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Technique

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Illustrator and Photoshop CS3 or later

James Wignall, AKA Mutanthands, demonstrates how to take your digital vector illustrations back in time
Vectors are great you can create an illustration, scale it up to any size you like and still have lovely, crisp lines. This is all well and good, but sometimes the cleanness can make an image feel a bit cold and lacking in depth. In this tutorial, Ill show you how to bring the rich, fuzzy textures and warm colours seen in movie posters of the 70s to your own images, giving them a rich retro look without you even having to leave the computer.

Create retro-look vectors

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I always nd it much easier to sketch out my ideas on paper rst, so grab the nearest piece of paper and get doodling. I decided to draw a fun, abstract pattern based around lava lamps, as a bit of a nod towards the 70s and the look we want to achieve.

Once you have nished your sketch, scan it in. As long as the resolutions high enough for you to see the lines, thats ne. Now open up the scan in Illustrator and click File>Document Setup to change the size of the canvas. I decided to make my illustration A1.

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Now youve set up your document, its time to start drawing. First rename your layer scan to do this, double-click the layer to bring up the Layer Options box, type in your desired name and click OK. Now lock the layer (click the box next to the eye icon) and click the Create New Layer button at the bottom of the Layers panel.

James Wignall This Londonbased director/ animator has produced work for the likes of MTV, VH1, Nickelodeon, Sony and Nike under his guise Mutanthands. His work has appeared at events Pictoplasma and BD4D, and he gives others work a platform at See No Evil, the animation/ design screening night that he co-runs. See more at www.mutant hands.com

Time needed 3-4 hours Skills Drawing with Illustrators Pen tool Exporting from Illustrator to Photoshop Creating a 70s print look

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Select the new layer and, using the Pen tool, begin to trace your image. As Im drawing, I separate little groups of shapes onto different layers, as it helps me to stay organised. As its an abstract illustration, I simply name the layers Form 1, Form 2 etc.

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For a few elements of my illustration I use a custom brush for the stroke. Its really simple to make a custom brush: I just draw a circle with the Ellipse tool, stretch it out using the Selection tool and, nally, drag the shape into the Brushes panel to make my Art Brush.

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To apply your custom brush, click on your shape then click the brush from the Brush panel. When youve nished tracing your image, its time for the all-important colours. I nd the best way of working is to create a new layer, add a couple of boxes and just play with combinations. Once Im happy, I select various shapes I want to add colour to, then use the Eyedropper tool to do it.

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Crop Areas
Its good practice to set up what are known as crop areas in your images. These are the areas that Illustrator will output when you come to exporting or printing your image this way you know exactly what you are getting! To set crop areas, click on the Rectangle tool, double-click the canvas area and enter the same dimensions as your image. Line the rectangle up with the canvas and then click Object>Crop Area>Make. Sorted!

Im pleased with the colours, but the image looks a little bare. To ll in some of the blanks, I duplicate a selection of the layers by dragging the layers I want to the Create Layer icon in the Layers panel. Using the Selection tool, I can move them around and transform the elements until its looking a little more complete.

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Now its time to take your illustration into Photoshop! To export it as a PSD, go to File>Export and select Photoshop PSD from the Format menu. If you are working for print, youll want to keep the DPI as high as possible. In the Photoshop Export Options box, make sure you have Write Layers selected and Maximum Editability ticked, then click the OK button.

Open Photoshop and load your freshly exported PSD. Illustrator can make a bit of a mess with the layer structure, so go through it and organise it logically. I make a layer folder called Pattern for the main shapes and a folder for my sun object, then put them all under a layer folder called Image.

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Technique Retro-look vectors

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Duplicate your Image layer folder and atten the copy you just made (Cmd/Ctrl+E). Duplicate the layer three more times, then rename the layers C, Y, M and K. We are going to use these layers to get that nice offset look thats associated with older, cheaper printing methods. We are basically replicating the effect of having plates that dont match up exactly.

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Select the C layer and, using the Channel Mixer (Image>Adjustments> Channel Mixer), set all values to 0% except for Cyan, which you should leave at 100%. Do the same for the M (magenta), Y (yellow) and K (black) layers in their respective colours. Now set all their layer modes to Multiply, and your full-colour image should appear!

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Using the Move tool, nudge each of the CMYK layers slightly until you begin getting little areas of white or darkness where the layers dont quite match up. Be careful not to go too overboard. Next, duplicate and atten your Image folder again, apply a slight blur (Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur) at a Radius of about 5, then set the layers Opacity to around 30% to soften the image.

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Now lets look at the print effect! Put the CMYK and the blur layer into a layer folder called CMYK, duplicate it and atten it. Go to Filter>Pixelate>Color Halftones. Once youve found settings you are happy with, click OK, rename the layer Print Texture and set it to around 30% opacity.

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To make the retro look even more convincing, make a new white layer and add some noise (Filter>Noise>Add Noise), set the layer mode to Multiply and set it at 20% opacity. Next, I put a paper texture over the top, setting the Layer Mode to Overlay at 20% opacity.

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Now for the nishing touches! To make the image seem that bit more together, I normally add some adjustment layers (Layer>New Adjustment Layer) one for Hue & Saturation, Photo Filter and Brightness & Contrast. By playing around with these settings, you can make your image really stand out.

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