Illustrator Career Guide and Counseling

Question: How do you change a photo in adobe illustrator to cartoon? I have adobe illustrator and photoshop. A friend of mine took entire photo of me and transformed it into a cartoon. I know this is a feature or tool in the illustrator program, but I don't know which one. If anyone knows please inform me or maybe you could help me to do it.

Answer: Live trace will convert a photograph to a vector illustration, there are a number of settings or you can customise one, it relies on the photograph being of a good quality, however it is not strictly a cartoon, none of the features will be exaggerated for example.

Question: How do you transfer a vector image from Illustrator to Publisher? Hi, How do you transfer a vector image from Illustrator to Publisher? I have a vector image in Illustrator i need to transfer to Publisher, and need to keep it as a vector image? Like, when i make it smaller ot larger in publisher, i dont want it ruining the image (pixels) - How can i do this? Thanks so much

Answer: Export your Illustrator files as a wmf or emf (windows/enhanced meta file). They are both vector image formats and should work in publisher. Alternatively, you can directly copy (ctrl C) what you want from your illustrator file and past it (ctrl V) into your publisher document.

Question: How do I find an illustrator for my graphic novel? I'm a fan of graphic novels and recently decided to write one, but I can't draw! How should I go about finding someone to do the drawing for me? Should I pay them for the images as they go or should I try to strike up a partnership for the project? Also, where should I go to find the illustrator--internet, art schools, etc?

Answer: Illustration for graphic novels is kind of a specialty area of illustration. Your best bet is to post a job on a freelancer site like FreelanceSwitch or Coroflot and see who bites. Having said that, illustrators aren't cheap and a lot of them prefer not to work with non-professionals because it ends of being a messy headache. Your alternative option is the try to strike up a deal with an art student at a local college. It can be a mutual win-win because you need an artist and they need more stuff in their portfolio. Good Luck

Question: How can I be an illustrator for magazine? I think I am good at illustration (hand drawing) and curious about being a illustrator for female magazine. How can I start this career?

Answer: Start illustrating random stories that capture your imagination - and also those that don't (because you won't be always able to choose your work) - just for the heck of it, to practice - AND to build a portfolio. When you have a decent collection of illustrations, start sending them around to art directors of magazines, with a good cover letter. OR you could approach those art directors in person, whatever comes easier to you. Good luck! P.S. Don't forget to check the quality, the consistency, of your drawing with a hand mirror. It really makes a difference! ***

Question: How do I get adobe illustrator cs3 to export images with the right dimensions? Whenever I export an image in adobe illustrator cs3 for mac, the image is around 4 times as big as should be. How do I fix this?

Answer: Open your TRANSFORM pallet, select your entire image, then put the demensions in the W and H fields

Question: What are the skills an illustrator for a children's book should have? Hi, I am searching for an illustrator to illustrate a children's book. I need to evaluate their skills but I am not quite sure what are the top skills to look for in an illustrator for children's books. Can anyone tell me what type of skills I should be looking for?

Answer: consistency in their drawings. if for a particular book the characters need to of course look the same every time. they need to be able to almost tell the story from the picture, to know whats going on with no words. they have to be able to relay what going on with the plot. humor is always good, especially when it comes to illustrations that will be going in childrens books.

Question: Who is the illustrator of the Warriors Russian covers? I love the covers of the Warriors series, especially the Russian covers. So I'm wondering, who's the illustrator?

Answer: I'm not very sure the author is Erin Hunter I'm sure if you go on the website you can ask him

Question: How do I draw an infinity symbol with illustrator? I want to draw an infinity symbol with illustrator (a sideways 8). The crossing paths should be one top of the other. Hope someone could help me. Thank you in advance.

Answer: Make an 8. Tip it over.

Question: How to line up documents for printing front and back in Illustrator? I am printing a set of cards, and they have a design on the front and back. I need to know how to set it up ao that I do not go over the edge on either side. I am using adobe illustrator, but I can print them in jpeg or pdf format if needs be, they are not so big that they would lose quality, but obviously I would rather keep the illustrator files!

Answer: Your best bet would be to place them in a layout program such as InDesign. However, you need to provide more information, such as the actual dimensions, how you are going to print them, and so on. If you are printing from a home printer, you will want to run a test print to see how your printer handles double-sided printing. If you are having these printed through a professional print shop (I'm not talking about Kinkos, or an office supply store, but rather a place that just does printing, maybe uses both digital and offset printing) you could talk to them to find out how to do the best layout. Do you have a background design that needs to go to the edge? Then you will need to setup a bleed. That's just one of the many things to consider. As for file types, your best bet is a PDF file. When I print at home or take the file to Kinkos or Staples, I save the file as a "High Quality Print" setting and turn off the retain Illustrator editing (which means the file can be opened in Illustrator, but not edited). Be careful if you have any transparency or transparent objects (gradients and drop shadows can both qualify for this). You can get unexpected results, such as odd white boxes around objects. Check the Illustrator Help files for info on handling transparency issues. Anyway, if you want to talk some more about this, please e-mail me through my profile and I will try to help.

Question: How do you adjust the opacity in adobe illustrator? I've been using PS so long that illustrator seems slightly weird. There is this one opacity adjuster, but when I use it it's permanent so that doesn't do me any good.

Answer: Transparency menu allows you to select the amount of opacity as long as you don't flatten transparency it is editable, but remember to flatten it before printing.

Question: What's the difference between Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator? I tried Wikipedia, but it just describes Illustrator as "vector-based drawing program" and photoshop as "graphics editing program" but doesn't really give a lot of detail of what you can actually do with each. So, what is each best for? Which is better for creating content for web pages?

Answer: Photoshop is for editing and retouching photos and color correcting things. You can also create graphics in Photoshop but it's not as fluid and is harder to do. Airbrushing and painting works well in Photoshop too. Illustrator is best for making buttons, icons and layouts since it's used for Illustration purposes and it's easier to work with text. They also have preset template sizes for web layout. It's also easy to import Illustrator files into Flash and Dreamweaver. A Good place for tutorials is http://lynda.com/ if you are looking to learn how to use them.

Question: I am trying to draw a dreamcatcher in adobe illustrator, can someone help me? I am trying to get more familiar with adobe illustrator and I want to draw a dreamcatcher. Does anyone have a tutorial or something that I could use like as a template or something like that? Thanks. Rock. I also need help drawing a forest. How do I remove the back ground of the image? I have never done this before and it doesn't seem to be working for me. Can you give me step to step directions? Rock.

Answer: It is much easier if you got a good photo of it, and you can find tons of those on internet, look for those with white or black background, and select the background with magic wand tool ( or select color tool ) and erase it. Fine tune the crop as you wish and fill in with paint bucket if you need one color only. This is the fastest way.

Question: How do you make a professional calendar on Adobe Illustrator? The calendars very similar to store bought ones. This is a present. If you have a solution to this please make it very simple because this is my first time using Illustrator. It would be very helpful if you knew any tutorial videos for this as well. Thank you!

Answer: decent basic one http://www.layersmagazine.com/adobe-illustrator-calendar-from-warped-perspective.html you would hav to make individual docs for each month, add ur own images at the top or wherever and figure out how the correct size layout for the doc so it matches a standard store bought calendar but its a start for a noob

Question: Can you make a gradient in illustrator that goes from white to transparent? Can you make a gradient in illustrator that goes from white to transparent so that if there is an image behind it, it shows up behind the clear, but not behind the solid white? I can do it in photoshop, but can't figure out how in illustrator.

Answer: yes, it requires masking white to blank over color layer as set, http://www.creativetechs.com/iq/transparent_gradients_in_illustrator_cscs2.html http://www.bittbox.com/illustrator/opacity-mask-basics-illustrator/ http://illustrator.digitalmedianet.com/articles/viewarticle.jsp?id=26026-1 http://creativebits.org/illustrator/transparent_gradient_in_illustrator ..

Question: How to make a colored stripe through text in Illustrator? I am using Illustrator and wrote a word in large bold letters in dark brown. I want to make the bottom 1/4th of the words appear in blue. How do I do this?

Answer: Duplicate the layer, fill the type in the new layer with the blue, surround the area of the type you want to remain with a rectangle, select both the type and the rectangle and make clipping mask (under Object).

Question: How do I make a word created in Adobe illustrator look like its embossed? I am just getting into Illustrator and am trying to create a logo using a word. I have outlined the text so its got its handles to change the shapes around.

Answer: It's simple! You can do this easily: Activate your box, go to the top menu— Effects, slide down to 3D under Illustrator Effects, and a slide out box will appear that says Extrude and Bevel. There are all kinds of other effects for you to experiment within this same menu, as well as trying things under the filter menu. The fun in being a graphic designer is being able to experiment with various things to see what we can create. So try new things, and if you do not like it, just remember to press "command z" (Macintosh) (control z Windows) to return to the state just before making that change. Best wishes!