Best tool? Pen? Pencil? or Curvature? to trace this signature???

Question

I'm trying to trace this complex signature in Illustrator and I'm having a tough time with it. I've tried different tools: Pen, Pencil, Curvature, but I'm still having trouble. But I'm actually not sure which tool would work best for this example: Pen, Curvature, or Pencil?
Fortunately, the image is an svg file. Although unfortunately the signature is not a simple stroke, but the stroke of an empty fill:
Given that the image is a vector file (svg), is there anyway the fill can be turned into a simple stroke? I know I could simply increase the thickness of the empty fill's outlying stroke until the edges become one, but that's not what I want. I tried that and the signature then looks too thick.
And my reason for wanting a single line stroke for this signature is that I plan to then bring the Illustrator file into After Effects and then simply apply AE's "stroke" effect to animate the signature. And as far as I know, AE's stroke effect only works with lines.
Thanks in advance for any help.

Answer 1

ninose,
If you must (the varying width is nicer, of course), you may get closest in the following way (always set the original aside and work on a copy):
1) With the Add Anchor Point Tool, add Anchor Points so that the bounding paths on either side of the fill have corresponding Anchor Points (some of the existing ones are close enough); keep the original and work on a copy (again);
2) Delete the end segment at both ends of each path; keep the original and work on a copy (again);
3) Object>Blend>Blend Options, set Spacing to Specified Steps = 1, and Orientation = Align to Path;
4) Select each pair of bounding side paths and Object>Blend>Make, then Object>Blend>Expand and delete the bounding side paths;
5) Adjust the Stroke Weight as desired and set Round Cap and Join.