Vector Outlines Made "EASY"

or "From Photoshop and Back Again, an Artist's Tale."

Yes, oh so very, very easy. *sigh*

So, today I was presented with a simple task.  Give some renders of 3D characters graphic cartoony outlines for some fancy splashy portraits.  Sounds simple enough.  But, being me, I wanted to have these outlines be awesome (meaning look professional) and more importantly, to have them be flexible in the long term for easier iteration... meaning, I wanted to do vector outlines.

But the original art is in Photoshop.  Unnngh!  Vector outlines in Photoshop?  Alright, let's learn how to dominate this bitch!  I started with making a path of where I wanted the outlines, then tried variations of the "Stroke Outline" option of the path.  I tried it with the "Simulate Pressure" option, no, the thick to thin is all wrong.  I tried it without and felt I didn't have enough control to get the professional looking results I wanted.  Also, by only drawing the outlines as a path, I couldn't be 100% positive that the outlines were going to look exactly how I wanted them without committing to the rasterized "Stroked Outline" This would lead to too much wasted time going back and forth to tweak and perfect.  Screw that.

OK... on to Illustrator.  I bring the raster image of the character in, draw the outlines, and make them all pretty pretty.  But when I try to bring it into Photoshop, there are all sorts of horrid results.  Solid black fill, or inconsistent lines, just, yucky.  The outlines drawn in Illustrator *could* be brought into Photoshop as a path. (gag)   I do some research, and get all excited because it seemed like the solution had been found - Object > Path > Outline Stroke!!!  No.  The outlines have become needle thin.  This won't do.  I just want to "Convert Lines to Fill" like in Flash.

OK... on to Flash.  I bring the vector outlines from Illustrator into Flash, and "Convert Lines to Fill"  This looks promising!  The outlines now have vector lines on both sides!  This is great!  Oh, but there is no copy/paste allowed from Flash to Photoshop.  Illustrator must act as a middle man.

What followed were many more attempts and fails, and more headbanging into a brick wall than I care to document here.  Suffice to say, I finally nailed down a pipeline that will allow me to get the results I want quickly, and will allow the final vector art to reside within Photoshop allowing other artists to edit them. (Not everyone can be all decked out with Illustrator and Flash after all!)

Ze Pipeline!

1. Open rasterized Image in Photoshop 
2. Copy/Paste image into Illustrator
3. Draw cartoony outlines
4. Select all outlines 
5. Copy/Paste outlines into Flash
6. Select all
7. Modify > Break Apart
8. Select All
9. Modify > Shape > Convert Lines to Fills
10. Select All
11. Modify > Combine Objects > Union
12. Export as AI file
13. Open new AI file in Illustrator
14. Select All
15. Object > Path > Outline Stroke
16. Select All
17. Copy Paste into Photoshop
18. ZOMG FAILSTAR!

I would not be at all surprised to have someone tell me that this method is insanely silly, and that there is a way easier way to accomplish the same thing.  Bring it!  Please!

Update:

Well...
Leave it to my husband to prove me wrong in 10 seconds flat!

Ze New IMPROVED Pipeline!

1. Open rasterized Image in Photoshop 
2. Copy/Paste image into Illustrator
3. Draw cartoony outlines
4. Select all outlines
5. Object > Flatten Transparency > Set ppi to 72 (screen resolution)
6. Copy/Paste into Photoshop
7. ZOMG MY HUSBAND IS A ROCKSTAR!

Hey look Ma!  I'm learnin!  I'M LEARNIN!