Logo on Website to Letterhead Logo

[meason webforumsuser@macromedia.com]

If anyone has the time, I need a really great tutorial or book that will teach me how to trace images. The image Iam using on a website must also transfer to letterheads, envelopes, etc.


Thanks ahead of time

[darrel]

> If anyone has the time, I need a really great tutorial or book that will
teach me how to trace images.

Umm...tracing isn't really a difficult concept. You just need to learn how
to you the bezier tool, which usually just requires practice.

>The image Iam using on a website must also transfer to letterheads,

envelopes, etc.

Does the client not already have a vector-based logo?

-Darrel

[meason webforumsuser@macromedia.com]

Hey Darrell, thanks for your time.

No, right now the image is a jpeg (a comp image). Iam trying to make sure the image I use on the website will translate to paper. If not, I need to scrap the image and look for something else.

I did use the bezier tool to outline the image. My first effort was horrible. My lines were way to thick and I didn't capture the nuances that I needed. I think with practice, I can get it right. But, a little help along the way (books, tutorials, advice) can speed up the process.

Thanks again,

[darrel]

> No, right now the image is a jpeg (a comp image). Iam trying to make sure
the image

> I use on the website will translate to paper. If not, I need to scrap the

image and look for something else.

If it's a logo, you'll want it to be a vector illustration. That will allow
you to resize the image from a business card to a billboard and retain nice
clean lines.

Then, take that image and place it on your web site.

> I did use the bezier tool to outline the image. My first effort was

horrible.

> My lines were way to thick and I didn't capture the nuances that I needed.

I think with practice, I can get it right.

Yep. It all takes practice ;o)

BTW, for the logo, you don't want to use strokes. You want everything to be
a shape. For instance, if you want a line undernath the logo, draw the line,
but then expand the stroke so it them becomes a shape, and make sure you do
not have a color applied to the stroke (just the fill).

-Darrel

[Joel]

Sometimes, when I have to duplicate logos, if it is a fairly-geometric-like
logo, it's easier to combine an and punch basic geometric shapes such as
ovals, rectangles, squares, etc., than it is to try to capture every perfect
square and curve. This may or may not be helpful. If you draw many shapes on
top of each other, setting the opacity to, say, 50%, you can lay them out on
top of the logo and line them up to basically cover the shape, then combine
them and/or punch them out to create the unique shapes you need... it's a
quick and easy way to get around having to be perfect with the pen tool...

"meason" <webforumsuser@macromedia.com> wrote in message
news:bhb91s$19t$1@forums.macromedia.com...

> If anyone has the time, I need a really great tutorial or book that will

teach me how to trace images. The image Iam using on a website must also
transfer to letterheads, envelopes, etc.

>
>
> Thanks ahead of time
>
>

[meason webforumsuser@macromedia.com]

Thanks for the advice Joel.

The image for the website is perfect and I think the client will want to use it. Thank you for your ideas. Between you and Darrel, I think I can get back on track.

Thanks for your time, it is appreciated.

[Bobby Henderson]

Danny Whitehead <danny@spamblocker.bqprint.co.uk> wrote in message
news:BB5FE48E.4D5A%danny@spamblocker.bqprint.co.uk ...

> Any chance of seeing the logo in question? It might help us suggest tools

or

> methods to use to create a vector version. Is it already up on the

website?

> If not, could you upload it somewhere and post a link?

Having popped into this thread a bit late, that is a question I also wanted
to ask.

Some logos, signatures or graphical illustrations are simple to recreate if
they only use a unique font and/or geometrical looking shapes. Different
approaches have to be taken for more "organic" looking items. Anything with
gradient effects and such will be a problem.

In the currently webby-obsessed world of graphic design, many mistakes are
made in logo design. Those mistakes turn into extra costs for the customer.
A proper logo design would be made so it can be produced with a single solid
ink color and be in pure vector form (real paths for all objects/no raster
effects crap/no line strokes, etc.).

Fancy embellishments like drop shadows, glows and other nonsense should
never be in the original logo design. That's just eye candy to be added
later in graphical illustrations. This is the one area that infuriates me
about Photoshop User Magazine. They show all of these logo production
exercises in Photoshop, all of which create raster based artwork not useable
in many other places besides a web page. This is very irresponsible on
their part. If they wanted to do the job correctly, they would have the
project started within Freehand or Illustrator to create a vector based
original, then paste the paths in Photoshop to do all that raster filter
stuff.

The upside: as long as people keep misusing Photoshop and other image
editors for logo design, I'll keep making a lot of $50 per hour charges to
vectorize and fix the results.

Bobby Henderson

[meason webforumsuser@macromedia.com]

Thanks Bobby for your insight.

I admit it. I'm going backwards.

The client's logo is a blue heron and up until now they used a clip art piece on their letterhead. The problem is the quality and style of the clip art won't match the website which aims for a sleeker more sophisticated feel.

You can view the heron on the Getty website, it's ( CC001086). I think it fits the feel the client is after and the website's style. It's beautiful, but the heron in all it's wonder isn't suitable for printing. What I really need to do is to capture the shape and feel of the heron in a format suitable for printing - either by sketching the outline or using shapes.

I don't have my draft with the logo on the Internet because the image is still under consideration and hasn't been purchased. (Since I've already altered the image to fit the site and there is no "Getty" trademark on it, it's probably not a good idea to put it out there yet.)


I've gotten really great ideas from everyone so far and I appreciate your input.

[meason webforumsuser@macromedia.com]

I really appreciate your help Bobby.

It never occurred to me that I might be violating a copyright law by tracing the image. I should have thought of that myself! I am so glad you took the time to help me. Illustrating the heron from several reference examples is a great idea and that's what I will do.

Many thanks

[Danny Whitehead]

Another thing worth pointing out about that particular image, is that it
could be reproduced out of just two inks: cyan and black. It should save a
lot of money on printing costs if you create the identity using only two
inks. Bear this in mind when creating your vector version, and mix process
colours containing only cyan and black.


Danny

[david gangwisch]

Anytime you use work created by someone else that could possibly be
copyrighted you run a significant risk of violating their copyright. That
includes ANY form of copying.

Using another's work as "inspiration" for your own creative work or using it
to determine something like the ratio of the length of a heron's bill to the
size of its head is usually quite safe. Tracing it automatically or manually
with a pen tool is usually illegal. Even freehand drawing after viewing the
original can be a violation if your work closely resembles the orignal and
contains no new creative work. Simply making small changes to avoid your
"copy" from being "identical" has been construed as not being "creative
work" and therefore leaves your "copy" in violation of copyright laws.

A case in point was an entry into Corel's art contest several years back. It
was a very skillfully done profile portrait of an American Indian.
Unfortunately, while it was drawn manually, according to the artist, it was
done as an attempt to exactly replicate a photograph taken by someone else.
Unfortunately for the artist and Corel, the artwork was the winner of the
contest and recieved much circulation in addition to the money the artist
was to recieve. The original photo was taken by a major photographic artist
whose works are commercially valuable in general and was also one of the key
images being used, with significant fees paid to the photographer, by
Eastman Kodak in a major ongoing advertising campaign for one of their
high-end photographic papers. The end result, after a law suit and its
appeals, was very, very expensive for Corel and for the artist that won
their contest.

David W Gangwisch
Software Design Engineer - FreeHand
Macromedia, Inc.

"meason" <webforumsuser@macromedia.com> wrote in message
news:bhgq73$h2j$1@forums.macromedia.com...

> I really appreciate your help Bobby.
>
> It never occurred to me that I might be violating a copyright law by

tracing the image. I should have thought of that myself! I am so glad you
took the time to help me. Illustrating the heron from several reference
examples is a great idea and that's what I will do.

>
> Many thanks
>
>
>
>