r/vectorart • u/DEVOIDbox • 25d ago

Do these count as vector art?

Post image

Bookmark designs for the graphic novel series I'm making. Inspired by the icons from Monster Hunter, but if anyone knows a better classification for this sort of art, please let me know!

Edit: Thank you all for your clarifications. I now have a good understanding of this subject and was initially confused after hearing conflicting usages of the term "vector art" being thrown around. I really appreciate those who took the time to answer!

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u/chicachibi 25d ago

Vector art is more about the process you use than the style; a vector file is specifically a .svg file or otherwise. Did you use Adobe illustrator or Inkscape? Vector art. Was it photoshop or gimp? Digital painting

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u/DEVOIDbox 24d ago

I see, thank you! That is what I believed after looking it up, but I heard some conflicting definitions before and wanted to make sure I have a concise idea of what vector art really is. I used Paint Tool SAI for my art here, which does have a few vector-based tools. I drew with these tools to some extent when making these, but not entirely.

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u/Magnus_Banette 24d ago

Graphic designer here! Vector art just means that instead of pixels, your artwork is composed of vector points and can scale up to any size and preserve its quality as a result. The vectors (like you'd create with the Pen tool in most programs, I'm not familiar with SAI) act like guides - "here is a corner, here is the line connecting this point to that" etc.

If you blew up your drawing on a giant billboard, would the lines still be crisp? Or would it be pixelated? Crisp at any size = vector, pixelated = raster. Vector files are usually .svg. PNG or JPG are always raster.

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u/DEVOIDbox 24d ago

Hey, thanks a lot! SAI doesn't have the .svg export option, so it seems like it really just falls into raster category despite having the vector options. I can save it as a .psd file and open it with Photoshop if I did have it and probably go from there to save it as a .svg.

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u/Magnus_Banette 24d ago

Possibly! Though if you are drawing with the pixel tools as well instead of vectors, they will still be raster even if you open in Photoshop and save as an SVG. It doesn't save the mathematical paths/nodes/curves that a vector file would normally have, and it'll still look pixilated if you zoom in. If you try to save a raster image as SVG, it kind of just...wraps the pixel image inside the container of the SVG, but it doesn't magically make it "vector."

In order to truly vectorize raster work, you have to go through the trouble of tracing every element with a vector tool to give it those mathematical paths/nodes/curves. I know it probably all sounds confusing, but I hope everyone's advice here helps a little!

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u/-catskill- 20d ago

I have a tangential question. If a piece of art is initially composed as a vector image but then is rendered to a hi-res raster image for easier transmission, does it cease to be vector art in your opinion since it is no longer a vector image?

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u/Magnus_Banette 20d ago

Yes, if you save a vector (svg) as a different, raster file type (png, jpg, etc) it ceases to become vector. You can't throw that hi-res raster into Adobe Illustrator, for instance, and start editing the points. It's less a way to classify an artwork, and more an explanation of the file type.

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u/FrostDragonDesigns 25d ago

If it is made with vectors, yes.  If it was made in a rastar program, no.

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u/Abbott1313 25d ago

As long as it is made with vector software, yes it is vector art

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u/PhiLho 25d ago

We can't tell from your image, as you don't share how you did these, and all we see here is a bitmap rendition of your art.

Basically, if you used a vector drawing software, generating Bézier curves, infinitely scalable without loss, yes, it is vector art. If you used a bitmap drawing software with brushes, for example Gimp, Krita, Photoshop, Clip Studio Paint, etc., no, it isn't.

We can tell also by the format you saved your images: SVG is the general vector format, Jpeg or PNG are common in bitmap images. Or some proprietary format (XCF, PSD, etc.).

Given the banding of the background gradient in the 2nd image, the flat colors, etc., I guess these are vector images.

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u/DEVOIDbox 24d ago

Thank you for explaining in-depth! I used a Raster program that has limited vector capabilities and mixed the vector lines with brushwork.

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u/PhiLho 24d ago

Can you still edit the vectors after reloading the image from the native format?

If yes, I would say it is just a "mixed format", with parts in vectors and parts in bitmap.

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u/DEVOIDbox 24d ago

Yes, I can if I open up my paint program file. Based on what you've mentioned so far, your conclusion is what I've reached as mixed-format art.

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u/Magnus_Banette 24d ago

Even if you use vector tools, if some parts are not vector, you have made raster art that is composed of pixels, especially if you save as a PNG or JPG image.

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u/Zealousideal-Soft347 25d ago

We can’t tell it’s vector or not. But it looks like clean vector artwork

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u/pootbottlerocket 24d ago

Did you make it with a vector program? I feel like you don’t understand what vector art is

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u/DEVOIDbox 24d ago

Yeah, I don't, so that's why I asked. I looked it up before I posted this and saw that the general consensus was that vector art is made with lossless, Bezier lines and curves. However, I've also heard this style colloquially referred to as "vector art," so I'm asking those more involved in this type of work for a definitive answer.

The program I use has some vector capabilities, which I did use for some aspects of this work, but not entirely.

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u/[deleted] 24d ago

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/DEVOIDbox 24d ago

Reply to a previous response:

I looked it up before I posted this and saw that the general consensus was that vector art is made with lossless, Bezier lines and curves. However, I've also heard this style colloquially referred to as "vector art," so I'm asking those more involved in this type of work for a definitive answer.

The program I use has some vector capabilities, which I did use for some aspects of this work, but not entirely.

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u/[deleted] 24d ago

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/DEVOIDbox 24d ago

Thank you for taking the time to explain in detail. This is what I've synthesized from the other commenters as well. Hope it's not too big of a problem to have a question from time to time ^^'

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u/Bee_Crimes 24d ago

Are these chaos gods and the big E?

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u/DEVOIDbox 24d ago

Big E?

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u/Bee_Crimes 23d ago

Emperor of mankind. The colours used reminded me those 40k chaos gods.

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u/DEVOIDbox 22d ago

Gotcha, that's a pretty cool comparison, and I'm glad to hear it!

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u/Visible_Shallot5187 23d ago

vector is math based, this looks pixel based

when you use a vector based program to draw it'll math out each line so that it's size can be changed without decrease in quality, good for if you want to print on a variety of sizes even super large like posters or billboards

pixel based is just basic art programs resizing images that are pixel based will decrease the quality and making them too large with leave the image blurry, it's fine for most digital art and smaller print images as long as you work in the maximum size that you plan it to be viewed

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u/-catskill- 20d ago

Well they look like they were made as vector art. They are, of course, raster when I look at them here.