Vector Hand

You will be using this photo

To create a file that looks like this in the end:

Watch this video to set up your file:

Watch this video to learn how to draw and fill the hand:

these are the basic steps:

1. Download the hand photo. Right click on the photo and open in illustrator. Save image as A1_hand_yourname.pdf

2. Lock the layer with the photo and create a new layer. Title this layer hand outline. Use the pen tool to go all the way around the hand as shown in the picture below.

(make sure you go all the way around the hand and close your path by ending at the point you started at.) This ensures you can fill the hand with a color.

3. Lock the hand layer and create a new layer called shadows. Next you will create small organic shapes for the shadows in between the finger shapes using the pen tool. (see images provided as an example)

The image above shows what your hand should look like at this point. (you can choose any color as your skin and shadow color)

4. Lock the shadows layer and create a new layer called wrinkles. Use the pencil tool to create the wrinkles. When finished with these lines, try selecting them all and changing the brush to create a more organic illustration. See me for help with this step.

5. Lock the wrinkles layer and create a nail layer. Draw the shapes for the nails and complete the path so it is a closed shape that can be colored in.

6. As a last step, fill in all shapes and create a solid background color by making a final layer that you place below all other layers. Use the rectangle tool to draw a box to cover the background and fill it with a color.