My suggestion is to scan it into Photoshop or even better into Illustrator. If you don't have a scanner, 3-1s are pretty inexpensive now. Under $100. Under $50 even.
Should you get a tablet? Yes,if you can afford it. I use a mouse but I am stubborn and don't have the extra cash. Maybe my fiance will get me one for my birthday in March. I've waited this long.
If you like to draw or get your designs directly into the programs, that might be the best. But a scanner is cheaper if you're cash strapped at the moment. Worthy investment however. There are lots of threads on tis forum discussing the pros and cons of different tablets.
Once you get your design into PS or AI, you can trace it with the pen tool. There are also many good tutorials. One by Inkz on the forum; in fact, there re a couple by members, not to mention the variety of methods on the web. Google. I have learned bits of pieces from all of them and from practice, practice, practice. The more you practice, the more you see how to place the anchor points and how to direct the handles, as well as when to use the alt/opt key on an anchor point when you have to totally change direction of the path.
You can also use the transform> warp, distort, scale, etc. to get the desired effect. Just be careful in Photoshop. The transform command can muddy your edges, so just take the tranforms slowly. Then if you need to go further, duplicate the layer and reapply the transform tool. I'm not totally certain that that will remove the prior changes. But you can try the rasterize idea. Make a layer below the duplicate layer or the original for that matter, and select them together with the ctl/cmd key and merge them. Another idea I have is to make a save as psd and start fresh. I don't think you'll still have the older transform information on the layer, but I am not sure of that.
I am a great fan of the history palette and of smart objects which save all the original pixel information no matter how large or small you scale/transform the image.
Well, I can't think of anything else, but I will try it later if/when I have time. I can even make you a written tutorial with screen captures. I don't make videos, though someone else might be inclined to do so. Good luck. Show us your results and use my three Ps of PS: patience, practice, and passion. Have fun, always have fun so you don't get frustrated. Stay open to new ideas, new skills, and learning, sometimes just for the heck of it. Join our challenges and get challenged to use those new tools!
