Making shapes in Illustrator looks 'fuzzy'?

[zerocustom1989]

Hey guys, I've been trying to finalize a vector of the Studio Ghibli Icon, but it appears to be so 'fuzzy'.

All of my amateurish attempts come out as being too smooth.

Is there a way to fuzz it up at all? Do you recommend a certain way of vectoring this symbol? I used Live-trace and cleaned it up for a good 7-8 hours or so.

 

[Designer Dale]

Let us see what it looks like. Export it as a .png and post it. Both your smooth one and your best attempt at making it fuzzy. Fuzzy is rather anti-.ai. Vector is smooth and sharp by nature. I assume you need to scale this.

Dale

 

[zerocustom1989]

http://zerocustom1989.deviantart.com/art/Studio-Ghibli-Logo-113008416

This is what I uploaded to my DA account. I was content with it then, but before i have it printed for myself, I'd like to make it look a bit more like the one on the website.

I haven't attempted to fuzz it up yet, but the only thing I can think of is maybe to go in with the blob brush.

 

[RickDeckard]

You could try the Torn Edges filter. It seems to give a similar look. Go to Effect>Sketch>Torn Edges. By the way, I like your nice, sharp version. Their's is probably pixelated on the edges because they made it Photoshop and resized it. Either that, or the edges got pixelated from saving it for the web from Photoshop.

 

[Kwill]

I agree. It looks nice. The current stroke turbulence indicates the illustration "outline" is actually made up of non-stroked paths filled with black.

You could get an interesting effect by selecting some paths before choosing:
Effect > Stylize > Scribble

It works differently on fills than it does on strokes. Click the Preview checkbox and move through some of the presets until you see something you like. The preset "Sharp" seems to work well for narrow fills. For strokes, the "Default" with the first variation option tuned down to "0.02 in" may give you appropriate "fuzziness." Settings depend upon the size of the art; with larger illustrations come tighter "fuzziness." (If you need to edit after applying the filter, select the path and double click the "Scribble" style in the Appearance palette.)

Enjoy!

 

[gregtuco]

Have you tried:

Object/Path/Outline Stroke

Then:

Filter/Distort/Roughen

 

[Designer Dale]

The Illustrator filters Roughen and Zig Zag might do what you want. Use a small size and high frequency.

And I like it as it is, also. I assume you are going for a fur like look for the sketch lines, but they look fine as sketch lines.

Dale