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Setting up our document and creating a new layer for the sketch that we will be tracing.

Quick reference

Setting Things Up

Setting up our document and creating a new layer for the sketch that we will be tracing.

When to use

Prior to tracing an image in Illustrator you will want to run through a quick check list of options to ensure that everything is set up properly. There are also certain things we can do to make sure that we don't mess up or change our sketch layer as well as using a colored label to make things easier to identify.

Instructions

  • Open the Setting Things Up - Exercise.ai file in Illustrator
  • After opening the file, double click to the right of the Sketch layer to once again bring up the Layer Options.
  • Change the color of the label for this layer to gray.
  • Also check off the option to lock the layer.
  • Apply the changes and then press 'P' on the keyboard or grab your Pen Tool from the toolbar to the left of the interface.
  • Click and hold on the Pen Tool to reveal the other tool options that are available and click on the tab all the way to the right of the panel to undock the tools.
  • Move the panel around your workspace and place it somewhere that will be convenient for you to access the tools.

Hints & tips

  • Locking layers is a very useful feature when you want to make sure that certain things cannot be changed or modified. In this case, we are just using our Sketch layer as a base so we don't actually want to change it. By locking this layer and selecting a new layer called 'Trace' we can keep everything separate.
  • Color coding your layers is not absolutely essential, but if you find yourself working with a file that has several layers it can be a quick and easy way to identify the layer you are looking for. 
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  • 00:04 Now that we've imported our sketch, and I've showed you guys how to dim it and
  • 00:08 make it fit into the art board,
  • 00:10 there's a few quick things that we wanna check just before we jump in.
  • 00:14 Now in the previous video, you guys saw me rename this layer, dim it and lock it.
  • 00:19 But I'm just going to unlock it for a second and come back to this menu that we
  • 00:23 got by double clicking just to the right of the name.
  • 00:26 Now, you'll see in this dialog box that I actually do have the option to lock
  • 00:30 it here.
  • 00:31 So you guys don't necessarily have to lock it over in the layers pallet.
  • 00:34 You can always come back here and do that.
  • 00:37 And there’s another thing that we can do here which is kind of cool.
  • 00:39 And that’s just change the color.
  • 00:41 So you’ll notice here between the eyeball and the name of the layer and
  • 00:45 the little thumbnail that there’s a color and a label for each of these.
  • 00:49 And as you guys begin to work,
  • 00:51 you’ll see how quickly some of these layers can add up.
  • 00:54 And it can be really helpful to kind of use a color coding system
  • 00:57 to keep track of your layers.
  • 00:59 So what I like to do is to kind of use a separate color from my sketch layer so
  • 01:04 that it's easy to identify.
  • 01:06 And for now I think I'm going to make it maybe a gray color and
  • 01:10 then I will also check off this box here that says Lock.
  • 01:14 Okay, so now that I've done that, you see we get the same result with the lock here,
  • 01:18 but we've also changed the color.
  • 01:20 And now it's easy to see which layer is my tracing layer and
  • 01:23 which layer is my sketch layer.
  • 01:25 So from here what I'm going to do is switch over to my Pen tool just by
  • 01:29 pressing p on the keyboard and I can click and hold on this tool in the toolbar.
  • 01:35 And then if I move over here, I'll be able to actually undock this
  • 01:38 by moving to the right and letting go on that arrow, all right?
  • 01:43 Now, I kind of have this free floating dock with my Pen tool,
  • 01:46 the Add Anchor Point tool,
  • 01:48 the Delete Anchor Point tool and the Anchor Point tool itself.
  • 01:51 So it's kind of nice that you just have this freedom and so
  • 01:54 I don't have to keep coming over here every time if I wanna change something.
  • 01:58 So now I'm just going to zoom in by pressing command or control and
  • 02:01 the plus sign on the keyboard.
  • 02:03 And you'll see as I come in here that I can see a lot of these details
  • 02:06 more clearly on my sketch.
  • 02:09 Now it looks a little bit blurry but that's okay because we're way zoomed in
  • 02:13 and we're just using this as kind of our base, as I said before.
  • 02:17 So your sketch doesn't have to be super finished.
  • 02:19 And actually I think that now that I take a look at this,
  • 02:22 there's a few things in here that you probably will wanna change.
  • 02:27 For example, you'll notice how this outer line kind of
  • 02:31 connects with the bull a little bit below the ear on this side but
  • 02:35 the line isn't exactly flowing in the same direction.
  • 02:38 Or on this side, actually almost looks like the same line.
  • 02:41 So things like that aren't exactly symmetrical, but that's okay.
  • 02:44 That's what we're here to do in Adobe Illustrator.
  • 02:47 So as we begin working, we might see that there's some pieces that we wanna redo, or
  • 02:52 some pieces that we may wanna copy and flip onto the other side.
  • 02:56 But those are just a few and
  • 02:57 a quick things that I wanted to point it out to you guys
  • 03:00 before we really start working here and tracing our sketch.
  • 03:03 So from here, we're just gonna get started and
  • 03:06 we're going to start by tracing the outermost shape or the outline, and
  • 03:10 then working our way in towards the middle and fleshing out all of the details.

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