I am constantly been asked to re-create something. And it is always a low resolution photo that has a graphic which was lost and in need in high resolution replacement. It is in these situations that i find attention to lights/shadows and details created via the appearance panel really come in to play.

This is the image provided:

To recreate a graphic like this you need to have several different pallet windows out in illustrator. You need to be able to adjust the art as you are working, zoom in, and take creative liberty here and there to make it look sharp.

Here are some screenshots i took as i worked on this small part of a larger project: