How to Vectorize Hand Lettering

[@ryr1974]

Along with how clearly presented and accessible your tutorials are you have a voice that is very pleasant to listen to. You have that quiet but enunciated way of presenting information that I associate with some of my best teachers, great worship leaders, and the high school girl from my bus when I was in grade school who one afternoon, when the bus slid on the ice and got trapped in a snow bank, taught me how to eat using chopsticks. It is that quality of quiet that draws your attention. It isn't like you actual need to lean in to hear them speak but you almost do with your body anyway because that is the posture of your mind as you work at focusing on exactly what they are saying. Such speaker often gives me that butterflies in the stomach feeling from my excitement or interest in what they will be saying next. It produces a sleepy sort of arousal stance from which to receive the information. I don't know if that communicates what I mean effectively. If not just know it is a good sort of attentive posture to produce in ones audience.

[@Soulownerorg]

We are soooooo thankful for this video. My GF is really talented with a pen and this is going to go a long way towards helping her get her art seen.

[@creativeclare]

i have been using illustrator for almost 7 years now and have finally learned how to reset the bounding box, I CANNOT THANK YOU ENOUGH. great tutorial :)

[@EveryTuesday]

haha yay! I actually found it by accident a while back and I remember feeling the same way! They hide it well :) Thanks for watching!

[@Maxxxxjack]

Hey! Just wanted to let you know how much I appreciate your tuts. You give just enough guidance and information with everything you do without being to wordy. Keep up the great work!

[@EveryTuesday]

Hearing that means so much to me + is the reason I keep making them! Thank you for watching :)

[@zink08]

Thanks for sharing! Quick tip: Instead of grouping and merging the layers to copy the result, simply select all and press Command + Shift + C to copy merged. Huge time saver without the extra layers.

[@jjzel69]

Your instruction is very clear and thorough. Your help is very appreciated!

[@Willac8131333]

This just changed my WHOLE ENTIRE LIFE. Thank you so much!!!!

[@LindieBotes]

Never knew there were image trace settings! Thank you so much for the great tutorial!

[@CarolGaudencio]

Loved the tutorial! As much as I know lots of commands, I love the fact that you name them and explain what they are for, cause it makes it easier to understand what you're doing, sometimes I get lost somewhere along the way, but it definetly didn't happen here. Thanks

[@symonef.6978]

Reset Bounding Box is so helpful. I have been using Illustrator for years and had no idea about it. Thank you so much for this helpful video

[@behrcaveprogress3083]

I just stumbled across your channel, yes I realize I'm late to the party, I usually am... Anyway I'm a designer and hand letterer/calligrapher so I'm loving every minute of your videos! You literally made me LOL with the "I'm just gonna pretend this is done even though it's not". Thanks for sharing your tips!

[@elizabethlandrum8551]

this is SO HELPFUL for an amateur designer/handletter-er like myself. Thank you so much!

[@BeHappyNoMatterWhat]

I am re-learning how to use Illustrator and your tutorials are SO helpful! Thank you. BTW, while I was messing around with the tools, I noticed that instead of deleting all of the white spaces individually, you can also select the image, then in the pathfinder tool, you can click the exclude option which automatically deletes all the white spaces!

[@theresahutch1]

Thank you Teela - You have some of the best videos out there. Keep up the good work!

[@bookwormbeats]

In the image trace settings window you could have clicked the advanced options expander and checked "ignore white" and saved yourself the trouble of deleting white shapes.

[@behrcaveprogress3083]

Yes, I thought the very same thing!

[@crotman4217]

I'm actually not so sure this is accurate - It depends on the Image Trace Preset settings you use I think? (High fidelity, low fidelity, etc) For some of those settings it won't allow you to check that box. At least that was my experience.

[@alishaklawitter567]

I know this is an older video, but very well done! The best one I've watched so far! Thanks!

[@rachel.sekuras]

This is amazing! I never knew the pencil trick to clean up the edges. Something that goes faster for me to erase those annoying white counter spaces is to just click on one white counter spot, go to Select>Same>Fill Color, and it selects all the hidden white stuff to easily delete! Hope that's helpful!

[@EveryTuesday]

Thanks for the tip and thanks for watching! :)

[@helenhatz806]

Thank you so much Teela. You are so incredibly helpful and great at explaining your techniques and the tools you used. You are so thorough! IT makes all the difference. I really appreciate it, thanks again :) xx

[@EveryTuesday]

+Helen Hatz Feels so good to hear that! Thanks so much for watching! :)

[@khillkh]

Thanks, this was a big help! The results were exactly what I was looking for.

[@MrJonwarde]

Great tutorial. Got me going with exactly what I wanted to start doing with Illustrator. Thankyou very much!

[@EveryTuesday]

+Jon Warde awesome to hear! Thanks for checking it out :)

[@totallysxmmyyt6787]

Well done! I am teaching a typography course and I will direct my students to they channel.

[@GabrielaFlores7]

Best tutorial ever! Thank you so much.

[@reydelrey5975]

Thanks for this tutorial, I just got Illustrator and there are so many buttons everywhere. Also thanks for acknowledging windows users haha

[@MackojrNBAKvideos]

Rey Del Rey Right!!

[@suzytsaab388]

thanks for the video, you're easy to follow and clear.

[@omoshiroiine]

Hi Teela! Great video!! Omg, I never thought about using the pencil tool to edit the lines. So awesome! Thank you so much for the tip about making the downward lines thicker for creating the brush calligraphy look. Def subscribing! Have an awesome weekend! -Zee

[@EveryTuesday]

Thanks so much for watching, glad you're here!

[@shees94]

I never knew girls made illustrator tutorials! :).. great tutorial, good voice. thanks

[@SKAFWO]

Thank you!! Very helpful way of tutoring!

[@MattBlytheTheOne]

If you make a logo or lettering into a path and use the path selection tool and then make into a custom shape, the shape information will be retained as a vector within the EPS wrapper in photoshop. It is not a pure vector as with illustrator but it is sufficient for most scalable purposes.

[@ChromaQueen]

Thank you Teela. It was great to follow the tutorial step by step. The only glitch for me was when editing with the pencil tool. I was able to add to the letters but not trim/slim them. Can you tell me the pencil tool's setting or what I have to do? thanks!

[@chucksmitty9484]

Your voice is like silk. Great tutorial btw

[@spiffypumpkin2433]

Thank you for this video. (It helped me immensely with my homework.)

[@andreajancovicova9896]

Thank you very much!! awesome video tutorial.

[@hartyom]

Thank you for such a nice tutorial.

[@2521-g9r]

A wonderful lettering!

[@idrissasow1595]

Tysm, did everything as described

[@daryayukimenka2361]

thank you! This helped me so much! It literelly took me 10 minutes to replicate with my own lettering :) Thanks a lot!

[@EveryTuesday]

awesome! So glad to hear :)

[@Byzial]

Great Tutorial, i didnt knew about that wacom tool to fix the trace ;) Thanks

[@EveryTuesday]

+Byzial thanks for watching!

[@terrafree]

That was wonderful, thank you so much, very helpful. Yay!

[@EveryTuesday]

+terrafree awesome! Happy to help! :)

[@hmmr_]

This was very helpful. Thanks!

[@fransiskasidharta8542]

Thank You for an awesome tutorial!

[@priscilalangbehn]

Thank you! Your tutorials are amazing! Love it

[@dylanmorin213]

It works! Thanks a lot.

[@ladyhayley4859]

Hi, This is great. I was wondering if you could write that straight into illustrator with your graphics pad? And how do you then make it into a vector? Sorry, I am super new to illustrator!

[@helloruiz]

Nice. FYI, I think you can just hit CTRL + SHIFT + C to copy everything that is visible under the current selection, that way you don't have to create two separate groups to copy the merged result.

[@emilymason1426]

Great video, you made that look so easy. This would definitely simplify my technique (I thought you had to go in and adjust each anchor point...takes forever!) What else can you use the Wacom tablet for? I am sure it takes a lot of getting use to!

[@anatolenavarro6351]

These are brilliant. Thanks for your vidz..

[@GirlMeetsBujo]

Love this!! I usually use the smooth tool, but I love the results of the pencil tool. Gonna try that for sure. Do you have any tips on removing dots if I letter on dotted paper?

[@kmankers]

VERY helpful! Thank you!

[@EveryTuesday]

+Kristen symmank yay! Thanks for watching!

[@sonydesigns]

pretty good. good job!

[@DJDEEM1]

Awesome! This is just what I was looking for. Thanks so much.

[@EveryTuesday]

Awesome. Thanks for checking it out!

[@TanyaBatrak]

Thanks!! Great tutorial :)

[@meburtty]

Hi! Great video, do you happen to know what levels your fidelity and smoothness are set to when you made this video? Thank you

[@CookieZ3353]

Great tutorial. I picked up a lot of advanced skills. When you are drawing with your stylus are you toggling back and forth between add and minus? I didn't quite get how you can add and subtract from your type with the same stylus (which I plan to add to my arsenal when I feel worthy).

[@venesiapedro1759]

Thank You!! This video helped me.

[@EveryTuesday]

+Venez Escobedo awesome :) Thanks for watching!

[@wrw311]

Well done. Thanks!

[@EveryTuesday]

+Rob Wooten thanks for watching!

[@silvertree2189]

Awesome! thanks!!

[@LaserShopKiev]

Great tutorial! I Guess, will be better if use right geometry of each letter. Every symbol should be drawed separetely and then connected. Thanks!

[@robertto1ify]

Hi Teela! so you don´t use the pen tool to vectorize each letter? I like your technic using the pencil tool :))

[@carolynfolible]

great video!

[@leapotts9952]

This was really helpful thank you =)

[@YungOb1911A1]

Very informative. Thank u

[@EveryTuesday]

YungOb.1 Thanks for watching!

[@vois]

This helped me out alot, thanks

[@ferdoussanto3372]

Hi, I am from BANGLADESH it is Helpful to me. Thanks

[@Munajah1]

Thanks alot. It's realy a pretty good effort.

[@chrisdekle2047]

Really great job! Wished I had watched it sooner.....would have saved me $35. ;)

[@eqlzr2]

How do you write on the screen and have the computer convert it instantly to any text font, particularly like antique penmanship, that you want? Thx.

[@KiLL_BiLL_9]

I don't have White Color Background Having Trouble

[@funkiemunkytootiedo]

To avoid using pathfinder to separate the white fill in the holes of the text, when you do your image trace click the arrow next to advance in the trace panel and select ignore white. This will automatically get rid of the white fill in the letters and the white background.

[@jovancarter6266]

how do I cut and rewrite on Ai

[@olenamarcos9309]

Thank you for the advice! Very helpful!

[@juliamariereynolds3152]

Thank you so much for your tutorial, it was really quick and easy to follow. I wonder if you help me. I followed your steps and then tried to put the vector back into photoshop CC, but it becomes unclear with fuzzy lines, becoming more noticeable when I enlarge. Am I doing something wrong?

[@EveryTuesday]

Sounds like you're pasting in as pixels instead of a smart object - you'll need photoshop CS3 or newer to have smart object capability - make sure that bullet is checked when you're pasting in :)

[@michelleengland4562]

Is an old-fashioned (about 5-6 years old) scanner-printer good enough?

[@ktor538]

Great video! I also use Path, Simplify to straighten the edges of the text too?

[@EveryTuesday]

+K Tor Yes! That's another great way to clean up some of those edges :)

[@илонакучинская-ж5ч]

Thank you so much for your tutorial! I like all your lessons) But I have a problem with live trace) Usually, when I choose "Ignore White" in trace options my lettering becomes thinner, but sometimes i get more thicker letters than without checking this box. What is the reason?)

[@EveryTuesday]

+илона кучинская My guess would be on rougher edges, ignoring the white eats into your letters a bit more to remove every trace of it. I personally like leaving it unchecked, then after vectorizing (where black is filled more than white is subtracted), selecting my white and removing it.

[@theabsoluteworst1]

This is awesome but for some reason, when I use the pencil tool to clean up my letters, it doesn't erase the edges.. It just puts a like through my letters, from where I drew with the wacom tablet..

[@EveryTuesday]

yea, it will sometimes do that if you don't begin your line right on top of the original one (it thinks you're creating a new line instead of editing one). With the line you want edited selected, try beginning with the pencil right on top of a previous point to avoid how finicky it can sometimes be :). I hope this helps! Thanks so much for watching!

[@theabsoluteworst1]

Teela Cunningham Yeah.. After commenting this, I figured it out haha that's usually how things happen.

[@groncal]

I'm so happy to have found this video! Thank you for sharing and taking the time to help others in the field. I've been working with Illustrator for quite some time now, but never with a tablet pen. If I may ask, what is a good starting tablet/pen. You had mentioned WACOM. Any specific tablet you think would be a good one for me to ease myself into? Your response would be greatly appreciated! Thanks again for the awesome video. Gerard

[@EveryTuesday]

I'm glad you liked the vid! A tablet takes a little getting used to since you're not drawing on paper, but once you do, it's so worth it! I actually wrote an article on my experiences with and recommendations for affordable wacom tablets which you can check out here: every-tuesday.com/5-affordable-wacom-tablets/ Depending on your budget, I think #3 on that list would be a good starting tablet :)

[@groncal]

Teela Cunningham Just became an even bigger fan. First, I appreciate the response! It had also led me to your blog with which I just filled my brain with an abundance of knowledge. Your website flows so well and your talent really shines through. Thanks for taking so much time giving back. Keep up the great work!

[@ashleyjohnson3737]

Do you need to start with a large image?

[@MichelleHird]

Great! Thank you

[@busrakulup]

Good!

[@glendercortez4250]

thx and subscribed

[@chinafrost7052]

I'm having the hardest time with the pencil tool. It doesn't take away or make smoother lines when I try it on my letting. I've gone through every step in this video. When I put it on "compound path" I make a selection and it goes right back to "path" with the color box having a red line through it. HEEEELLLPPP!!!

[@emmicd11]

double click the pencil tool in the toolbox on the left side to open pencil tool options dialog box. In the dialog box you can tweak fidelity and smoothness to your preference.

[@jennyhislop8270]

Love the video. I'm having trouble deleting the outline to the image though. When I go to delete the outline it deletes the whole image. Any thoughts on why?

[@EveryTuesday]

Jenny Hislop everything's probably still grouped together - try ctrl + shift + g (pc) or cmnd + shift + g (mac) a couple of times then try again :)

[@henrygorr]

it doesn't trim the image when i draw a shape on it using pencil, any help?

[@audunjemtland8287]

Mine become more jaggity than the original. Tried every parametre to tinker with. Any way to soften the edges as vector? Or does it have to be clean razor sharp?

[@audunjemtland8287]

How do you move the shapes without the stylus?

[@ghazamedai4794]

THANK U VERY MUCH

[@curiousvijay6239]

Hi, I loved your tutorial.. But somehow I cant find the option of Image trace in Illustrator cs5.1. Please help

[@EveryTuesday]

Vijay Soni after selecting what you want to trace, go object > image trace > make :) Thanks for watching!

[@curiousvijay6239]

Teela Cunningham Thank You!! Worked for me..

[@ogBravo1]

Couldn't get that correcting effect with the pencil. It just ended up creating new shapes as I tried to edit the shape edges.

[@annmackey-weiss2336]

Your object has to be selected and the pencil tool must start and end on the path.I hope that helps!

[@jehalthompson7586]

How do I get rid of excess degree that pops up from my vector trace

[@jehalthompson7586]

🔥🔥

[@yurizafurizaki5574]

What if you don't have a wacom tablet? How to fix it?

[@EveryTuesday]

Check out this tutorial for that :) every-tuesday.com/how-to-vectorize-hand-drawn-doodles/

[@KerisianoAiga]

Does this work with CS4

[@stefkomilosevic]

i fucking looooove youuuuuu!!!!!!!! thank you sooo much!!!!!

[@wallythewaffleart]

you sound very nice. ♥

[@adriennebooth4826]

I wish I could hear it, the volume is incredibly low. I have to watch it over and over to see the steps because I can't hear it. Otherwise, good information.

[@willpatersondesign]

nice :)

[@EveryTuesday]

thanks!

[@Mindofabird]

It would be helpful if it was closed captioned for Deaf and Hard of hearing people...

[@jlhoopin]

What font is that?

[@pamelaguerrero4391]

She did it handmade and then... ..didn't you watch this?

[@malacamoo1]

suscribingg

[@EveryTuesday]

+malacamoo1 yay! Happy you're here!

[@warrtucker1163]

Great video, but the next time can you please speak a little louder, your voice is very soft. Best video around for learning at my stage.

[@EveryTuesday]

+Warr Tucker Sound should be good on all recent vids - apologies for the sound on this, made this one back when I was still figuring screen recording out :)

[@UpchurchBrand]

+Teela Cunningham (Every-Tuesday) Great tutorial thanks. Your voice sounds fine to me!

[@womensfilmcollective17]

I love that your voice is relaxed and soft. It's perfect. So refreshing from a lot of the male videos I've seen with crazy cheesy music and booming voice.. this is something I could actually watch and the reason I subscribed! Please keep doing you and don't change! haha

[@kenkenescobar5783]

I just started now to learn and im very eager. Hope i will be like you one day. Good video but low voice, its fine coz its sexy. Hehe can make video next time for designing but dont use shortcut control. So everyone can follow very clear and focus to your video especially beginners, thank you for your video.. Subscringgg,

[@SergMauser]

пасибки

[@elskaahoy8439]

pokeh