New doodle and Illustrator help

Here is a little doodle from some playing on Illustrator. I think something like this would be very nice in a really small scale. I am very clueless when it comes to Illustrator and I'd like to know how to do more with it. I'd especially like to know:

Why does my image change color (gets less vibrant) when I save as a jpeg or gif?

How can I save my Illustrator doodles in such a way so that I can layer them over a photo so that it looks like I've drawn on top of the photo?

Any good books, sites or video tutorials to recommend? Should I just suck it up and take a class?

Comments

[Leslie]

I <3 Lynda.com. The website's video tutorials ($25/mo, $250 annual) breaks down each program to its individual components via 1-5 min segments and is voiced by experts with actual personalities. =)

I like it better than taking a class where you absorb maybe 30% at most and forget the rest. With the Lynda.com you can always come back and rewatch a tutorial. Plus a good class will set you back $400-500 anyway so this winds up being cheaper.

[Carina]

I am not sure why the colours would change, but it could be because you're working in CMYK colours in Illustrator? jpg and gif are RGB, so if you want the same colours from your Illustrator work, you'll probably need to tweak them in the Gimp. Or change the mode of colours in Illustrator; this can also be done in Gimp (Image -> Mode).

You can import photos to Illustrator, just go to File and then select Import (at least, I think it's in File, it's been a while since I actually used Illustrator). This is also useful if you want to draw something from a photo.

Hope that helps. :-)

[Hannah]

I save images as an AI or GIF if I need to be able to layer it later like you do. GIF is done by going to "Save for web". I've only just got Illustrator though, I've been using Photoshop until now.

PS: That drawing is wonderful! Would make fantastic fabric or wrapping paper.

PPS: I found your blog a few days ago and spent a whole afternoon reading it, I went back quite a few months and was totally absorbed. It's firmly in my Google reader now! ;)

[Hannah]

Ok, I just reread and saw you do know how to do GIF's, sorry!

Just ignore me!

[Andrea R]

Hi Shannon,

Does your photo program allow you to open AI, EPS or PDF files? If you save as one of these files, it will maintain the transparent background of your illustration. Open it in your photo program and make it a new layer in your photo file then you can save it as your standard file extension for printing. I save mine as a PSD or TIF to maintain the layers (incase I ever need to edit them) and as a flattened JPG for fast viewing.

As for the color issue, it probably is a CMYK/RGB thing. Is the color varying on screen in different programs? Or varying from screen to paper? You can convert your file or start your file in most programs as either or. I guess just try saving a couple different versions to see if there are any variances.

I know there are some great free podcast tutorials, look in itunes or do a google search for some free ones.

I'm also like Hannah - When I discovered your blog many months ago, I went back and read every one of them, finding them very inspiring! It is now one of the first ones I read in my reader.

[katelyn]

I saw a tutorial (actually, a couple of them) on Youtube about Photoshop stuff...not really about this particular thing, but maybe they have something about this. It's worth a look! I'm off to look at the lynda.com site the first commenter mentioned!

[Ashley]

While the color issues you're having can be a result of the color switch from CMYK to RBG, it's more likely just to be because of the compression of a jpg and gif. Because each of those file types tries to compress the size to be so small most people have great trouble maintaining color space.

If you want to continue saving images as jpgs or gifs, you might have to manipulate a separate file so that when it saves the color is correct. [Most of the time this just means adding saturation and darkening the color.]