In this tutorial, we're going to use Illustrator (and a bit of Photoshop) to create an image that looks roughly hand-drawn on textured paper. We'll be creating a camera illustration in this rough sketchy style.
Create a Sketchy Hand-Drawn Camera Illustration in Illustrator
Jul 22nd in Illustration by Katie Marcus
Final Image Preview
To begin with let's have a look at the image we'll be creating.
Step 1
Take a series of photos of your subject to decide which angle will work best. Here is the link to the camera image chosen.
Step 2
Import your chosen photo into Illustrator using File > Place. Lock this layer and create a new one on top of it.
Step 3
Choose a red 0.5 pt stroke, with no fill, and use the Pen tool to start tracing the outlines of your image. Start with the main outlines then the inner lines. You don't have to be too accurate, as we're going to be distorting the lines later.
Step 4
Use the Pencil tool to draw the finer details.
Step 5
Now that we're done tracing we're going to make the drawing feel more hand-rendered. Choose the Wrinkle tool (it's in the Warp tool sub-menu).
Step 6
You might have to experiment with the settings to get the desired effect; here's what I used.
Step 7
Lock your finer details by selecting them and hitting Command+2. Click quickly all over your image to wrinkle the lines.
Step 8
Now tidy up a bit using the Direct Selection tool to join up all the stroke ends again.
Step 9
You might also want to use Object > Path > Simplify to tidy up, especially if the wrinkle effect was too pronounced in an area.
Step 10
Now unlock all your lines, select them all, and make them black. Then vary the stroke widths a bit. Make the main outlines wider (around 1.5 pt) and the finer details thinner (0.5 pt - 0.7 pt).
Step 11
Now we're going to make a custom art brush to apply to our lines. Draw a thin oval, as shown below.
Step 12
Use the Wrinkle tool again on it.
Step 13
Then scale it down vertically to make a thin line that looks like a scratchy ink line.
Step 14
Drag your line into the Brush panel and select Art Brush from the prompt.
Step 15
Apply your custom brush to the strokes. You might have to alter the stroke widths again to get it looking right.
Step 16
Now we're done in Illustrator, and it's time to add some color in Photoshop. (You could do all these steps within Illustrator too, but I find it easier in Photoshop.)
Paste your lines into Photoshop. Create a new white background layer below it. Then create another new layer in which you'll add your first color.
Step 17
Use the Polygonal Lasso tool to roughly trace the main outline. Then fill it with a mid-toned color (it's good not to use realistic colors, but tones of the same shade). Create a new layer above this one for each shade of color. Fill shadow areas with a darker tone and highlight areas with a lighter tone. Aim for about five separate colors.
Step 18
Finally, add some texture. Get a scan or stock image of some textured paper. I scanned in some paper for this design. You might have to up the brightness and contrast and set the color balance a bit more red/yellow for warmth. Paste the texture right above your background layer. Duplicate this layer and place it below the lines layer and above the colors. Set the Blending Mode to Pin Light and the Opacity to 20%.
Conclusion
One final tidy up of removing any bits that are too spiky and altering opacities on your color block layers slightly. I added a frame to suit the image's subject - and it's done!
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User Comments
( ADD YOURS )Adam July 22nd
Awesome effect. I’ve been looking for something similar to this for some time.
( )Simon July 22nd
It takes skill to draw like a 7 year old. It takes even more skill to make it look good.
Great job on the tutorial–I will be trying this out later.
( )Severin July 22nd
Nice tut. I haven’t tried too much with the warp tools, but now I will have to give it a try. Thanks
( )adil July 22nd
Excellent tutorial, it’s been a long time since i was trying to achieve this effect…
( )it would be great to have a tutorial for making graphics like the mika album cover
calvin July 22nd
wow, that’s really cool!
i wonder how well it will work with people?
( )Omar July 22nd
it would work, but requires more then just outline, you have to get the details and shading, using contrast feature in photoshop, and then copy to illustrator, then to make it look sketchy you will have to edit the lines a bit more thorougly so that it looks more better, also then you need to show streaks instead of smooth gradients for shading.
( )Sohaib July 22nd
I like the outcome
( )Whitney July 22nd
The Wrinkle tool… Learn something new every day… Thanks!
( )jeremy July 22nd
I had forgotten about the wrinkle tool! Thanks for providing such a nice technique that utilizes it.
( )Brent Nelson July 22nd
Looks great. Gj!
( )Moritz Feierabend July 22nd
Nice one!! I really like the look.
( )Nate July 22nd
Neat. I will give it a try
( )afruit July 22nd
This is a very cool look. Great to get away from the shiny polish and reflection that tends to dominate vector illustration.
( )Braden Keith July 22nd
Holga’s….yummmm
( )sean turner July 22nd
Great effect, loving it. Thanks for sharing
( )Clemson July 22nd
I like the look. I guess I never thought to use the wrinkle tool for that. Nicely Done.
( )Tim July 22nd
nice results and tools!
( )Dan July 22nd
Brilliant, this is a great tut extremely versatile effect
( )Ollie July 22nd
good and interesting tutorial but i still prefer the ‘old’ method of simply drawing it
it would take me far longer to mock up a drawing on AI than actually just sketching it down… a little the same as how digital photographers try to cross process their images when you can just use a diana or holga for that instant effect… good tut nonetheless :>
( )Joefrey Mahusay July 22nd
Awesome. The output is looking great!
( )Shane July 23rd
Very nice style - I like it. It contrasts nicely with the shines of the last tutorial we saw on the site.
Thanks for posting.
( )Grafiko July 23rd
Its’s tru it takes skill to draw like a kid and make it look good. nice technique
( )Kevin Spear July 23rd
Nice effect. It points out the advantages of the pent tool: you don’t have to own a graphics tablet to draw in Illustrator/Photoshop.
( )Blue Buffalo July 23rd
Very cool effect! It really looks hand-drawn.
( )K3v July 23rd
This shows the power of using brushes in Illustrator… nice tut!
( )Nolawi July 23rd
too much work I think - might as well trace it on paper and then scan it… I think
( )Daniel Geraldi July 23rd
Great effect!
( )Thanks!
jbcarey July 24th
THIS IS WORTH GOLD!!!! no really! I know I’m going to be using this effect extensively!
( )Andy Slatter July 25th
Excellent tutorial,well done!
( )Rijalul Fikri July 25th
nice outcome! Thx’s
( )Paul Baines July 31st
great tut! Many thanks!
( )fili August 6th
cool stuff
( )Fabiola August 7th
Cool
( )Billy August 8th
This is really nice! It’s simple, it’s funny and it’s so different to many other vector-styles…
( )It’s not that clean, nice!
lol November 1st
You can better draw it on paper and scan it…
( )penflare November 18th
really like this, great job!
( )Josh Drake November 19th
Very nice! This looks similar to the illustrations done for alistapart.com’s articles. I wondered how they did that. Thanks!
( )Jane January 2nd
wonderful. thanks so much
( )anon e mouse January 4th
or you could just draw it.
( )Cheryl March 12th
I just now saw this one. Nice job - gonna try it on something soon!
( )Samuel March 23rd
Amazing tutorial, thx
( )Geoff April 16th
Why not just use real pencils and pens and trace over the photograph onto vellum or white tracing paper BY HAND!
It’s better for eye-hand coordination and it is good exercise in SEEING!
( )slave May 8th
this is how it is done using illustrator, ur genius!
( )CgBaran Tuts May 12th
Great work thanks
( )Zainab June 12th
great tut.
( )