, some of which consume a lot of PC processing power and memory. Read Illustrator's help file to learn which option is best for your needs.
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Instructions
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1
Write a list of items you want for your scenery. For example, if you want to illustrate a scene from the Wild West period of the United States, you might write "wagon wheels," "weathered buildings," "dirt streets" and related items.
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2
Open Illustrator, then click the "paintbrush icon" from the Tools palette. Drag on the canvas to sketch a composition that includes all the items you listed in the previous step. Your sketch doesn't have to be realistic. You'll use it only to help you arrange the items from your list.
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3
Download digital pictures, such as photos, that have the elements you listed in Step 1. Or you may already have some in your digital collection. If you're going to use copyrighted images, get permission from the copyright owner before downloading the image. You can find copyright free art at these such websites as freedigitalphotos.net, morguefile.com and gimp-savvy.com.
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4
Click Illustrator's "File" menu, then click the "Open" command. Navigate to and double-click one of the pictures you selected as being appropriate. Illustrator will load the photo.
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5
Click the "LiveTrace" button above the canvas, then click "Expand" to create a group of vector shapes from the picture. This action makes it possible for you to delete the elements you don't need from the picture.
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6
Click an element you don't want from the converted picture, then press "Delete" to delete that element. For the Wild West example, you may delete an image of a car or another element that doesn't contribute to your scenery's main theme.
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7
Repeat the previous step to remove all unwanted elements from the picture. This will yield just the element you want, such as a stagecoach, for the Wild West scenery.
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8
Complete Steps 4 through 7 for each desired image or element to create all the vector shapes.
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9
Click the "black arrow icon" from the Tools palette to run the tool for selecting and moving vector shapes. Drag on the shapes, one at a time, to position them in the same arrangement as your rough sketch from Step 2.
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References
- "Illustrator CS5 Bible"; Ted Alspach; 2010
- "Design Basics"; David Lauer; 2007
