1) I chose GIF because I had less than 256 colours and the GIF format copies the file exactly if this is the case and offers a "rich, true colour image". http://users.wfu.edu/matthews/misc/graphics/formats/formats.html
2) For my procedure i began by tracing the body of the kitten with the pen tool. I then broke it off into a few different pieces and filled them in with the colours i found to be appropriate. for the smaller details i used the pencil tool.
3) When I thought i was just about finished i realized the face of the cat looked slightly squashed and that it didn't match the shape of the original image, but i soon realized that all i had to do to fix it was to adjust the size and shape of the image using the selection tool.
4) If I'm being honest, i'm not very pleased with my final result. I realize there were lots of things i could've done to make it look more similar to the original image but sadly i am not very good with illustrator. though I am learning.
