In this episode I demonstrate how to create vector wings by tracing over a pencil sketch in Inkscape v0.46.

After scouring the Net for a pleasing wing design to sketch for myself, I stumbled upon Von. R. Glitschka’s excellent tutorial from illustrationclass.com regarding a custom and very unique wing design that he used to make a BMX (MirraCo) illustration. It is absolutely superb. I used the basic shape of the wings for my screencast only making it much simpler for newer users to Inkscape. If you consider yourself an advanced graphic artist then you may want to take note of Von’s additions that make his version of the wings stand out.

Von’s tutorial was very interesting as he details his process for developing not only the wings but the entire logo used. I encourage everyone to check out his website and then bookmark it because it offers valuable insight on the methods used by professional artists.

I thank Von for giving me his permission to take a stab at simplifying his wing design for subject material in this episode as I know some of you will hopefully find it interesting.

Reference:
illustrationclass.com - BMX Illustration

by heathenx

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In this screencast I demonstrate one way of creating a sunset illustration using Inkscape v0.46.

Part of this also involves creating a starry sky which provides a pretty much half-arsed tutorial on using Tiled Clones to achieve it. I just noticed however that you also can’t see the starry sky in the image above.. but trust me, it’s there. I just got a little too subtle with it I guess.

As always it’s only one way of doing things and likely you viewers out there will have plenty of other, more creative uses for the concepts in it. The sunset effect itself is super-simple, just using a multi-colour gradient and the pencil tool along with a couple of simple path effects. The bulk of this screencast ended up being the starry sky bit, but I’m sure you’ll find plenty of other uses for tiled clones with randomization.

The intro music is a song called “Eyes Closed” by The Seldon Plan, which you can find over at the wonderful Magnatune.com

by Richard Querin

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In this screencast I will take a stab at creating a vector license plate in Inkscape 0.46.

PSHERO.com once again gets the credit for this screencast. Once I saw his tutorial I immediately made one of my own just to see if I could do it. I’ll try not to duplicate his tutorials too often out of respect for him and his tutorial site…but dog gone it!…his tutorials are so fun to follow. It’s his fault.

Thank-you for the inspiration, PSHERO.

Reference:
PSHERO.com - License Plate

by heathenx

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In this screencast I demonstrate one way of creating a glass panel using Inkscape v0.46.

I got the idea for this screencast from this image on Flickr.

Also, I recorded this one in a single take with no do-overs. And while I think it’s an ok screencast, I twice mentioned a potential problem with the method I was using and how I was going to discuss it “later”. Well of course “later” never came and I completely forgot about it. So in the interest of lazyness I thought I’d just put the explanation here ;). Here goes:

This method uses the Object->Clip function to “fake” the transparency of the glass. The reason I do this is because it is impossible (somebody prove me wrong - please!) to create that drop shadow under the edges of the glass AND maintain transparency through the glass. In Inkscape I cannot find a way to create a fringe blur so that for instance, there is blur around the outside of a rectangle, but the inside of the rectangle is transparent. You could show only the outline or border of a shape and blur that, but the blur goes inward and outward - not what you want here.

There are workarounds. Such as going to the GIMP and creating the fringe blur at exactly the right size and importing that (as long as the interior of the fringe is transparent). If you can think of other workarounds, by all means post them in the comments.

Why is this a limitation of this method for creating the glass panel. Well, primarily it is because once you create the glass panel, you can’t move it around the image easily. You would have to do the Object->Clip whenever you move it. Not ideal. It means you have to pick your spot and dimensions of the panel pretty much at the beginning. A niggly detail, but annoying to me nonetheless.

So apologies for not explaining it in the screencast. It is an important thing to note when creating these things. And I implore you once again to post any solutions or workarounds you might have for this problem. I have been known to be slow catching on.

Just ask heathenx.

ps. The music in the intro was a song called “Should Be” by Arthur Yoria off of his Handshake Smiles album. You can find his stuff (which is great) over at Magnatune.com (which is great too!)

by Richard Querin

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In this screencast I will try to simulate fabric stitching in Inkscape v0.46.

The idea for this screencast came from the amazing Photoshop tutorial website PSHERO.com. I don’t use Photoshop but many of their tutorials can be adapted to Inkscape. Be sure to check out their other brilliant tutorials as well. Thank-you PSHERO.

Moreover, there are many websites that offer free textures. Checkout CGTextures.com. The two textures that I used for this tutorial can be downloaded below:

ep071_textures.tar.gz.

by heathenx

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In this screencast I will demonstrate how to make an openSUSE 11.0 case badge using that particular distribution’s current color theme. I will use Inkscape 0.46.

by heathenx

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In this episode I demonstrate a way of creating airline safety card style illustrations in Inkscape v0.46 using a bitmap image as a starting point.

I’ve been a fan of this sort of illustration for a while now. If you’re a Top Gear Magazine reader, you’ll find their ‘Survival Guide’ pieces use this type of illustration to great effect. I think it’s a neat way of creating a simple and attractive illustration. In many ways this is very much like Nicu’s post on HowTo Create a Hackergotchi. This is not so detailed, and covers action shots rather than faces I guess.

In true RQ tradition, I utilize the most basic of tools for this, the venerable Bezier tool along with Stroke and Fill and a couple quick path things. Very basic, but fun. Hope you enjoy it.

by Richard Querin

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In this episode I will show you how to make halftones in Inkscape v0.46.

I used istarlome’s diviantART tutorial in order to learn how to make halftones. Also, Ryan Lerch posted a link to a Sidux tutorial on tiled clones as well. I thank all three of them for teaching me so that I could teach you.

by heathenx

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In this episode I take a look at a semi-current development release of Inkscape to show off some of the new Spiro capabilities. Spiro is NOT included in the latest v0.46 stable release. I used Inkscape SVN Revision 19338.

Please review Andy Fitzsimon’s recent blog post on Spiro as well.

by heathenx

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In this screencast I will demonstrate Live Path Effects or LPE in Inkscape v0.46.

Please review Tav’s guide on LPE. You’ll walk away with a thorough understanding as usual.

by heathenx

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This screencast demonstrates a fairly easy way of creating LCD digits from scratch. It also demonstrates the use of grids and grid snapping to make drawing objects of a defined size easier.

I recorded the intro to this one about a week ago. During the week I got involved in a couple of forum discussions involving grids and snapping (which I had never used before btw). So you’ll notice that while the main screencast uses grids and grid snapping to create the digit, the intro at the beginning does not.

See, you can teach an old dog new tricks. Woof Woof!

ps. Astute viewers might also notice that this might be the first time I’ve done two of these episodes in a row. Does that mean I can now wait 2 months before doing my next one??

by Richard Querin

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This screencast demonstrates a couple of ways that you can easily use objects in Inkscape to mask out parts of a bitmap image. This idea came from an email from David Hernandez, a viewer who pointed us to this post which demonstrated a grid masking effect using Photoshop.

Granted, I haven’t tried the Photoshop tutorial, I get the feeling that like many other (but not all) things involving the creative use of bitmaps, Inkscape can sometimes be more effective. But hey, I’m biased.

by Richard Querin

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In this episode I’m going to take a look at how to create a custom pattern and add it to our default patterns document so that I can use it in future projects. I’ll be using Inkscape v0.46.

Please review fellow Inkscape user Rob Antonishen’s blog for a thorough custom pattern tutorial as well.  Rob fills in all the stuff that I forgot to mention when I plowed through my screencast at hyper speed. Also, he has some other tips on his website that I know many of you will find useful. Rob is pretty active on the Inkscape-User mailing list so if you are a subscriber then I’m sure you have already caught some of his posts. Thanks Rob.

by heathenx

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In this episode I will demonstrate how to manipulate a raster image by applying a perspective effect with the help of Imagemagick and then using that in my vector project. I will be using Inkscape v0.46.

You will need to download and install Imagemagick for your operating system, if you don’t already have it, in order to use the terminal command that I demonstrate in the tutorial. If you are using a Debian based distro, such as, Ubuntu then it’s as simple as a “sudo apt-get install imagemagick” in a terminal. Binaries are also available for Windows and Mac users.

You may visit imagemagick.org for a closer look at this small but powerful package. For specific information regarding the the perspective distort then cruise over to this link.

by heathenx

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In this tutorial I create a semi-realistic 3D recycle bin using Inkscape 0.46. This screencast demonstrates how the use of very simple objects along with subtle gradients and blurs can achieve realistic looking objects.

I’ve been mulling over this one for quite a while thinking it was too simple and boring. But I thought, what the heck. It might be of interest to someone out there.

I’ve also been playing around with my new Flip Video camera and decided to try something for the 45 second intro at the beginning.

I hope you find this one useful.

by Richard Querin

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In this tutorial I’m going to have a look at a bit of node sculpting to simulate a live envelope effect in Inkscape 0.46.

Check out this YouTube link to see where the inspiration for this screencast came from.

Thank-you Don Waters and Richard Querin for providing insight into this nifty effect.

by heathenx

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In this screencast I will demonstrate a quick method for masking objects on a textured background in Inkscape v0.46.

by heathenx

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In this screencast I take an initial look at the new filter effects in the recently released Inkscape 0.46. I demonstrate three effects: Drop shadows, Embossing, and Turbulence. There are many things that you can achieve with filters so play around with them and see what you come up with.

Please reference these two web sites for further reader on the effects that I used.

by heathenx

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In this screencast, I demonstrate a fairly quick way of creating a corner page curl. I then show one way of putting a photo onto this page. This screencast was done with Inkscape 0.46, although I didn’t use any of the new features in 0.46 for this one. I’m still trying to catch up!

by Richard Querin

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In this screencast I will demonstrate how to make small web badges for your web page to promote of your favorite project. I’ll be using Inkscape v0.45

by heathenx

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In this tutorial I will demonstrate how to illustrate a very simple RSS icon in Inkscape v0.45.

by heathenx

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In this screencast, I demonstrate a slotted corner scrapbooking effect. I also demonstrate a simple embossed text technique as well as a general image clipping technique. All this fun was done using Inkscape 0.45.

by Richard Querin

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In this screencast I will demonstrate how to make a simple abstract wallpaper emphasizing gradients in Inkscape v0.45.

by heathenx

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In this screencast I demonstrate a pretty quick and simple way of creating a keypad for use in illustrating a piece of equipment. I used Inkscape 0.45 for this tutorial.

by Richard Querin

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In this screencast I will illustrate a rather “old school” looking monitor in Inkscape v0.45.

by heathenx

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In this screencast I will demonstrate how to make a sunburst and apply it to a logo in Inkscape 0.45.

by heathenx

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In this screencast I will explain how to make a custom header image with the new Firefox add-on called Personas. I’ll be using Inkscape 0.45.

by heathenx

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In this screencast I will demonstrate how to draw a clock in Inkscape v0.45.

by heathenx

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In this screencast I will demonstrate how to make non-traditional dogtags with a custom logo in Inkscape v0.45.

by heathenx

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This screencast demonstrates a quick method of creating a series of overlapping snapshots out of a single image using Inkscape 0.45.

by Richard Querin

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In this screencast I will demonstrate how to add a little pizazz to your project with a sparkle effect. I will be using Inkscape v0.45.

by heathenx

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In this tutorial I will walk through the layer options in Inkscape version v0.45.

by heathenx

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In this tutorial I will demonstrate how to make pin buttons in Inkscape v0.45.

The idea for this tutorial originated from psdtuts.com. Please check it out.

by heathenx

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In this tutorial I will demonstrate how to make bullet holes in Inkscape v0.45.

by heathenx

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In this screencast I will demonstrate how to make three-dimensional text with the interpolate effect in Inkscape v0.45.

by heathenx

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Continuing with my Halloween theme of tutorials, in this screencast i will demonstrate how to make dripping blood text in Inkscape v0.45.

by heathenx

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In this tutorial I will illustrate how to make an alien looking skull with flames that could be used for an avatar or logo in Inkscape v0.45

by heathenx

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In this tutorial I will illustrate how to make Halloween pumpkin clip-art in Inkscape v0.45

by heathenx

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In this tutorial I will illustrate how to make a DVD software box in Inkscape v0.45

by heathenx

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In this tutorial I will illustrate how to make rain drops on a raster image in Inkscape v0.45

by heathenx

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This Inkscape screencast demonstrates a method of creating realistic reflections using masks including those of objects in perspective.

by Richard Querin

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In this tutorial I will demonstrate how to make a circular array or pattern in Inkscape v0.45.

Also, check out the supplemental video, ep034-1, for another way to manually array objects.

by heathenx

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In this tutorial I will demonstrate how to remove a background texture from a raster image and replace it with a different texture in Inkscape v0.45.

by heathenx

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This screencast demonstrates one way of creating a shattered glass effect for an image or photo using Inkscape 0.45.

by Richard Querin

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In this tutorial I will demonstrate how to make a basic animation, with the help of swftools, in Inkscape v0.45.

by heathenx

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In this tutorial I will demonstrate how to create chrome text in Inkscape v0.45.

by heathenx

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In this tutorial I will demonstrate how to create your own custom color palette in Inkscape v0.45.

by heathenx

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In this tutorial I will illustrate how to draw a ribbon over logo text in Inkscape v0.45.

by heathenx

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In this tutorial I will illustrate how to draw playing cards in Inkscape v0.45.

by heathenx

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This screencast uses gradients and shadows to create a pseudo-3D device graphic (hard drive box etc.) using Inkscape.

by Richard Querin

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