Here is a simple vector tutorial of a great Iconic hero “Dewey Cox”. Normally I do all my vector work in Adobe Illustrator, but I want to show you that you can achieve the same effect in PhotoShop.


This tutorial does require a basic knowledge of the pen tool, but don’t worry this tutorial is great practice to develop you pen tool skills.


In this tutorial we are using a total of four colors to make out vector image.
First Color #000000 (Black)
Second Color #e0e0e0 (Light Gray)
Third Color #5e5c5d (Dark Gray) Used mainly for the eyes
Fourth Color #ffffff (White)


Note: Vector art is an art form, many people do things differently. Don’t be afraid to experiment with colors, or lack of color.


First things first: Download the original image of Dewey Cox here


After you have downloaded the image open it in Photo Shop.


Step One: After you have opened the image in PhotoShop, Ensure that your layers pallet is opened. to open the layers pallet you can select “Window” from the top tool bar then select “Layers” or on your keyboard press the “F7″ key. On the layers pallet lock the original picture and create a new layer under the original layer. The reason for putting the new layer under your picture is when you start to draw out the areas, you want to be able to see just the lines that you are drawing. You can always turn the image layer on and off to compare to your drawing.













Step Two: So here is where the fun begins, We want to start out with our Black color #000000. What we want to do now is determine what area’s of the image we want to be black. Select the Pen tool
pen tool Now we will start to to draw out our
areas, start by clicking on where you want to start your drawing. (I started on the hair…) As we move along the curl we will create new anchor points, to achieve a curve you want to click to create the new anchor point and hold the left mouse button down and drag in the opposite direction of the curve. Once you happy with the roundness of the cure you can let go of the left mouse button and continue your drawing.

As you draw make your way back to the starting anchor point. What you want to do is close off your path, this means your last anchor point will be in the same place as your first anchor point.


Remember to use the zoom tool, as you draw out a section. zoom in to assure you are being as accurate as can be.


Since we are using a single color here we can go through and add in individual curls or black sections.


Here is what we should have after we have drawn out all the black areas.










Step Three: Now we want to start with our gray color #e0e0e0, the process is exactly the same as step two, but now we will determine what areas we want to make gray.


Crate a new layer underneath all the black layers. Now we want to start drawing out the gray layers. The gray layers will start to give the drawing more depth.


Here is what it looks like with the black and gray together.























Step Four: We are at the home stretch now, the last thing to do is create the eye-balls.


Create a new layer underneath all the other layers, for the eye-ball we will use the pen tool and the Ellipse Tool.


Select the Ellipse Tool, and zoom in on the eye-ball. Select the Dark Gray color #5e5c5d Draw a circle around the eye, select the pen tool and and start adding the black and white highlights in the eye.


Now you can either duplicate the eye, or draw out another eye.


Now you are finished.


Sorry I was not able to show more on using the pen tool, but I believe practice makes perfect.

Finished Image

This entry was posted on Sunday, August 23rd, 2009 at 12:34 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.