Can't draw on top of a photo in Illustrator 2020

[maryw27325097]

Hello dear community,

I am having an issue not being able to draw on top of any photo in Illustrator 2020. I've tried It on both my mac and my windows 10 pc. When I attempt to draw with the brush tool, the little "not" symbol hovers above the canvas. The layer is unlocked. The photo is a regular .jpg. I have also tried to create a separate layer on top of the photo and draw on that. The same "no you can't" symbol appears. I am admittedly a newbie. Any suggestions? Thank you!

circle with slash appears when I try to draw on a photo. It happens even when I try to draw on a separate layer that is on top of the photo.

[Rishabh_Tiwari]

Hi Mary,

Thanks for reaching out. I tried the same on my end on Windows 10 and Illustrator 2020 and was able to use the Brush Tool on the Pic. I'd recommend placing the file by clicking on File > Place on a new document and then try again.

Regards

Rishabh

[maryw27325097]

Oh, I see! So I should place the file on a new document. Before, I just
directly opened the photo file and tried to draw on it.

[Doug A Roberts · Accepted solution]

Illustrator files are created from template files called Document Profiles that already contain swatches, brushes, graphic styles and other things you might want to use in an Illustrator document.

When you open an image file directly in Illustrator, it contains none of those. The brush tool needs a brush to be defined to work, and there are none in the document.

You have several options:

1. You can use the pencil tool, which just uses your Stroke settings to draw.

2. You can open the brushes panel (Window > Brushes) and create a new brush to draw with.

3. You can set up a new document, use File > Place to add your image, then use a brush from there.

[maryw27325097]

This is enormously helpful, thank you so much for explaining it and with a quick reply!