From Design Into Print: Preparing Graphics and Text for Professional Printing

Chapter 7. Vector Images

Vector images are very different from raster images. For one thing, vector images are created directly in the computer instead of taken by a digital camera or scanned. And instead of using millions of tiny pixels, vector art is generated using mathematics to create individual objects. This is why vector art is sometimes called “object art.”

Vector art is the primary type of artwork used for all sorts of illustrations and graphics that don’t contain digital photographs or scanned images. Almost all corporate logos are designed as vector graphics. Depending on the artist’s style, vector illustrations can look like cartoons, woodcuts, watercolors, or pen-and-ink illustrations. There are even some artists whose vector images ...