How to Learn Adobe Illustrator Software: Create a silouhette

In this Adobe Illustrator tutorial you will learn tips for creating a silhouette. One of the fastest growing trends in graphics design is the silhouette. It is eye catching, versatile and not as difficult as most people think. Illustrator and a little knowledge of the Pen tool and you are ready to start creating silhouettes from your favorite images. Follow the simple steps below for some fun little Adobe Illustrator training.

  1. Start up Adobe Illustrator and open the image you want to create the silhouette from.
  2. Step 2

    Zoom in so that you can see the shape of the source image very well. To zoom in using shortcuts, hold down the CTRL key while pressing the + or – key.

  3. Step 3

    Select the Pen tool (P) from the Tools palette, normally located on the left hand side of Adobe Illustrator.

  4. Step 4

    Start in an area of your source image that is easy to see and begin tracing around the image carefully. Make sure you pay close attention to those little details around the edges of your source image. You may need to switch back and forth between straight and curved lines to achieve the desired effect. This can be done by hitting Shift+C on your keyboard, or by clicking on the last anchor point.

  5. Step 5

    Continue to outline the image all the way around until you are back at your start point. Close the outline by clicking on the anchor point at your starting point. Once the entire source image is outlined, set the fill color to black.

  6. Step 6

    Using the Selection tool (V), select your newly created silhouette. You can cope and paste this into a new document to save it for future use. Go to Edit – Copy (CTRL+C). Create a new document by going to File – New (CTRL+N). With the new blank document open, go to Edit – Paste (CTRL+V) to paste your silhouette.

  7. Step 7

    Resize your silhouette as necessary to fit on the new document. You can do this by selecting the silhouette and going to Object – Transform – Scale. Or, with your object selected, you can scale it by clicking one of the corner boxes and dragging. To maintain proper proportions, hold down the shift key while dragging the corner.