Raster to press process

[Gilligan]

Absolutely... this particular one can be done MANY ways successfully.

This thread isn't about this design though.  This thread is about the process in general.  So Fluid's idea of tracing and rescanning is a great one that I will file away for when it is more applicable.

[Frog]

Absolutely... this particular one can be done MANY ways successfully.

This thread isn't about this design though.  This thread is about the process in general.  So Fluid's idea of tracing and rescanning is a great one that I will file away for when it is more applicable.

A trick in that vein is the same I used going back to late nights at Kinko's.  Work big. Really big whenever possible, then when it's reduced down to actual size, it can be much cleaner.
I will still sometimes output an enlarged rough version, touch it up with white out pen and black pen, and then scan that version.

[Fluid]

Absolutely... this particular one can be done MANY ways successfully.

This thread isn't about this design though.  This thread is about the process in general.  So Fluid's idea of tracing and rescanning is a great one that I will file away for when it is more applicable.

Taking a loot at every design is always the first step. I look to see what can easily be recreated with the tools of the program and what would be easier and quicker just hand drawing and tracing to vector and then I dig in and get to work. Sometimes you can get away with tracing wn entire design and sometimes just various elements and working the other portions with the program tools and then bring everything together for the completed design. 

I would say I hand draw about half of what i do and the rest is done entirely with the program tools. The more you learn the program the faster you get so some things you might draw by hand at first will eventually will be done with the programs rather than the tracing.  Also the amount of time needed to clean up a trace to vector might warrant just recreating entirely using the program tools.  You just have to break down the design into the various basic elements and decide from there.

ex: your eyes you posted. In vector, recreating those would take seconds using ellipses and outlines or contours rather than trying to clean up the trace to vector elements.

[Frog]

I would say I hand draw about half of what i do and the rest is done entirely with the program tools. The more you learn the program the faster you get so some things you might draw by hand at first will eventually will be done with the programs rather than the tracing.  Also the amount of time needed to clean up a trace to vector might warrant just recreating entirely using the program tools.  You just have to break down the design into the various basic elements and decide from there.

ex: your eyes you posted. In vector, recreating those would take seconds using ellipses and outlines or contours rather than trying to clean up the trace to vector elements.

I was surprised to find that the budget priced Artwork Source that I used for a re-do a few months back, re-draws much of their stuff rather than trace and tweak.

[Fluid]

I think that goes back to how much time is involved in cleaning up rather than just redrawing. 

[Artelf2xs]

As I tell all my clients, The problem with doing seps from a raster file that has tint's tones, gradients & halftones, is that I will give it a 55 dpi pattern to reproduce those and that will apply itself to everything, including fine lines, text edges, even the tints area edges......
at 55 dpi no matter the files resolution it is brought doen to about 110 ppi.

It would just be faster for me to redraw it vector then mess with it. and I hate producing stuff that looks like it was printed by a hack  the client will always complain about the final product and not equate it to the original crap !