How to Make Clip Art

Even if you aren't a great artist, it's easy and fun to make your own clip art to use in cards, documents, presentations and websites. You can use a graphics program like Photoshop to add dimension and a professional edge to your hand drawn art.

Instructions

1. Draw a picture on white paper with a thin black pen. Press down firmly. Make sure there are no gaps where the lines meet.

2. Color the picture with markers. Use dark, bold colors. Alternatively, you can skip this step and colorize the drawing with a graphics program, like Photoshop.

3. Scan the image into your computer. Adjust the brightness and contrast in your camera software. Click "Save as." Give your image a name. Choose ".jpg" or ".gif" for file type.

4. Open Photoshop or your graphics program. Click on the Magic Wand tool. Select the white part of the image. Click "Select" from the menu. Click "Similar."

5. Click "Select" again. Choose "Inverse." Go to the edit menu and choose "Copy," then "Paste." This creates a layer with your drawing on a transparent background.

6. Select the area to color with the Magic Wand. Choose a color and gradient and apply it to each part of the image. Add new layers to add blur, shadows or other effects.

7. Put your clip art into a document. Choose "Insert" from the menu of the application, like Publisher, Word or web page software. Choose "Picture" and "From File." Browse to the folder where your clip art image is located. Click the picture, select "Insert" and adjust the size.