How to Create a Portrait in Adobe Illustrator

Looking for an easy way to create a portrait of a loved one and want to make sure that the likeness is actually of them and not a weird parallel universe version of them? With Adobe Illustrator, it is easy! All you need is a little practice with the pen tool and you will have a beautiful portrait that they will cherish forever.

Things You'll Need

• Adobe Illustrator
• Wacom pen and tablet
• photograph to work from
• time
• patience
• some skill with Illustrator

Instructions

Basic Trace

1. 

   Create your photo template. Create a new document, settings are whatever size you want it to be, and if you are planning on printing the final portrait, set the color format to CMYK. File>Place>select your image. It should pop up in your new document. Size it up to how you want the final portrait to be. Double click on Layer one, and an option window will come up. Check Template, and decide how transparent you would like the template to be. For photos with good contrast, you may only need 50%. For photos that are a bit muddy, I like to use 75% or 80%. Creating your template will automatically lock this layer, which is a good thing.

2. Create a new layer. On your layer palette, click on the little arrow on the top right hand corner. Options will come up, select New Layer. You will be working on this layer (Layer 2) to trace.

3. 

   Trace your image. Use your wacom pen if you can; if you don't have one, this most important step will be very difficult and bad for your wrist. If you've never used the pen tool before, I'd suggest some practice. You will need to know how to do bezier curves first. To change the direction of your next point, you can hold down alt and drag your points to where you want them. Just keep tracing until you are happy with the likenesses. Don't worry about line weight at this point, that is the next step.

4. 

   Line weight. Select all (Cmd+a) and go to Object>Path>Outline Stroke. This will make all of your paths into shapes. You can now use the direct select tool (the white arrow) and select points and move them. To make a one size line vary in weight, just pull one point out or pull the curve out. Easy! It takes a little practice to get it right, but once you have it, it's a great tool. It's very similar to the shapes in comic book art, as opposed to contour line.

5. 

   Once you've finished finalizing your lines and line weight, turn off your template layer or delete it, and it's ready! You can also create another layer and build colored shapes underneath your lines (I would lock the line layer if you are doing this) or you can bring it into photoshop and paint on a multiply layer (this is my favorite method). Have fun!

Tips & Warnings

• practice and get comfortable with the pen tool in Illustrator

• use an easy photo for the first try

• use a photo with good contrast (light and shadow)

• if you bring it into Photoshop, make sure that you bring it in at 300 dpi

• save every 5-10 minutes so you don't lose your hard work

• it can be very frustrating at first, but don't give up!