(mine is 10 inches x 10 inches) Go to File > Place, and find your sketch. Depends how big image we are talking about here. The sketch will appear on the artboard in its own layer as a linked file. On that toolbar, you can find the Image Trace option. This will allow you to make your drawing transparent, and thus more flexible to work with. If you’re wondering how to trace an image in Illustrator, it’s actually pretty easy: 1. I’m going to use a background image to trace over to make it easier. For this example, I’ll be drawing a strawberry. People ask me ALL the time if it’s CHEATING to trace something (a photo or hand drawing) in Illustrator. I CAN’T EITHER. The best feature of a vector image is that it can be resized without losing any quality. Create a new layer and situate it on top of "Original". Go to the Window menu, and select Image Trace to bring up the panel. Lock the "Sketch" layer and create a new layer above it. How to Trace a Photo of a Garment or a Hand Drawn Sketch in Illustrator. Select "Original" and change the opacity (found under the "transparency" tab) from 100% to approximelty 45%. You can manually trace them using template layers and drawing tools or you can use the Image Trace feature, discussed in further detail later in this section, that automatically converts a bitmap image into a vector graphic. Follow the tutorial below to learn how to use the Live Trace tool. #WHAAAT? In the properties menu underneath the Image Trace section, click the “Expand” button. There are two ways to trace images in Illustrator CC. Before you can turn your image into a vector, you have to decide what image to use. So I use this workaround ALL. Adobe Illustrator's Live Trace tool is designed to change your bitmap image files into vector-based drawings. If you can’t draw freeform in Illustrator? Open the image trace panel from the toolbox to see more options. Select ‘Mode’ to switch between color groups and adjust the ‘Color’ bar to make the vector more or less detailed. Now that you have the original photo in Illustrator you need to prepare the layers, to allow you to easily sketch the photo. It works great. Illustrator is not a CAD application and is limited to 16383 pt by 16383 pt, or about 5.78 m square. Step 3: Work the Details and Save the Image. We are going to use the Image Trace tool to automatically vectorize your drawing. Create a new Illustrator file. With the Image Trace feature in Adobe Illustrator CS6, you can take raster (bitmap) artwork and automatically trace it to convert it into vector artwork. OR go to Object >> Image Trace >> Expand and now Adobe Illustrator will create it into a vector image. 6. Set your image trace settings When you place a raster image in Illustrator, a toolbar will appear at top of your artboard. TIME. Click on the arrow that’s right next to Image Trace to open the presets. It’s not cheating. Turn on the Image Trace panel in Illustrator. You can draw freehand if you want, or trace over an image yourself: do what feels right. THE. This means that you can take scans of sketches, illustrations, and even photographs, and convert them into vector artwork that can be edited in Illustrator. Next, make sure that the Image Trace panel is turned on. I opened this image in Illustrator, but before I start tracing, I want to set a few things up. You could try the High Fidelity Photo tracing preset and then change the mode to Black and White and play around with the Threshold in the Image Trace … 7. Illustrator is thus a paper space program, if you want bigger scale then you need to draw in scale yourself. You might like to drag it over to your docked panels so that you can access it more easily next time. Your question is … Name that layer "Sketch." 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