Adobe Illustrator's Image Trace feature provides a fast way to turn a raster image into a vector. It's great for making illustrations out of photos, which can be resized to any dimensions you like. Here's how to do it.
How to Vectorize an Image in Illustrator
First of all, you'll need to import an image. Create a new document, and then press Ctrl + Shift + P (Cmd + Shift + P on Mac) to import an image.
You can also go to File > Place from the top menu. Dragging and dropping in image files works as well, but they'll import at full size, and you'll have to resize them after. We recommend using Illustrator's keyboard shortcuts as much as possible to streamline your workflow.
The image we've used here is a JPG, but Illustrator will accept other types of raster images as well, including PNGs and TIFFs. Also, image tracing will work better if your original picture has plenty of contrast.
Drop your image in at whatever size you want, but bear in mind it'll take longer to trace at large sizes. Make sure it's selected with the Selection tool (V), and you can then trace the image in a few different ways.
The quickest way to trace an image in Illustrator is to go to Object > Image Trace > Make in the menu bar.
This turns your photo into a black and white vector, using Illustrator's default settings.
Image Trace can also be accessed from a button in the Properties panel. If you have the Control panel enabled at the top of Illustrator, you'll find the Image Trace button there as well.
Click it, and you see a variety of preset image tracing options. Some of them are black and white, while others are color. You can't preview them this way, so you'll have to try a few out to find the effect you're after.
Finally, there's the Image Trace window, accessible from Window > Image Trace. By far, this gives you the most control over image tracing. It also allows you to preview the results before applying them. This isn't possible with the other two methods.
You can find more options in the Image Trace window by clicking the Advanced dropdown. Using all the options in the Image Trace window, you can define several parameters, including the level of detail, the number of colors, and whether to limit the trace just to outlines.
Experiment with these options to get the look you want, and then click Trace. You can also apply your settings on the fly by clicking the Preview tickbox.
Converting a Traced Image to Paths
Once you've traced your image and you're happy with it, you need to turn it into paths. This will enable you to edit it like other vectors.
Related: How to Create or Edit a Pattern in Adobe Illustrator
To convert your traced image to paths, you need to expand it. Select it, and then go to Object > Image Trace > Expand. You can also click the Expand button in the Properties or Control panel.
Your vector is now made up of several distinct parts. By default, these are grouped together, so they'll move as one when clicked on with the Selection tool.
You can move each part separately with the Direct Selection tool (A), or you can ungroup by choosing Object > Ungroup from the menu bar.
You also recolor the image as you please. And because it's a vector, your image can now be resized to any dimensions without losing quality—unlike the raster image you originally imported into Illustrator.
Using Your Vectorized Image
Once you've finished editing your traced image, you can then save it as an Illustrator (AI) file. However, if you need to send it to a printer or just want to share it with others, you'll probably need to export it to a different format.
You can convert your new vector into various formats, including back into a raster image. From there, you can apply effects on it in Photoshop or upload it to social media. You can even import it back into Illustrator and trace it all over again. It's worth playing around to see what results you can achieve.
