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253 of 365 is a giraffe made out of text by John LeMasney via 365sketches.org #typography #design #inkscape #tutorial #cc

253 of 365 is a giraffe made out of text by John LeMasney via 365sketches.org #typography #design #inkscape #tutorial #cc
253 of 365 is a giraffe made out of text by John LeMasney via 365sketches.org #typography #design #inkscape #tutorial #cc
253 of 365 is a giraffe made out of text by John LeMasney via 365sketches.org #typography #design #inkscape #tutorial #cc
253 of 365 is a giraffe made out of text by John LeMasney via 365sketches.org #typography #design #inkscape #tutorial #cc

So my libland friend Julie asked me to sketch her a giraffe, and I do just about anything Julie asks. In this case, I did the following to fulfill her request:

  1. I found a silhouette of a giraffe and imported it into Inkscape.
  2. I lowered the opacity on the giraffe so that I could see text as I placed it on top.
  3. I added the letters in the word giraffe one at a time with the text tool
  4. I selected (s) each of the letters and made them into paths (shift-ctrl-c)
  5. Using the node tool (n) I stretched each of the letters into the shape of the silhouette until the letters were representative of the silhouette of the giraffe.
  6. The silhouette was set aside, and I then created a background for the scene.

Try it out with your favorite animal, and let me know how it turns out! Hope you liked it Julie!

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By lemsy

John LeMasney (lemsy) is an artist, graphic designer, and technology creative. He is located in beautiful Nelson County, VA, but works remotely with ease. Contact him at: lemasney@gmail.com to discuss your next creative project.

10 replies on “253 of 365 is a giraffe made out of text by John LeMasney via 365sketches.org #typography #design #inkscape #tutorial #cc”

Dude,
I’ve got two words for you, Benjamin . . . children’s book! Start with “A is for Aadvark,” and you’ve got yourself a best seller. Remember who suggested it to you when you’re on Oprah and she gives you a car.

That’s a great idea, Tim! In fact, any time I’m at a loss for an idea, I’m going to consider this my fallback plan. 🙂 When Oprah gives me the car, I’ll make sure you at least get some of the cash equivalent.

I’ve used a different method when doing this type of graphic. I tried using the text tool, converting, and nudging as you did, but found it too slow. Instead I just free-handed all the letters with the pen tool (yes, still mostly using Illustrator I fear) to match the shape of the animal/object underneath it.

Of course the end result is the same. 🙂

Yeah, I like starting with a font as a framework in the same way I like starting with an animal silhouette as a framework. With this project, starting from scratch is equivalent to a nonstarter, though I’m sure you get a more original result. All my animal sketches tend to begin with Helvetica Bold 🙂

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