Which drawing tool in Illustrator? (newbie question)

[phiberglass]

The flower and ladybug are pretty sweet.

 

[JE-Illustration]

Here are some things I've done in the past with the pen tool using the mouse.

 

[bocomo]

but live trace is not drawing and has nothing to do with someone wanting to learn how to use their wacom tablet with illustrator. yes, i've used live trace, and yes it's good...but the end result is not original art. it is a photo with what essentially is a filter applied to it. and i also cringe at the idea that someone is teaching their students to use this.

-je

cringe all you want, it's just a tool, a means to an end. should the students learn less? it's no substitute for learning other tools, just one of the many...

and for it not being original art-give me a break! my students were art studio majors and could draw quite well. this enable them to "import" their original hand-drawn art into illustrator as vector objects that they could resize and otherwise manipulate to achieve the results they were after.

just an option, nothing more. they learned the pen tool, etc. as well

don't worry, we didn't use live trace because we couldn't draw (i cringe when people use photoshop filters alone and think they've created art-so i understand where you're coming from)

 

[JasonElise1983]

don't worry, we didn't use live trace because we couldn't draw (i cringe when people use photoshop filters alone and think they've created art-so i understand where you're coming from)

Thanks for clarifying the situation. That is my gut reaction to Live Trace because i've seen it used so many times to replace the good 'ole down and dirty way of creating art in illustrator. I mean, you can just drop a photo of your self in there and click a couple of buttons, and Voila! "artistic" self portrait. It is a good tool to know, but i just think it's also good to know it limitations. Sorry if i came across like a jerk...there are just a few things that take me to a bad place i can't get out of: Live Trace, Curlz MT, and Windows.

-je

 

[bocomo]

I mean, you can just drop a photo of your self in there and click a couple of buttons, and Voila! "artistic" self portrait. It is a good tool to know, but i just think it's also good to know it limitations. Sorry if i came across like a jerk...there are just a few things that take me to a bad place i can't get out of: Live Trace, Curlz MT, and Windows.

-je

no problem-i could see where you were coming from (live trace+photos=crap)
we only used it to import drawings into illustrator

LOL at Curlz MT, i'm with you on that one-don't even get me started about bad type choice...

 

[nfocus design]

Almost all of this was drawn with the pen tool. I think the background is the only thing I didn't make with the pen tool.

 

[tsd]

Threads like these are why I join Graphic Design forums! I'm all about the pen tool. It does take quite a while to master - I'm coming up on 10 years, but it really is the best way to get precise, CLEAN lines.