How to make illustrations in 10 seconds by converting photos to vector art!

[Scaredgirl]

Make illustrations in 10 seconds by converting photos to vector graphics!

Ok, all you artists out there, don't worry, you are not out of a job. This is just a small trick for those who don't know how to draw art.

Here are a couple I made just now. I just added all the images without discarding the bad ones which is why quality varies.

Left is "before" and right is "after".

(http://imageplay.net/)

(http://imageplay.net/)

(http://imageplay.net/)

(http://imageplay.net/)

(http://imageplay.net/)

(http://imageplay.net/)

(http://imageplay.net/)

(http://imageplay.net/)


How to do this?



Part One - Getting an Image

1. Go to http://www.sxc.hu/

2. Type in a search word

3. Choose "downloads, descending" to get better quality images on the top (OPTIONAL)

4. Pick an image and download it on your computer



Part Two - Changing the Image to Vector Graphics

1. Go to http://vectormagic.com/online/how_it_works

2. Click "Upload image to trace.." and find your image

3. Wait for the website to process your image

4. Change detail level and other settings to get better results

5. Your illustration is ready!



Btw you don't have to use that website. There are many free and commercial software that do the same thing. Illustrator is probably the best choice. In illustration this process is called "Live Trace" and can be found in the main menu.

This does not replace doing art by hand. Not even close. But if you have the right image, results can be surprisingly good. And the best part is that if you use royalty-free images (like I used), your art can be used in Elements.

Try it. Even if you cannot produce anything usable, at least it's fun.

[killsdazombies]

lol thanks SG another + karma worthy thread.

[Wardead]

Excellent! + Karma.

[Bloodshadow]

Ooh, I remember doing this on Flash once... I wonder if Fireworks can do this?

[Kuroaitou]

You should probably make this a sticky. Many people would love to know about this/use this in some of their designs for card art.

EDIT: ...so I realized that I have to download the software/give out my e-mail and whatnot just to have the image downloaded on my computer again for further editing. Lamesauce.

[Xenocidius]

I think this topic deserves a serious necro.

This is an incredibly useful and genius idea; I'm amazed I didn't think of it before. Instant transition from boring photo to Elements-style art. I could see this helping a lot of people.

[Brontos]

Perfect. I need that.

[Pineapple]

I think this topic deserves a serious necro.

This is an incredibly useful and genius idea; I'm amazed I didn't think of it before. Instant transition from boring photo to Elements-style art. I could see this helping a lot of people.

Meh. All it does is make the image blurry enough so that the vectors will have round edges, I don't see how this is "Elements-style art", but just clumsy removal of detail. Any basic vectoring program can do this, so being able to manipulate the vectors afterward isn't a benefit. You can achieve the same image effect with the "filter: stylize: oil paint" filter in Paint.NET or photoshop. Alternative, load the picture in pixlr and use "filter: denoise" a few times.

Pixlr:
Before: After: