Playing with the live trace tool

After all the years I have been drawing with Adobe Illustrator, I have just learnt a brand new tool. LIVE TRACE. I knew it was in there but hadn't really needed it before, & was a little unsure of it. I tend to draw straight into the computer. I think that happens because of year working in the fashion industry & having to complete everything "yesterday", I never had time to really sketch by hand first. It's also how I learnt, so its a habit that has stayed with me. It hasn't done me any harm, but it's so refreshing to have learnt something new & giving me an opportunity to explore new avenues. Since having completed my online course, I have been making a conscious effort to try & draw by hand a bit more, it gives my work a new look. It's the same style but has a more flowing & organic perspective. I am liking it. I do think it's more labour intensive, but that's a lovely new feeling to have, it feel more personal & has a bit more depth.

With summer on the horizon in the northern hemisphere, I have been seeing some lovely paisley influences which had me sketching away. This is a work in progress, I am not sure where it's going yet, but my main goal was to start perfect using the live trace tool. My first attempt was a little dismal, as when I used the function it didn't separate all of the draw in into separate pieces. As I was dropping in colour, several shapes were becoming the one colour. When I had a look closer I notice that some of my join lines amongst the shapes weren't completely closed. Bummer, back to the drawing board! Mind you this happened a couple of times. So I went over them again with a felt tip pen that made everything thicker. After that I was off & running, dropping in colour everywhere.



I am happy with the final result, & I love how the outside lines to each shape are in some cases a little rough, & not completely smooth, like I would normally create in a vector drawing. The pen lines were deleted completed giving it a cleaner look. I am not 100% sure what I will do with it just yet, I have an idea so I will just have to see how that eventuates.

I am looking forward to more experimenting.