Tutorial #3 : tracing an outline from a photograph

Once you have mastered the art of tracing clipart, you can progress on to using photos, either your own or stock photos - this tutorial uses a photo from Microsoft Office's clipart collection : to download the original photo at full size, right click here.

resize photo

trace outline

remove background

colour image

Step 1 : resize the photograph to a manageable size : I have used 150 x 100 setting resample to Pixel Resize. Zoom in until you can see the pixels clearly - I used 500%

Step 2 : create a new layer and, making sure it is selected on the layer palette, begin tracing the outline of the image using the Paint Brush tool at 1 pixel, antialias unchecked, and a colour which enables you to see the line you are drawing - I used red for this black-and-white photo as shown below at 200% enlargement.

If your line slips you can easily delete any unwanted pixels - the line must stay just 1 pixel wide.

Step 3 : close the background layer by clicking on the 'eye' icon, and select the pixel outline layer. Copy this payer and paste as a new image. If you have used a coloured line and want to turn it to black, select Image - decrease color depth - 2 bit and it will turn to a black line on a white background. If you haven't saved your work yet, save this image!

Step 4 : if you wish to colour your outline, change it back to 16 milliion colours : Image - Increase color depth - 16 million colors. It will still be a black outline on a white ground, but you will be able to colour it any way you like.