How to copy artwork from an Image in Illustrator

[vernschafer]

Hello. Im just learning. My interest is focused on copying art from an 1870 sewing machine. The company went out of busienss in 1922 so no copywrite issues. I wish to copy the single line art, seen in this attached photo, so I can make a decal and do repairs on a similar machine.  Can anyone suggest a tutorial or explain what technique I need to learn to accomplish this.  Thank you.

{Renamed By MOD}

[chrisl41501719]

Because the gold lines are filagree, you will want to make this in Adobe Illustrator (vector art) so yu can resize it to any size desired.

1. Open your picture in Photoshop

2. Save picture as jpg.

3. Place and embed picture into an illustrator file.

4. Make a new layer and draw a circle (not oblong) the size of the oustide line of art (outer gold line).

5. Transform - Transform the art layer to make the art round (match the circle you just drew) - probably free transform but whatever. The idea is to make the oblong picture into a perfect circle.

6. Lock the picture.

6. Draw each element in illustrator as a stroke. (you can use multiple layers and a lot of copy and paste to organize the line art).

7. Once the line art is done, delete the placed pic behind the line art and save it as an Adobe Illustrator file (working file).

It's a complicated design so look for elements that you can step and repeat or copy and paste.

[vernschafer]

Many thanks. I need both programs then. thanks for a point in the right direction. cheers.

[chrisl41501719]

Not necessarily. If you already have the art saved, try to place and embed it as-is into an Illustrator document.

I only say jpg, because it's the fastest to work with.

[vernschafer]

Thanks again. It take me some time to play with this and see if I can get results im looking for. Im totally new at this. Cheers.

[Rishabh_Tiwari]

Hi there,

Thanks for reaching out. There are two ways to accomplish this, first, you can trace this image using a Pen Tool in Illustrator. You can refer to this video tutorial on Image tracing using Pen Tool:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYv9_hWEx5k

Second, you can try Image Trace however it may not give the exact results. For Image tracing you can refer to the below tutorial: 

https://helpx.adobe.com/in/illustrator/using/image-trace.html

Regards

Rishabh

[vernschafer]

Looks like good options to learn. Thanks to you as well.

[vernschafer]

Many thanks. I need both programs then. thanks for a point in the right direction. cheers.