May 2006
In this instance we have a logo that was scanned from a business card. Many times I can use Live Trace to get a good replica of the logo. In this case the logo has too much degeneration to get a good copy. So, I'll have to recreate it. By the way, this is a real job I need to do so I'll show you how it's done.
The first thing I want to do is change the color mode from RGB to CMYK.
Then I create a new layer and lock the original.
I start with the Pen tool and draw around the roof area making sure there is no fill. I then change to the Rectangle tool and create a rectangle.
I then Shift+Alt drag to the right to create a duplicate of the rectangle.
Using the Direct Selection tool, I choose the right tow points, hold the Shift key down, and drag into place.
I then select the first rectangle and Shift+drag to the right for the last rectangle shape.
And use the same method I used previously to capture the right two points and drag. The client does not want the gray triangle in the back so I will ignore that.
In this step I create the first letter and change the font size to 34 pt.
At this point I need to look for the right font. I think it's Times New Roman. I find that it's too thin at the Regular size and too bulky at the Bold size so while in Regular size I add a stroke to it at about 1 pt size.
I then Shift+Alt drag the letter into the second position, change it from an R to an I, and then do the same for the S.
I then type in the remaining part of the first word then use Shift+Alt drag to make a copy for each successive word. The size of the font is 17 pt. I notice that the two last words are too long so I use tracking located in the text dialogue box to make changes for each word until they approximately fit.
So here's what we have so far.
So let's flip the stroke to a fill.
So now to find the correct CMYK fill color for the roof, I unlock the original layer and hide the upper layer then select the Eyedropper tool to sample color from the roof. Because there is no rectangle on the color chip, this indicates it is not a CMYK color. I had to drag this color from the Fill onto the Swatches palette.
Here's the color I think most resembles the original.
If you sort the colors by List View, you can see the name of the color. Let's drag that onto the color palette.
Notice that this color chip has a triangle which indicates it's a legitimate Pantone color.
I then selected the roof pieces and clicked on the Pantone color to fill. Next I selected the Caps and clicked on the color chip. I then had to select the Stroke color and make it the same color.
Shift the "ystems" slightly right. Finally, convert the text to outlines and save as an .ai file, an .eps file, and as a .jpg.
Copyright (c) 2006, Jacquelin Vanderwood, All Rights Reserved