How to Make a Texture on Adobe Illustrator

Textures can be created from almost any image.

Illustrator is a vector graphics and image editing application developed by Adobe Systems. The program features a wide variety of tools, effects and filters for creating professional graphics and works of art. Textures help to add realism and depth to images in Illustrator. Creating a realistic texture from scratch requires an extensive amount of artistic talent. The Live Trace tool, however, is a tool within Illustrator that makes it possible for users to quickly and easily create custom textures from existing images.

Instructions

1. • 1
     Click on "File" in the main Illustrator tool bar. Select "Place" from the drop-down menu.
   • 2
     Browse to the location of the source image that you want to use. Highlight the file and click the "Place" button.
   • 3
     Click on the placed image to mark it as the current selection. Click on "Object" in the main tool bar. Highlight the "Live Trace" option and select "Make and Expand" from the drop-down menu.
   • 4
     Select the "Direct Selection Tool" from the Illustrator toolbox. Click within the visible white space of the placed image.
   • 5
     Click on "Select" in the main tool bar. Highlight the "Same" option and select "Fill Color" from the drop-down menu. Press "Delete" on your keyboard to remove the white space from the image. The remaining image can now be used as an overlay or fill texture.