I sketch cinematic thumbnails in Fresco on an 11-inch iPad Pro with the HB pencil, then hop into Illustrator to build clean shapes, but the vector pass keeps sanding off the story’s grit… Any favorite brushes, tracing settings, or plugins (Astute Graphics? Image Trace threshold/paths settings?) that preserve that lived-in pencil energy while staying production-friendly?
And try Illustrator’s Image Trace with the ‘Sketched Art’ preset, drop Noise to 1–2 px and tick ‘Ignore White’ before Expand; if the tooth still feels lost, add Astute Graphics’ Texturino for a live paper-grain mask (Adobe Illustrator Plugin Texturino from Astute Graphics). Small caveat: it can spike anchor count, so run Object > Path > Simplify after. Would you be open to keeping the original pencil on top as a light Multiply pass to keep the coffee grounds in the brew?
I’ve had better “pencil” edges by skipping extra Trace tweaks and adding a tiny vector Roughen on the shapes: Effect > Distort & Transform > Roughen, Absolute about 0.2–0.4 px, Detail 20–30/in, Corner, then Expand Appearance — like sneaking the charcoal dust back in after cleanup. Keep values tiny or it turns to fuzz; if you still need tooth, overlay a subtle vector grain swatch. @miller18 would that fit your pipeline, or do you need it 100% pure vector?
Group shapes, add an Opacity Mask with 600dpi HB texture — Fresco grit intact. @michelle87, okay using linked raster masks?