Re: Converting existing images to outlines

Rebecca:

Sounds like you should use the Auto Trace tool. It'll need to be smoothed/cleaned up but...Here's the instructions copied from the AI Help link:

Tracing with the Auto Trace tool

Guided by the boundary between differently colored/shaded areas, the Auto Trace tool traces any bitmap image shape automatically, creating a vector object filled with the current fill and stroke. With this tool, you can click the edge of a shape you want to trace, and Illustrator draws the entire outline of the shape. Or you can trace the edge between two colors or shades in a bitmap image. You can use the Auto Trace tool to trace lines as well as shapes. When you use the Auto Trace tool to trace a line, it travels all the way around the line and comes back to where you clicked, forming a closed path.

The Auto Trace tool is especially suited to tracing simple shapes and lines. For the best results when tracing artwork, trace simpler shapes with the Auto Trace tool and draw more complex shapes with either the Pencil tool or the Pen tool. You can also use a dedicated tracing program such as Adobe Streamline