Expert: Kevin Stohlmeyer - 7/22/2008

Question
Hi Kevin! I found a tutorial online that shows how to trace a picture of a woman and fill it in to make a cartoon image of her. I used the pen tool to trace the major features in the face and used live paint - make to make several sections into live paint sections. I then clicked the paint bucket tool and picked a color and tried to fill in the live paint sections and the edges were highlighted but they would not fill with the color. I am not sure if this is because the areas are not completely closed because I free handed them? Is there a way to make sure they are all closed and do you know why the live paint areas are not filling? Thank you in advance for your time!

Sarah

Answer
Hi Sarah,

After you used Live Trace, did you click the Expand or Live Paint buttons at the top bar? You need to either click expand and then use the Live Paint bucket or click the Live Paint button and use the bucket.

When you use Live Paint, there is an option (under Object>Live Paint) called Gap Options. This allows you to temporarily close off open areas.

Thanks

Kevin