# Illustrator guys - some help?



## UnderTheSign (Oct 5, 2012)

I have this logo idea/sketch that's pretty much done but I'm an idiot and not a computer guy so I have no clue how Illustrator and all that stuff works... Thought I'd ask here. It's a pretty simple image and all I want is it turned into a clean digital version. Preferably a vector image so that if I finally find out how to properly use the pen and paths tool I can adjust some lines myself.


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## MFB (Oct 5, 2012)

Illustrator uses vectors as it's primary ...I don't even know the word, primary function I guess whereas Photoshop is bitmaps if I recall correctly, so doing things in Illustrator has a different feel to it straight off the bat whereas in PS you have to use the pen tool for vectors. 

You can use the free-form pen tool which allows you to draw just like a regular brush/pencil and the only real "issue" with it is that it adds a lot of extra anchor-points so it can be a bit weird re-tweaking them. From there you can use the fill tool for colors and such. Only thing is that if you use the pen-tool, make sure to save the paths since I know in PS if you don't, then they disappear and you're like "What the fuck just happened?"


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## UnderTheSign (Oct 6, 2012)

MFB said:


> Illustrator uses vectors as it's primary ...I don't even know the word, primary function I guess whereas Photoshop is bitmaps if I recall correctly, so doing things in Illustrator has a different feel to it straight off the bat whereas in PS you have to use the pen tool for vectors.
> 
> You can use the free-form pen tool which allows you to draw just like a regular brush/pencil and the only real "issue" with it is that it adds a lot of extra anchor-points so it can be a bit weird re-tweaking them. From there you can use the fill tool for colors and such. Only thing is that if you use the pen-tool, make sure to save the paths since I know in PS if you don't, then they disappear and you're like "What the fuck just happened?"


Yeah, I don't want too much anchor points, just something nice and simple... There's a lot of random wobbles and uneven lines in the drawing right now and I just want to get rid of those to clean it up a little and make it usable.


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## MFB (Oct 6, 2012)

I'd say easiest thing would be maybe use the pen tool to get the rough shapes, and then go through and add in anchors to those existing paths and create the arcs (Either inward/outward) using that method. It's what I did to create a specific style of grass/rays of sun for some posters over the summer and worked fairly well. It can be time consuming but it seems like it's either that or use the free-form pen tool and go through and remove anchors that are causing any inconsistencies which can be just as - if not more - time-consuming.


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## UnderTheSign (Oct 8, 2012)

Cheers for the advice, seems like I'm getting the hang of it after all.


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