Vector Tracing with the Pen Tool

Learn how to create a realistic pepper with the pen tool and vector tracing.

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(reference image) Knowing the pen tool in Photoshop or Illustrator is one of the most important skills to attain. A person that has mastered everything else but doesn't know or use the pen tool, is of lesser overall value than a person who knows nothing else but the pen tool. That's how important the pen tool really is. It allows you to create any shape you desire, and as such, is the most important tool in any designer's arsenal.

In this tutorial, we take a look at the pen tool and how to use it, by following a technique called vector tracing. Vector tracing means you're tracing over an existing image (in our case a photograph of a pepper) with the pen tool. Vector tracing as we're using it, allows us to create a very realistic representation of the photograph we're tracing.

There's a number of reasons vector tracing makes sense. In certain instances, like print work for example, you might need a very large scalable version of an object or graphic; vector tracing allows you to do that. While it can be a tedious process, it's definitely worth it!

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Comments (17)

D.A.T.

08/19/08 8:06 pm

Nice tut. Thanks!

Steve

08/24/08 3:42 pm

Nice tutorial, but is there something a little easier for a beginer like me? Thanks

Joey

09/04/08 9:43 pm

This is perfect. The pen tool in Photoshop was always a lot different then other program's pen tools. (For me, anyway.) But seeing it in a clear and easy to understand video is SO much more helpful. Especially on a pretty simple looking shape. Thank you!

Paul

09/19/08 10:20 pm

Really nice tutorial, thanks.

Misty

09/20/08 3:06 am

Excellent tutorial! As someone who's just learning how to use the pen tool, I found this immensely useful. Thanks so much for sharing this!

Anne

10/08/08 5:26 pm

Thanks a lot! I never used the Pen Tool, but I could make this right away!

David

12/27/08 2:56 am

Nice tutorial, how about an accompanying text version as well? It would help to complement this tut.

C-T-R-L

12/30/08 5:20 pm

Most people just call it control.

Colorfast

04/12/09 11:20 pm

Great tut, but this does not make it vector. You used many effects that aren't scalable unfortunately. Good job none-the-less.

John

05/18/09 8:20 am

Very nice tutorial! Great work!

A L T

06/07/09 2:30 am

Good tutorial. Thanks for making it, but I have to point out that the screen capture software you are using is the most annoying thing ever. Back and forth and in and out and baldkljkldjklhgklhklfbklbdf

Majid Jalali

10/29/09 1:30 am

Thanks for making wonderful site and i get lot of technique to your site as well as logo making was amazing and easy through you tips

kswiss4

03/12/10 10:08 am

Hey if you guys are interested, head over to www.psd-links.blogspot.com Its got all the latest photoshop tutorials from all over the world on one site. It a new site so new content will uploaded every day! http://psd-links.blogspot.com/ Thanks

cj brosas

04/07/10 1:14 am

this is so cool! thanks!

renier

04/16/10 5:35 pm

nice work... really enjoyed it. I'm going to create my own veggies now. Thx looking forward to your other tuts.

jamsand

05/27/10 5:34 am

I was wondering when you rasterizing your layer doesn't that make scaling it destructive again as it would a normal bitmap?

wendy

07/13/10 3:21 am

thank you so much for the tutorial. it helped me a lot!