Vector tutorial - Introduction

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EDIT:

Previous version of this tutorial was submitted over a year ago I decided it's time to update it I edited some parts, adding more details to my explanation. Hope you don't mind being notified about all five parts

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As you can see, after several months of making promises, I finally finished my vectoring tutorial It’s my first tutorial ever, English is not my native language and I suck it explaining things, so it’s not prefect but at least I did my best. I hope this will help people to start their own vector gallery, be it on dA or anywhere else.

This tutorial was strongly influenced by Unmei’s vector tutorial on Ferricorp.Com. I learned how to vector from him. It’s a good, beginner-friendly tutorial and so far I was linking it to all people who asked me for vectoring guidelines but one day I decided to make my own version [longer, a little more detailed, with a few of pieces of advice and my own thoughts].

If there are any parts you find unclear, please don’t hesitate to note me. I’ll try to explain it for you once again in different words, if possible. Also, I’ll be more than happy to see your own vectors, made with the help of this tutorial. ^.^

I’d like to thank =Realm-Of-The-Shadows for checking my spelling and grammar Any mistakes you find in the text above is my fault as I added some last-minute explanation right before submitting the tutorial. Please don’t hesitate to note me about them and I’ll correct it

It’s also the right place to say ‘thank you’ to all my watchers who offered their help as beta-testers In the end I didn’t have time to ask you for your opinions before submission and I’m sorry about that. If you still feel like helping me, please tell me what you think after reading this tutorial.

Before you open Photoshop [I hope you decided to read my comment before downloading this tutorial? xD] a word of warning. Vectoring screenshots and scans [in other words: tracing them directly line by line] is against dA policy. As far as I know, if someone reports your vector trace while providing original screenshot/scan you used, it will be removed from your gallery. That’s why I encourage you to treat screenshot/scan vectors only as a form of practice before you move on to more complicated things. You can vector your own drawings and sketches, other people’s linearts and/or drawings [after asking them for permission, of course], realistic photos [photo traces are allowed, as realistic trace demands more time, skills and creativity than anime ones] – or images combined from several screenshots [as I sometimes do].

In other words - please keep in mind that when you submit screenshot/scan vector trace to your gallery, you do that at your own risk. According to dA policy, it doesn't belong here: it should stay on your hard drive. My intention isn't to encourage you to trace and I take no responsibility if you decide to submit a direct vector trace to dA.