How Do I Add A Photo To A Wireframe Drawing In Illustrator

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This tutorial is a response to a request for a more in depth lesson on using Illustrator'south Envelope Distort function with the Rectangular Grid tool. I demonstrated the basic technique in this video. Check it out if yous have time, if non, leap correct in!

Pace 1

I prefer to use some kind of reference when drawing, as I am non very adept at drawing from memory or imagination. And then to get the proper proportions of a face up, I'm using this photo of a mask. Yous may apply a photo or a sketch as a reference. Try to keep it uncomplicated and generic for this tutorial.

Place the prototype on the Artboard (File > Place). Double-click its layer and get in a Template layer, then create a new layer above it.

Step 2

Accept a crude measurement of the confront, using the Measure Tool. When you drag with the Measure Tool, the Info panel will automatically appear. Recall the width and elevation. Alternately, yous could draw a rectangle around the face and apply its measurements.

Step 3

Have the Rectangular Grid tool and click once on the artboard. For the width and acme, enter the values from the previous step. Enter a number of horizontal and vertical dividers to give you a fairly tight grid, about ten pixels autonomously.

Step 4

The new grid volition have a make full and stroke of none. Give it a colored stroke. The color doesn't matter at this indicate, only something that's easy to see.

Footstep 5

Keep the grid selected and go to Object > Envelope Misconstrue > Make with Mesh. Enter about 5 rows and 6 columns. Y'all'll be adding some Mesh lines later on, so keep it simple for now.

Step 6

Using the Directly Pick tool (A), Move the outside points so they align with the outer edges of the face. You will accept to adjust some of the points' handles to get the outer line to follow the shape. You may demand to motility some of the next points inward besides.

It may help to view the mesh in outline mode, to ensure the smoothest curves.

Yous might finish upward with some lines hanging out beyond the frame of the mesh, simply you can deal with those subsequently.

The initial shape should look like the image beneath.

Footstep 7

Move the two points higher up the optics so the mesh begins to take on the dimension of the eye sockets. If yous want them to exist symmetrical, select both points (hold down the Shift key when selecting) and move them at the aforementioned fourth dimension.

Footstep viii

Move the points near the eyes so they align with the tops of the eye shapes.

Stride 9

Take the Mesh tool (U) and click on a vertical mesh line to add a new horizontal mesh line below the line you adapted in the previous step. Move the new points and handles to conform to the bottom of the middle shape.

Stride 10

Add two new mesh lines on either side of the nose. This time, click on a horizontal line to create a vertical one. With the Mesh tool, hold downwardly the Option/Alt key and click the heart vertical line to delete it.

Equally before, motility the points and handles to follow the curves of the olfactory organ. Move the points on the line below the nose to begin shaping the mouth.

Pace 11

This is the basic procedure for forming the paradigm. Keep moving points and lines to follow the contours of the face up. Add together a new mesh line in places where you demand more detail. As with a regular Slope Mesh, any time you move one indicate, it affects the points next to it.

So you will probably have a lot of trial and error every bit y'all proceed to piece of work. You may get sharp corners equally in the image below. Depending on where they autumn, these corners might aid define your prototype, equally in the area below the nose. Other times, y'all volition want them to go abroad, and you will have to make micro-adjustments to the surrounding points to go rid of them.

To help brand the prototype as symmetrical every bit possible, depict guides and line up the points on the left and right sides.

Stride 12

Continue adding new mesh lines equally necessary, and moving points. You may get to a bespeak where you lot have as well many mesh lines and want to delete ane or two. That'due south perfectly fine — it's difficult to stop tweaking and obsessing over each line and curve.

If you lot should want to change the color of the grid lines and still be able to edit the mesh, become to the Object menu and choose Envelope Distort > Edit Contents. When you are washed, go back and choose Edit Envelope.

Step xiii

Once y'all are happy with your image, you can expand the consequence by going to Object > Aggrandize. The grid lines are expanded to their manipulated shapes. Y'all can now clean up any lines that were hanging outside the edges, and of course you can recolor the strokes.

Footstep fourteen

If you want to requite the image a gradient fill, you'll need to outline the strokes past going to Object > Path > Outline Stroke. Yous can also experiment with unlike groundwork and other furnishings.

Conclusion

A lot more than work can be done with this illustration, but now that you lot know the basics, you tin can start with a tighter grid, or another kind of pattern. Envelope Misconstrue gives you lot the flexibility to push, pull, twist and shape any vector object to your heart'south content.

Cheryl Graham trained as a traditional artist in drawing and painting. These days she spends more time in front of the estimator than the easel. She'southward been using Adobe Illustrator for over 15 years. Her Illustrator work has been featured in the "The Adobe Illustrator WOW! Volume" and "Real Earth Illustrator."