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IF YOU CAN'T USE THE PEN TOOL, THIS TUTORIAL IS FOR YOU, IF YOU PREFER THE PEN TOOL, VISIT MY 2007 UPDATED TUTORIAL HERE. THIS TUTORIAL BELOW WAS WRITTEN IN 2002 USING THE POLYGON LASSO TOOL.

If you have been here before there has been a little change, ok alot of change... [read more]

I really wish that Linda's tutorial was around when I first started doing vectors but there is a difference between her kind of vector/vexels and mine as you can see in the first two images. I didnt improve the person's look I basically tried developing a realistic look. I do have a distinctive style amongst all other vector artists/vexelers haha.

Brief History:
Creating vectors was a mistake. I first started by drawing my characters and filling them in with colors which got me intrigued by computer art. Thus, I started outlining the parts which werent scanned well and realized i could get the outlines perfect if i use the tools in adobe photoshop with my eye for art... That's how my skills developed. This vector attempt might be my 5th or so but here I am writing a tutorial - just telling you it's easy. I started when I was 12 years old, over 10 years ago. It still amazes me when younger people do it however, I must say vector/vexeling art isn't truely artistic to me anymore, I am an artist who try various media. It isn't a skill that can't be developed without practice. I love that people use it as a tool. I didnt even know it was called vectors when I started doing these digital art.

Requirements:
Adobe Photop 5.5+ (any version with the tools)
Patience - about 1/2 hour for beginners - really!
Accurate Mouse (I prefer a wacom (years later))
An "Eye" for artistic detailing

You don't need to know much about Adobe Photoshop but it helps if you do.
You may use the image I have here for the tutorial but if you use any of my work please link back to me. Unfortunately you can't right click to retrieve images on this page so if you have to download the image just click on it. Use any image that is large enough for you to get the details you want - according to the image you can also resize it and fill your own details... like in this example - since i cant see everything.
The image in question and it's intended appearance (or better):

This image was taken from eurweb.com. A previously hosted girl of mine asked me to vector it for this tutorial. Her name was Krystale.

Start by opening the image. You need to resize it, it might look bad but that's ok. If you at a higher resolution just make it fit your screen or until you see the image large enough to do detailing. I had an 800 x 600 resolution when I first started vectoring - how crazy is that!

Create a new layer (Shft+Ctrl+N) by going to Layer - New or clicking the create a new layer icon:

You may want to rename the layer so you dont get confused.

Choose the polygon lasso tool on the tools menu:

This image is from version 7, but the icon is pretty much the same in later versions.

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