Assignment
Today you will find a cartoon character to trace into Illustrator using the pen tool.  This is a very common way to turn a graphic from raster into vector.

1. Go online to find a cartoon character you would like to trace.  It should be fairly simple, with strong colors.  The Simpsons, South Park, Looney Tunes, and Disney are good choices.
2. Open the image in Illustrator.  Double click on the image layer and put a check mark next to Dim Images.
3. Lock the image layer.
4. Create a new layer.  This will be your inking layer.
5. Change the fill color to none.  Make the stroke color whatever line color you wish, although darker colors are better.
6. Begin tracing your cartoon character. 
   
7. When you are finished with a line, hold down Ctrl and click off of the line to end it.
8. Make sure that the lines that connect cross over each other and are completely enclosed.  If they aren't the Live Paint won't work.
9. When you are finished tracing the character, select all of the lines and create a Live Paint group.
10. Color in your character.
11. When finished, upload an image to your blog.

Examples