Tinting a Scan

Adding a Color to a Grayscale Image

Advanced Technique

Overview: Prepare a grayscale image; import the image into Illustrator; colorize the image; trim the artwork to the required shape; add a vignette.

Conrad Chavez created this concept for a prepaid coffee card that can use different background photographs. To preserve design flexibility, Chavez imported a grayscale version of the image and added color in Illustrator so that he could change the image color at any time.

1. Scanning and preparing the image. Chavez started by scanning a photograph and saving it as a grayscale image. Save the image in a format Illustrator can place, such as a TIFF or Photoshop file. If your original image is in color, you must first convert the image to grayscale in a program like Photoshop. Color images can't be tinted in Illustrator.

   The original scanned image

   

2. Importing the image. Chavez chose File > Place to import the image. In the Place dialog box, he disabled the Template and Replace checkboxes. He then positioned the image on the layout.

   The layout (left) and the image placed in the layout, initially on top of the design (right)

   

   You can also use Adobe Bridge to browse a folder of images, then import the images you want by dragging them from Bridge to the Illustrator document window.

3. Colorizing the image. Chavez selected the image, clicked the Fill box in the toolbox, and then clicked a solid color swatch in the Swatches palette to tint the image. He had already applied the dark brown swatch to other elements in the design, unifying the composition.

   Colorizing the image (left) by selecting it and then clicking the dark brown solid color swatch on the Swatches palette (right)

   

   If applying a color doesn't change the image, make sure the Fill box is active and that the image was saved as a true grayscale image, not as an RGB or CMYK image.

4. Visualizing a trim. To preview the composition as it would appear after trimming, Chavez drew a rounded-corner rectangle at the trim size. With the rectangle in front of both the background image and the dark vertical rectangle, he selected all three objects and chose Object > Clipping Mask > Make, which created a clipping group.

   Rounded-corner rectangle indicating final trim (left) and after clipping artwork to it (right)

   

5. Adding a vignette. Chavez created a vignette to better distinguish the foreground and background. He drew a new rectangle the size of the Artboard and used the Gradient palette to apply a radial gradient. He changed the gradient's default black slider to the same dark color swatch applied to the image. In the Control palette, he clicked Opacity and then chose Multiply from the pop-up menu to blend the gradient with the image under it.

   Applying a radial gradient to the new rectangle (left), applying the Multiply blending mode to the rectangle (right), and after dragging the vignette path into the clipping group (right)

   

   Layers palette before (left) and after (right) dragging the vignette into the clipping group

   

   The vignette needed to be behind all objects except the scan. In the Layers palette, Chavez not only dragged the vignette farther back in the stack but also into the clipping group, so that the vignette could be visualized within the temporary clipping group.

6. Editing the vignette. Chavez decided to refine the composition by editing the vignette. He selected the vignette in the Layers palette and clicked the Gradient tool over the building to reposition the gradient center there. He dragged the Gradient palette sliders to widen both the light center and the dark edge of the gradient. Finally, to restore the bleed required for the press, Chavez selected the clipping group and chose Object > Clipping Mask > Release, and then he deleted his temporary clipping path.

   Before (top left) and after (top right) gradient edits: moving the radial gradient center with the Gradient tool (bottom left) and editing the Gradient palette's slider positions (bottom right); ready for prepress with mask deleted (top right)

   

Yukio Miyamoto

As with most of his mesh art, Yukio Miyamoto began this illustration of a Yamaha French horn by manually tracing over a photo with the Pen tool, then filling the objects with solid fills. In layers above the basic tracing, Miyamoto drew the reflections and details of the tubular structure and filled them with linear gradients. He used the Mesh tool to define several reflections within the horn, with the most obvious on the horn's bell. He then created other areas of reflection with clusters of solid and gradient-filled objects (as on the bell and the valves). Miyamoto made the background out of a large, rectangular, gradient mesh. Within this mesh, he created the horn's shadow. The magnificent level of detail is evident even when the image is viewed in Outline mode (a detail is shown directly above left; the full image in Outline is above right).

Brad Neal

Brad Neal combined an attention to detail with Illustrator's wide range of drawing and rendering tools to create this photo-realistic image of a Ford Taurus stock car. Beginning with a contour shape filled with a flat color, Neal overlaid a series of custom blends to replicate the subtle modeling of the car's surface. Neal simulated the grill work at the front of the car by overlaying a series of four dashed stroked paths. The racing logos on the side of the car were drawn by hand, grouped, and positioned using the Shear tool. The Taurus, Valvoline, and Goodyear logos were fitted to the contour of the body with the help of the Envelope Distort tool. To achieve the realistic look of the front right wheel, Neal created custom blends with outer edges that blended smoothly into the flat color of the underlying shapes. Neal created a drop shadow for the car using a carefully controlled blend. This blend had an inner path that contained a solid black fill that blended to white as it approached the outer edge.

Mordy Golding

To demonstrate the 3D effect of Illustrator CS for Adobe Systems, Inc., Mordy Golding created a wine label and then dragged the label to the Symbols palette (so he could use it next to create the 3D rendering). He drew a half-bottle shape and selected Effect > 3D > Revolve. In the 3D Revolve Options dialog box, Golding clicked the Preview checkbox and then clicked on the Map Art button. From the Map Art dialog box's Symbol menu, he selected the wine label symbol he had created previously. Back in the 3D Revolve Options dialog box, Golding adjusted the preview cube, changing the rotation angles until he was satisfied with the look of the bottle. He finished the effect by adding lights, using the New Light icon in the Surface panel of the dialog box; this created the cascading highlights on the bottle. After creating the cork, using the same technique as he used for the bottle, Golding selected the bottle, moved it above the cork, and changed its opacity to 94% in the Transparency palette.

Ivan Torres

Symbols can dramatically reduce file size, especially in art destined for the Web. Artist Ivan Torres began this beetle by first creating individual body parts, many of which were complex gradient meshes. Then he converted the parts into symbols by dragging and dropping each onto the Symbols palette. To assemble the beetle from body part symbols, Torres dragged the parts from the Symbols palette and dropped them on the Artboard, creating instances of the symbols. To create the body parts with mirrored twins on opposite sides of the beetle body, he used the Reflect tool, chose Vertical and clicked Copy. When he had completed the illustration, Torres chose File > Save for Web and selected SWF from the format pop-up, and AI File to SWF File from the pop-up below that. After opening Flash (SWF), Torres imported the Illustrator Flash file (File > Import) and then used Flash's tools to manipulate the body part symbols to create an interactive animation.

Steven Gordon / Cartagram

When you mix Illustrator's brushes with live effects, you can transform the lettering of a font into art that looks hand-rendered with traditional pens and brushes. To begin this map title, Steven Gordon typed "Yakima" and then chose a calligraphic font, Zapfino, at 72 points. In the Character palette, he adjusted kerning to tighten the space between several pairs of letter characters. With the text object selected and the Appearance palette open, Gordon chose Add New Fill from the palette's Options menu and gave the new fill a dark magenta color. He duplicated the fill by clicking on the Duplicate Selected Item icon at the bottom of the palette, and then gave the duplicate a pale blue color. Lastly, he clicked on a brush in the Brushes palette and chose the Dry Ink brush.

He selected a dark blue color for the brush. Because the brush strokes were too large for the lettering effect he wanted, Gordon double-clicked the brush name in the Appearance palette, resized its width to 60% of the default size, and clicked to apply it to existing objects. To further customize the title, Gordon selected the pale blue fill in the Appearance palette, offset the fill and distorted the fill's edges using the Transform and Roughen commands from the Effect > Distort and Transform menu. He also reduced opacity by moving the Opacity slider in the Transparency palette to 35%. To finish, Gordon selected the bottom fill and applied the Roughen command from the Effect > Distort and Transform menu to tightly erode the fill's edges.