How to Create Vector Logos from Low-Resolution Images in Photoshop

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Today we show you how to take a low-resolution image of a logo or icon and turn it into a high-resolution vector with perfect sharpness! Need a copy of a logo in a pinch? We've got you covered! Learn how to use the Shape Tools, the Pen Tool, and Paths in Photoshop to trace and recreate any logo in a matter of minutes.

Download the Sample Images:

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[sarahcollins]

This is ironically exactly what I’ve been working on all week - we’re doing clip art animals in face masks for my employees’ name tags this year, and I offered to build them from scratch creating my own vectors from clip art using the pen tool. Glad to see I wasn’t doing it wrong, and super weird that you provided this tutorial to us now of all times. Thanks Aaron and the Phlearn team!

[thinhtranquoc]

Anytime when I need something from PTS. Aaron is always be there and never make me feel disappointed. One more big tutorial. Thanks You!!! ❤️

[yeahyeah]

You explained the pen tool SO much better than anyone else. Thank you!

[daidnz]

My go-to first try is always to go to the company website and search for a PDF such as a newsletter or annual report. If you're lucky then the logo is embedded in the PDF as a vector object and you can open the PDF in Illustrator.

[yacinejulian]

I'm a Photoshop user of over 17 years of experience, so I'm comfortable with it but I started learning Illustrator about 3 years ago and I can remember that in just a few days of using it, I realized that a few days of experience in illustrator can do better than my 17 years of Photoshop, so if there is anyone who's working with vectors in Photoshop, my advice is they have to start learning Illustrator

[luciano.armani]

ive been a designer for i dont know how many years, made i dont know how many logos, still cant do much in illustrator, felt so seen when you mentioned that haha

[vincentoppong]

Can't wait for this tutorial.

I had this very problem at work today and the only solution I could come up with was to retrace the artwork in illustrator, but the result was "subpart", because the lines and curves weren't 100% exact.

[ALEX-xrly]

Thanks for the lesson! But for me the "merge layers" didn't automatically cut out shapes, don't know why. Played around with subtraction setting of the shapes - and nothing. But the " Layer/Сombine Shapes/ Substract front shape " worked as it should.

[Cinders]

Aaron, once the logo is created, what file format should be used to save it? A regular PSD? Or is there a better option?

Hi, how should I save a vector?
Thanks in advance and greetings from Portugal.

[AeditZ]

at first you select the shape with selection tool or magic wand tool ... Then right-click and select convert to make as work patch and adjust.

[michaelgaraphoto]

Hey! Big fan of your channel! Just wanted to let you know, you can stroke a shape layer Inside/Mid/Outside by clicking on the flat line beside the fill and stroke options. Once in there, you can select the Align tab to choose where the stroke should go. You can also change other parameters in there as well. Check it out :)

[chiragrupani]

Thank you for this video... It really helped. However, could you also tell me how do I save this file? I mean, What if I want to use it as a logo on my social media? PNG? How to go about it?

[RoastinFN]

Some people use Photoshop and some use Illustrator for everything, I guess it's whatever your good at or familiar with. I use the three main adobe apps for my job, Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign. If I was going to be creating anything vector based I would use Just kidding, I would use Illustrator hands down. You can also images trace any logo that's half decent quality and it does a pretty decent job. Something like the DD logo would take seconds to create using image trace in Illustrator. However, for something well known like the DD logo you should be able to google a PDF document that would contain the logo in Vector form already, just need to do a little digging. Thanks for talking the time and showing this done in Photoshop.

[acemanNL]

You can also use separate software like Vector Magic, if you don't like the pen tool 😏

[wetterauercopter]

Wouldn't it be faster to do autoselect and then turn into path?

[gopimk]

always your are grabbing gold medal

[RainerK.]

Wow, that seems complicated. That is something the computer can do so much better.

[marekzabak]

Dolby logo base shape is keeping absolute corner radius when resizing. How to fix that?

[lizclayton]

Another reason to do this in PS is that I pay $9.99/mo. for the Photography Plan vs. paying $52.99/mo. for All Apps (that includes Illustrator).