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ILLUSTRATOR

RETRO CAR VECTORS

All you need is Illustrator, some inks and some brushes to turn a photograph of a car into a vector
illustration. John Kelly of Joke Art talks you through the process

It’s surprisingly easy to create a

ON THE CD sharp, clean, attention-grabbing
You’ll find the Illustrator vector graphic based on a photograph,
brushes to do the line whether it’s a pet, a person, a
work for this tutorial in motorbike or a car. And because it’s a
the folder named vector graphic, you’ll be able to resize
Tutorials\automotive on it without any loss of quality.
this issue’s CD. There are other benefits too. Vector- Launch Illustrator and create a new

TIME NEEDED
based images make for smaller files,
and smaller files are easier for your
1 file. Specify an Artboard that is the
same size as your photo. Go to
4 When you have traced the outer edge
of the car you may find that the line
has some kinks in it. With the line
7-8 hours computer to open, close and print out. File>Place to place your photo. Once the selected, choose the Pen tool and change
The final Illustrator file from this photo is in place, double-click Layer 1 and it to the Convert Anchor Point tool. Click
SKILLS tutorial is only 5MB, compared with change its name to Original, and set the the anchor point that’s causing a problem
• Illustrator Brush Library 50MB for a 300dpi Photoshop file of image’s opacity to 50 per cent in the and adjust the handles until it’s corrected.
• Pen tool the same dimensions. Transparency palette.
• Layers Because the vector image is an
Illustrator file, it’s easy for you to
INFO change the colours of the illustration if,
John Kelly is for example, you want to use it again
from and again for different clients. It’s just
Northampton a question of selecting each of the
and is mad shapes in the graphic and applying a
about creating vector new colour.
illustrations. He Finally, and arguably best of all, the
specialises in creating print quality of the final illustration
vector portraits of his
clients. Find out more at
will be second to none.
In this tutorial I’ll explain how to go
2 Open the Tutorials\automotive folder
on the CD and choose the
JokeArtBrushes Illustrator file. Save
5 Start drawing the contours of the car.
Begin with the boldest and work your
way down to the fainter ones, varying the
www.joke-art.com. about creating a vector illustration these brushes to your Brush Library. thickness of the lines so that the bolder
from a photograph of a car, and how Some are for drawing the car, while the contours are the thickest. Rather than
you can use your artistic judgment and large brush strokes are for the copy the details of the windows, just draw
discretion to make it look great without background which we will use later. them in solid shapes with the Pen tool.
slavishly copying every detail. You
will also learn how to use a set of
custom brushes.

3 Lock the Original layer in the Layers

Tutorial and illustration by John Kelly
www.joke-art.com
palette, and create a new one called
Line Work. Choose any brush you like.
Select the Pen tool and draw the outer
edge of the car. You don’t have to copy the
outer edge perfectly – you’ll get a pleasing
hand-drawn look from any inaccuracy.
6 While working on the details around
the windows, draw the basic shapes
from inside the car as solid black, so
you’re drawing the shapes for the seats
and the outline for the windows on the
opposite side of the car.

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ILLUSTRATOR
SWATCH COLOURS
When creating your
custom colours for
10 Create a new layer
and call it Colour.
Place the layer under Line
colouring in the Work. Once that is done, go
vectors, save them to the Colour palette
by dragging each one and choose C = 0, M =
to the Swatches 5, Y = 10 and K = 0. This
palette. This will will give you your first
enable you to choose colour. Now get the

7 Draw another solid black shape for

the windows on the opposite side of
the car and send it to the back. While this
the colour again with
ease – useful as you
will end up with 10 or
Pen tool and roughly
draw the shape that
appears to be the
shape is still selected, go to the more different tones lightest tone.
Transparency palette and change its of the colour.
transparency to 65 per cent. Then choose
the Gradient tool. Adjust the angle to 70
degrees, and adjust the blend from white
to black accordingly.

11 In the Colour palette, change the

colour to C = 0, M = 10, Y = 15 and K
= 0. Select the Pen tool. Draw your next
13 On the same layer, select the
Colour palette and set the colour
to C = 90, M = 55, Y = 0 and K = 0. This will
provide the darkest colour tones for the

8 Once you have drawn the detailed bits

round the windows, start drawing the
underside of the car – the tyres, around
the wheel arches and the shadow
underneath the car. Make sure you leave
some bits clear for the tyre detail.
set of shapes that suit this tone, then send
them to the back. Be sure to draw round
the windows – you don’t want bodywork
next stage. Start from the bottom of the
VW this time and work your way up to
meet in the middle, while remembering to
showing through the glass later. send the new shapes to the back.

EYEDROPPER
Using the
Eyedropper tool is
the best way to make
the chrome colours.
I change the

9 Make a new layer and call it Windows.

Draw the windows in a solid black
shape and repeat what you did in step
seven. Make sure you draw the windows
precisely, as it’s much easier to do it
correctly now rather than rush it and
make corrections later.
Eyedropper options
so that the Raster
Sample Size is 5x5
12 Repeat steps 10 and 11 until the
top half of the bodywork is
complete. Limit yourself to about 10
14 Select the Pen tool and draw your
first new shapes with this colour.
When you have done that, decrease each
Average (double- colours for the top half of the VW Camper, CMYK value by 5 per cent (so the next
click the Eyedropper as you will use different colour tones for colour will be C = 85, M = 50, Y = 0 and K =
tool to open the the bottom half. Do the colour tones for 0). Keep doing this for every colour tone
Options dialog). the tyres, as this will make the next step until all the bodywork is covered. This will
much easier.. give a two-tone VW Camper bodywork.

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18 Create a new layer and call it Alloy

Wheels. Make sure that it’s below
the Colour layer.
20 Make a new layer and call it
Background. Position it above the
Original photograph layer in the Layers
palette. Now use some of my Joke Art
Brushes and experiment with tones,

15 Make a new layer above Colour. Call this layer Chrome. Now
carefully draw the chrome strips that go from the back to the
front of the camper. Make sure they are separate as you will be
colours and transparency. Make sure that
the finished background complements
the illustration.
colouring them in with the Gradient tool.

19 When creating the colours for the

alloy wheels, limit yourself to
between six and eight colours for the
chrome, as it often gives better results.
You will notice that the chrome on the
wheel picks up a lot of reflections, so you
will have to adjust the colours to what you
think is right in the Colour palette.
21 Clean up your vector illustration by
making a Correction layer on top of
all the other layers. This will give you the
option to zoom in and fix any ugly shapes
and spurs. While on this layer, draw the
windscreen wipers using the Pen tool.

16 Select one of the shapes for the chrome strips and choose the
Gradient tool. In the palette click the midpoint between the two
sliders and a third one will be created. Set this middle slider to white,
and the right-hand side will be a darker blue-grey compared with the
left-hand side. Step and repeat this for each chrome strip.

STRAIGHT LINES
When it comes to
making your own
custom brushes,
make sure that you
keep all your lines

17 Staying on the Chrome layer, draw

the other chrome sections of the
VW Camper – the mirror, the lights and
straight. Otherwise
you will never get a
straight line when
the door handles. Use the tip on the
opposite page about the Eyedropper tool
to get the best result for the chrome.
you draw something
with that brush. 22 Here’s the finished product. Remember that the techniques I’ve outlined can be
used for creating a vector illustration from any kind of photograph, not just cars.
You should also experiment with creating your own brushes.

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