How to Vectorize Watercolors In Illustrator

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Vectorizing watercolors is not really a necessary step in my design process. I just scan my watercolors and edit them in photoshop to remove the backgrounds, fix some colors and I'm quite happy with the end product. But, sometimes, you need to work with these files in Illustrator and for that, you definitely need vectorized images.
In this video tutorial we will learn to vectorize watercolor artwork, which has been scanned and background removed in Photoshop.
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[@shanthadelaunay4440]

Exactly what I needed to learn. Thank you so much. You're an excellent teacher!

[@printmesomecolor]

Happy to hear that! Thank you! :)

[@snehalgalashah8359]

Thank you so much!!! This was super helpful!

[@emillurr]

Thank you so much. I spliced three watercolors together to create a highway panorama that I'm using as a background for a typography clipping mask. Was trying to figure out how to move from Photoshop to Illustrator to create a vector of the whole thing for my client. I didn't know you could adjust the number of colors in Image Trace. I love your bugs!

[@printmesomecolor]

Thank you so much! Yeah, Image Trace is wonderful but can be computationally draining :) Most print services accept photoshop files, you don't necessarily have to convert them to vector, at least I haven't had to in most of the cases. But if a client asks for a vector image, you give them a vector image :). Hopefully your system didn't crash because of the huge file size!

[@Over1026]

Thank you so much for the detailed explanation and step by step tutorial. This is exactly what I need!!

[@printmesomecolor]

Yay! Love reading such comments! Thank you! 😊 ☺️

[@jwf2327]

Very informative, easy to follow and very helpful! Thank you.

[@printmesomecolor]

Thank you Jeff :)

[@Unukadesign]

Omg ok I've found my answer.. now I feel confident when I create my digital art work in Procreate.. so I'll edit everything first in PS.. levels and inverting and getting rid of most of the jagged rastered lines once that's all cleaned up THEN I'll come into AI and vetorize my art work and clean up the white spots or whatever and THEN I can save them as clipart and make other designs with them THANK YOU SO MUCH!! I'm definitely going to keep an eye out and watch all your tutorials as you are the first youtuber I have come across where I've been very happy with your tutorials 💯 please dont stop doing what your doing!! You're nearly at 1k subscribers! I cant wait to see your youtube channel flourish! P.s I've subbed to your channel and your IG because it's worth it. Your tutorials are valuable, your art work is beautiful and you IG page is very inspirational :) many blessings Regards Marie

[@printmesomecolor]

Haha, I guess I don't have to make videos on the procreate topic you mentioned before :D. Thank you so much for watching my channel and leaving such awesome comments. You just made my day! :)

[@Unukadesign]

@@printmesomecolor I've been frustrated for the past few weeks because I wasnt sure what I was doing every time I went on ps or ai I pretty much just ended up leaving the laptop on and just doodling ideas on my ipad :/ but now I feel confident with my editing because of your tutorials 😁🥰 and so It shouldnt be too long till I upload some stuff on Etsy 😁😁😁😁 I cant wait!! Need to try and make extra cash on the side and hopefully turn this into a full time income :)

[@GreenBlossomPainting]

Thank you for this clear, lovely tutorial. 🌷 Do you happen to have one on how to make watercolor images (with gradations of color) into simplified vector images for making, say, tshirts or embroidered patches with a commercial printer? Or do I just adjust the number of colors to 5 or 10 and pray? 😆 Would be so grateful for your suggestions, direction or guidance.

[@MissGold888]

Thank you this was really helpful.

[@JessieJ962]

Very helpful, thank you!

[@printmesomecolor]

So glad you found it useful, thank you! 😊

[@timefliesaway999]

So when you print a vectorized image, it will be excellent quality, no matter how bad the quality was before with the pixels?

[@printmesomecolor]

No, generally the quality depends on the quality of your first image. If you start off with bad quality image, the Illustrator does nothing to fix this quality, it will just work with what it has.

[@faithhendrickson]

Exactly the video I was searching for - great instructions. If I save the vectorized image as an exported PNG and then use it inside photoshop, can I still scale it up without losing resolution (does it still act like a vector)? Or to use it inside Photoshop and scaling larger, do I need to save/export it some other way? My goal is to be able to paint small elements but be able to scale them up to add them to poster sized projects. Thank you for any direction!

[@printmesomecolor]

Hi Faith, short answer is No, I don't see how that could work, photoshop is a raster based application. Instead of converting your paintings to vector and then scaling them up in Photoshop, I would recommend scanning these paintings at really high resolution (say 600 or 1200 if your scanner allows it). This way you can scale it up in photoshop without losing its clarity. I have a photoshop tutorial 'how I digitise my watercolor paintings in photoshop', where I talk about this process. - kzbin.info/www/bejne/qKPTeJ6pr8edhZo.

[@watercolorsinbloom]

Thank you. Did you edit this beetle in Photoshop first? Do you need to clean it up in Photoshop and then also in illustrator?

[@printmesomecolor]

I cleaned up the beetles first in Photoshop to remove the background. And use Illustrator to vectorise it.

[@watercolorsinbloom]

@@printmesomecolor thank you.

[@rinidwirahayu8047]

Is it possible i remove the background use another software? Not photoshop?

[@printmesomecolor]

GIMP could be an option, but I have never used it. If you have Procreate you could use it as well (I have a tutorial on how to do this kzbin.info/www/bejne/qoHSqoOBrt-Ugsk ).

[@arifkuyucu]

this kind of documents are too heavy file size. I prefer to draw it.