Line art will never be the same
Export to PSD
1. Expand the Live Paint Group
Now that our image is painted you may notice it looks a bit flat. You could add some shadows and highlights right inside Illustrator to give the appearance of depth; however, Adobe Photoshop® is much better suited for painting this type of detail. But we need to do a few things before exporting this artwork to a PSD file to make it easier to work with in Photoshop. The first step is to expand the Live Paint group so we can have access to each object in this illustration. To do this, click the Expand button in the Control palette.
Click the Expand button in the Control palette to display the objects in the illustration.
2. Cut and paste the outlines to separate layer
Next, we need to separate the black outlines from the colored portions of this illustration. First, target the Group in the Layers palette and choose Object > Ungroup. Using the Direct Selection tool (A), select an area of the traced outline that is filled with black. Choose Select > Same > Fill Color. This will select all areas that are black (the outlines). Then choose Edit > Cut (Ctrl/Control+X). Lock the layer and create a new layer above it named “Outlines.” Then choose Paste in Front (Ctrl/Control+F). This action will paste the outlines onto their own layer.
Create a new layer in the Layers palette for the outlines.
3. Delete white areas, release to layers, and export
Unlock Layer 1, select a white area using the Direct Selection tool, and then choose Select > Same > Fill Color. You can delete these white areas since we won’t need them. Now, the original layer should only contain the colored sections. Target Layer 1 and choose Release To Layers (Sequence) from the Layers palette flyout menu. Now you can choose File > Export. Select PSD for the Save As Type and then click OK (Windows) or select Format and then click Export (Mac OS X). Enter the above settings and then click OK. Your file will be exported to Photoshop with each color on its own layer and separated from the black outlines, making it easier to paint.
The Photoshop Export Options dialog box in Windows.
Before and after
Before Live Trace and Live Paint, after Live Paint, and after adding shadows and highlights in Photoshop.
Matt Kloskowski is an Education and Curriculum Developer for the National Association of Photoshop Professionals. He has authored or co-authored several books on Photoshop and Illustrator and teaches an advanced Photoshop course for www.sessions.edu.
