Vector Art in Photoshop
17th July, 2007
Firstly, for anybody that's unsure of what vector-based images are; they’re images consisting of sequences of points and paths that are used to create lines and shapes. Artwork created using this technique is often easily identified by its clean lines and precision. The main advantage of vector artwork is that it's infinitely scalable without degradation, making it perfect for logos and print material.
Programs that specialise in vector-based images include Corel Draw, Freehand and Illustrator. However it's also possible to achieve a similar result from within Photoshop, albeit it's a long shot from being ideal. This is obtained by using the often over-looked pen tool. The pen tool was absent in my old copy of Photoshop Elements, so I spent a short while seeing what it's capable of.
I've touched on vectors in the past with my short time with the Illustrator trial, as well as for a project that I'm currently working on. (I'll talk about that at a later date!)
This is the drawing that I will be making into a vector image. It's a quick drawing of Harriet that's nice and simple. The original pencil sketch is on the left and a cleaner copy drawn on tracing paper is on the right.
Programs that specialise in vector-based images include Corel Draw, Freehand and Illustrator. However it's also possible to achieve a similar result from within Photoshop, albeit it's a long shot from being ideal. This is obtained by using the often over-looked pen tool. The pen tool was absent in my old copy of Photoshop Elements, so I spent a short while seeing what it's capable of.
I've touched on vectors in the past with my short time with the Illustrator trial, as well as for a project that I'm currently working on. (I'll talk about that at a later date!)
This is the drawing that I will be making into a vector image. It's a quick drawing of Harriet that's nice and simple. The original pencil sketch is on the left and a cleaner copy drawn on tracing paper is on the right.
The pen tool is fairly straight forward. You simply click to create anchor points along the lines at areas where there's a change of direction.
Each point has two handles that allows you to modify the curve and direction of the lines connected to it. After reading on the internet, the most helpful advice to know is that by holding down the ALT key and clicking on a point gives you only a single handle. This makes manipulating lines a whole lot easier.
Here's the final image, it's a lot more precise than I could have achieved by hand!
There are a lot of disadvantages of using this technique in Photoshop. The main disadvantage being that the final images aren't really vectors at all. The paths created using the pen tool are only temporary and can't be saved. The lines have to be converted to a raster image to become visible, losing their flexibility. Also it's not possible to define a varying thickness for a line. Although there is an option named 'simulate pen pressure', but this unfortunately gives wildly unpredictable results.
That being said, Photoshop isn't designed as a vector program and it's still nice to have the pen tool in the arsenal. It does allow for the creation highly precise line work that would be otherwise impossible. Now I've got to grips with the basics, I'll probably put aside some more time to work on something more complex.
Each point has two handles that allows you to modify the curve and direction of the lines connected to it. After reading on the internet, the most helpful advice to know is that by holding down the ALT key and clicking on a point gives you only a single handle. This makes manipulating lines a whole lot easier.
Here's the final image, it's a lot more precise than I could have achieved by hand!
There are a lot of disadvantages of using this technique in Photoshop. The main disadvantage being that the final images aren't really vectors at all. The paths created using the pen tool are only temporary and can't be saved. The lines have to be converted to a raster image to become visible, losing their flexibility. Also it's not possible to define a varying thickness for a line. Although there is an option named 'simulate pen pressure', but this unfortunately gives wildly unpredictable results.
That being said, Photoshop isn't designed as a vector program and it's still nice to have the pen tool in the arsenal. It does allow for the creation highly precise line work that would be otherwise impossible. Now I've got to grips with the basics, I'll probably put aside some more time to work on something more complex.
