Most portraits come out as good vectors. Faces that are cut off, coming off the screen, or at wierd angles may be harder to trace and less rewarding as results. I will be using this fairly unconventional portrait of Gwen Stefani for this tutorial.

I will be using two tools. The Pen tool and the Pencil tool. To begin, create the settings for the pencil tool adequate for tracing. You can change these as you see fit, but these are the options I used: (Double click on the pencil tool to bring these up.)

The pen tool, you will use as usual. If you are unfamiliar with the pen tool, I suggest you attempt this tutorial first. When you are using the pen tool, remember you can press alt to temporarily edit the state of your rubber band. Most of what I did was done with the pen tool. The more I finished the image, the more pencil I used.

Okay, I generally like to go from dark to light, and I often start with the eyes. Make a new layer called “Black” for the eyeliner and other black features. Lock the bottom layer. I do not lower the original layer’s opacity when I am tracing. It is just easier to see the screenshot when she’s a little faded.

A big key to tracing faces is creating the illusion of smoothness. This is done by making similar shapes next to each other that are similar in tone. This brown and black will look as if they’re running into each other when I make Gwen full size. Done with pen tool.

I am slowly using lighter and lighter browns, putting each shade jump on a new layer and locking the rest. Naming your layers accordingly will be a great help when you’re trying to tweak the image in the end.

Facial features done with the pen tool.

The lip highlights are the first thing I drew with the pencil.

I added some basic eyes that I will change later. I also added a base for the hair, below my dark brown layers so it wouldnt cover the details at the roots of the hair. Now, with the pencil, I drew in a majority of the curls on her head. This hairstyle is very sporadic and hard to detail. Try to create them carefully, and don’t worry about little errors.

With the pencil tool on a new layer, I added highlights, and then I added highlights to the highlights. This way, I can add detail to the hair, even though there is not much detail I can trace.

Now pick a skin tone from the original image and create a skin layer. Add some shadows.

I finished the trace by changing her eyes and adding her tiara (base done with pen tool, detail added with pencil tool.) I also made a glowing appearance using the concept I introduced to make the eyeliner look smooth. Gradual color changes going outward from her head made her look less misplaced on a white canvas.

Final:

Original:

Keywords: Adobe Illustrator, Vectors, Vector, Comic, Cell Shading, Hair, Face, Blending, Pen tool, Pencil tool