In this tutorial, we are going to create a poster using the Illustrator. To give the typography a distinctive look, we will trace a photograph and apply a portion of the result to the text.
STEP 1 Select an Appropriate Image
Try to find an image containing a lot of small details which also has a good contrast between light and dark values.
STEP 2 Resize and save the image as JPEG
STEP 3 Live Trace
Open the image in Illustrator, File>Open. Select the image with the Selection tool (V) and choose Object>Live Trace>Tracing Options. This allows you to modify any settings and preview the image before conversion. In the dialog box that appears, enable the Preview option and leave the Preset as Default. The trace will output in black and white, as two colours are easier to work with for this technique.
STEP 4 Adjust Threshold to Show Detail
The only setting we changed in the Tracing Options is the Threshold value. it controls the appearance of black or white in the image. For our image the default value of 128 is not sufficient. So we settled on a value of 70. After that, click the Trace button to trace the image.
STEP 5 Convert the Tracing to Paths
We have to convert the tracing to paths. Select the tracing and choose Object>Expand. In the dialog box that appears, click OK. We are only going to work with the black objects. Select the Magic Wand tool (Y), choose the white, and then press Delete (PC: Backspace). You can work with the white objects by deleting the black with the Magic Wand tool. However, you need to apply a different colour fill to the white objects so they are visible on the document’s white background.
STEP 6 Enter Your Type; Choose a Font
You are not going to trace all the text. First, you have to decide on the parts you want to use. Select the Type tool (T) and type on the artboard outside the tracing. Use a relatively large point size for your text. Leave the Fill colour as black.
STEP 7 Position the Text
After typing, move the text in front of the tracing. Position the text so that it’s barely readable. If you can clearly see the outlines of the letters, then the clipping mask in the following step will render the text unreadable. In the example above, we have highlighted the text so that it is visible to you clearly over the tracing.
STEP 8 Make a Clipping Mask
Create a clipping mask that uses the letters as the mask for viewing the texture with the text. Press Command-A (PC: Control-A) to select everything and choose Object > Clipping Mask > Make. If you are unsatisfied with the result you can undo the clipping mask to reposition the text over another area of the texture.
STEP 9 Create a New Layer
Delete the unused texture in the clipping mask with a Pathfinder command. Before this, we need to undo the clipping mask. So choose Edit>Undo Make Clipping Mask.
Open the Layers palette and click the arrow next to the layer’s thumbnail to expand the layer. Click on the texture group layer to highlight it in the Layers palette. Option-click (PC: Alt-click) on the Create New Layer icon and name it Square in the Layer Options dialog box, and click OK. Now the layer is positioned between the text and texture.
STEP 10 Delete Excess Background
Using the Rectangle tool (M), draw a rectangle on the Square layer over the text and the texture you want to keep. To choose everything, press Command-A (PC: Control-A). Open the Pathfinder palette (Window>Pathfinder) and click on Crop, placed on the bottom row, fourth from left. It deletes anything outside the rectangle. A Live Paint Group, indicated by a double grey rectangle around the artwork, will appear after applying the Crop. With the Selection tool, double-click an empty area of the artboard to disable it.
STEP 11 Reapply the Clipping Mask
Reapply the clipping mask with a less-complex texture. Press Command-A (PC: Control-A) to select the text and texture. Then, navigate to Object>Clipping Mask>Make.
STEP 12 Convert Text to Outlines
With everything still selected, choose Type>Create Outlines. (Note: If you wish to maintain editability of your text, save a copy of the file before applying the Create Outlines command.)
With the text converted to outlines, we can remove additional unused texture around the text and reduce our file size. With removing the selection, click the Pathfinder’s Crop icon.
STEP 13 Convert Live Trace to RGB
After applying the Live Trace to the image using the Default preset you can see that the trace is now in Grayscale colour. To allow colours outside the Grayscale mode, deselect the object and open the Colour palette (Window>Colour). Double-click the palette’s tab to fully expand it. You will see one colour bar with a K next to it on the palette. This indicates the object is in Grayscale colour mode. Open the palette’s flyout menu and choose RGB from the menu and apply any colour to the text.
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