How to Turn a Sketch into Digital Artĭigitize your sketch by following these four steps: Step 1: Prepare Your SketchĪdobe Illustrator has a powerful Image Trace function, but it’s not a magic button that will turn any sketch into a perfectly vectorized illustration. Start digitizing your drawings with this helpful walk-through from teacher Andrea Pippins, and then learn more in her Skillshare Original class, Illustration in Action: Creating Stylized Portraits. Adobe Illustrator: This is where you’ll vectorize your sketch, add color and turn it into a finished illustration.Scanner: It’s best to use a scanner to create a digital copy of your sketch, but you can also take a picture of it with a camera or smartphone.Pencil and pen: Sketch with a pencil, then outline your sketch with a black ink pen-this will create high contrast and help Illustrator clearly identify what needs to be vectorized.Tracing paper, light table or window: You may need to create a disassembled copy of your sketch by tracing it onto a new piece of paper.Textured paper may result in ink bleeding and uneven lines.

Paper: Create your sketch on smooth, high quality paper.

To turn a sketch into digital art, you’ll need the following: Luckily, this is as simple as scanning and uploading them into a vectorizing software, such as Adobe Illustrator. But if you don’t have access to either-or you just love the feel of pencil and paper-you need a way to turn your paper drawings into digital art. You could, of course, draw on an iPad or a drawing tablet. You might simply wish to have a digital copy of your art so you can make endless edits and create multiple versions.

Have you ever wanted to see your art printed on mugs or T-shirts? Or maybe you’ve dreamed of turning your illustrations into surface patterns and seeing them on pillow cases.

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