Vector Tutorial – Tracing with the Pen Tool in Illustrator CS2

Tracing a shape with the pen tool in Illustrator CS2 on a PC

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18 responses to “Vector Tutorial – Tracing with the Pen Tool in Illustrator CS2”

1. muertomaniaco says:

   03/02/2013 at 12:14 pm

   Best pen tutorial

   Reply
2. John Karns says:

   03/02/2013 at 1:12 pm

   I know this tutorial was done in 2009 but thanks! It really was a great insight into the pen tool and really helped me allot. Thank you very much.

   Reply
3. ulfgj says:

   03/02/2013 at 1:27 pm

   some small neat things in there i never thought of. sweet!

   Reply
4. thebumshow says:

   03/02/2013 at 2:12 pm

   This tutorial is amazing. But.. I just fucking suck at illustrator… I fail so hard at making the edges and stuff curvy and beautiful…

   Reply
5. candycakehime says:

   03/02/2013 at 2:19 pm

   What about tracing things other than logos, for example I got adobe illustrator so that I could make my Chibi(anime) sketches into GIF by drawing over them, is that done exactly the same way as this? It might seem a bit dense but I don’t know anything at all about photoshop or illustrator so yeah:

   Reply
6. wanik4 says:

   03/02/2013 at 2:33 pm

   this is a great tutorial for beginners thank you very much. no bs, just straight knowledge.

   Reply
7. Bruno Telles de Moura says:

   03/02/2013 at 2:45 pm

   thanks man!

   Reply
8. royalconcrete1 says:

   03/02/2013 at 3:12 pm

   I was looking for something and saw your tut. I just want to know months ago while learning the pen tool. I came back time and time again to your vid to review . thanks to you I can pick up the pen tool like I pick up my toothbrush, no thoughts how to use it…I just know.

   Reply
9. russmc3 says:

   03/02/2013 at 3:32 pm

   Yes there is a way to auto trace. It’s called Live Trace. I use it sometimes, but you really don’t get very good control. Autotraced logos usually look ugly. If you must autotrace, I would use a site called Vector Magic. That really works, but it’s not free.

   Reply
10. shakin2009 says:

    03/02/2013 at 3:39 pm

    is there not some way to auto trace around the lines, it can be done in GIMP, but i dont know how to do it in PS or AI

    Reply
11. russmc3 says:

    03/02/2013 at 4:19 pm

    If the template image is locked, you can unlock it from the menu with: Object > Unlock All. Then select it and push delete.
    Does that help?

    Reply
12. Kukurtti says:

    03/02/2013 at 5:14 pm

    I’ve been watching numerous tutorials and reading helps and learned nothing until I found this video. First of all, no useless jibber jabber and secondly, all the things I needed to know. One video went on about 20 minutes until it briefly covered the basics of pen tool and line tracing. Almost lost my mind at that point, so thank you!

    Reply
13. manmaas says:

    03/02/2013 at 5:24 pm

    Would just like to join others in agreement with your tutorial. Clearly stated, relevant detail and straightforward voiceover. Many could learn a lot from you!

    Reply
14. sensmoralen says:

    03/02/2013 at 5:35 pm

    Really nice tutorial. Not holding on a single moment to unessential detals.

    Reply
15. russmc3 says:

    03/02/2013 at 6:01 pm

    I’m not exactly sure what the problem would be. If you click on the path and don’t see the handles, are you using the solid pointer, or the hollow pointer? The hollow pointer should always show you the handles, if you click directly on the anchor points or the segment that touches them.

    If one of the handles is disappearing, you might not be clicking and dragging, or you may be pressing the alt key when you click on the point. That would kill the handle.

    Reply
16. mycomputerfund says:

    03/02/2013 at 6:12 pm

    awesome video, really learned alot on the placements on the tangent handles. now i wont suck so much with the pen tool.

    Reply
17. royalconcrete1 says:

    03/02/2013 at 6:39 pm

    excellent video. good explaination of all your clicks and drags. alt, ctrl clicks. and using the e was extremely helpful thanks. I want more from you.

    Reply
18. Kelzaroxy says:

    03/02/2013 at 7:07 pm

    Excellent tutorial, well done 😉

    Reply