Linework (72ppi)

Illustrator offers a few ‘default’ options for outlines. You get your simple, mechanical-styled strokes in whatever point size you choose. You also get nifty strokes that look like paint, or chalk; oooh, aah! Unfortunately, many designers have seen these default stroke effects used, over and over again. To stand out from the crowd you’ll need to take things to the next level.

We’ll admit, Example 1 isn’t a bad illustration at all. The proportions are good, the details are relatively clean and there’s some nice color happening. But it could have been a heck of a lot more interesting! You’ll notice all of the lines, while cleanly executed, are the plain ol’ boring 1 point default stroke ending in your typical, bland rounded ends. Every line in the file is the exact same weight. While using default stroke weights can work very nicely on subjects like diagrams and mechanical drawings, it’s not working so well on this hand. Even on mechanical and technical drawings you should still be customizing your stroke weights, or using several different weights to help differentiate between specific sections within the drawing. The line work here lacks both style and personality.

Example 2 is far more exciting. We’ve used what’s called ‘variable’ line weights, meaning the strokes travel from thick to thin. Variable lines are much more natural looking: Even though real-life objects don’t have outlines around them, if they did, we bet they’d be variable and not a consistent 1 point black stroke. Variable lines can be created by outlining your strokes and then playing around with the edges; you can create your own brushes to do the work for you. Working with variable lines can be daunting at first but it’ll elevate your illustrations from amateur to pro.

Autotraces (Bortonia)

Now that we’ve talked about some common mistakes from manual drawing, it’s time to discuss problems with the automated variety. Inexperienced illustrators often depend on autotrace features (like Streamline and LiveTrace), they’re so quick and easy and require almost no thought… Or so it seems. The sad fact is autotraces can really mangle an image. You need to prepare your source file very carefully or risk having your submission kicked back for lack of planning. In many ways it’s actually faster to draw the file by hand!

Example 1 shows an autotrace of a cowboy on a horse. The shapes are jagged and messy, and since the source photo was slightly overexposed the neck of the horse and the cowboy’s shirt are completely lost against the background (look at the random head floating in space!). Remember, if your source photo isn’t the best, chances are your autotrace will also suffer. This one’ll need a lot of tidying in order to pass inspection.

Our second file, Example 2, was traced by hand and took only 10 minutes longer than the autotraced version. The shapes are smooth and clean, and we’ve added lines around the horse’s neck and the cowboy’s shirt so you can see the shapes better. We’ve also been able to tidy up the horse’s tail and mane, removed the distracting leg bandages and simplified the details on the saddle to clean up the composition. Yeehaw, ride ‘em, cowboy!