Yes, Inkscape is primarily a vector based editor, but I use bitmap or raster based images in it all the time. Inkscape gives you the ability to work in a light way with bitmaps but makes it more difficult to paint into, alter, erase, etc. with bitmaps, unless you do a bitmap trace. In this case, I imported my image, and set it in layer one. Then I imported another image of some rust into layer 2, and set that layer to mode: darken, and brought the opacity down a bit. Finally, I imported the third image, a kind of tech looking checkerboard, and applied the same mode, darken, and lowered the opacity. This is one example of how the layers menu can be really useful in Inkscape, where it is essential inside photo manipulation apps like the GIMP.
A girl's face made of out text by John LeMasney via 365sketches.org #Inkscape #cc #typography #design
A girl’s face made of out text by John LeMasney via 365sketches.org #Inkscape #cc #typography #design
This was an in-workshop creation for the Inkscape series at Princeton Public Library. We went and found an image of a young woman on Inkscape, and then I showed how to use the pencil tool to use text as a brush in Inkscape. Here are the steps involved:
Import a picture with good contrast, of a highly recognizable face or other object. Contrast is key.
Using Path/bitmap trace, create a vectorized version of the image and discard or set aside the original photograph.
Choose a 50% gray for the bitmap traced vector in your palette and apply it.
Type three words using the text tool. I think it’s interesting to use words that represent your subject. For this girl, the attendees chose innocent, young, and pensive. Each piece of text should be about half the size of the earlier piece; Innocent is 100 pt, Young is 50 pt, and pensive is 25 pt, for instance.
For each string of text, separately, convert the text to path (shift-ctrl-c), ungroup the resulting paths (ctrl-u), then combine the paths into a single path (ctrl-k).
Select your first, largest word (now a path), and copy the path to the clipboard (ctrl-c)
select the pencil tool set to Spiro paths, 51% smoothing, and shape: from clipboard.
test your pencil to the side of your page. You should now be painting with text.
Now, working first with the largest piece of text, paint until you have covered the largest areas of gray in your image. You are essentially tracing and filling the image with the widest strokes first. Avoid the smaller areas as the large brush will be clumsy for that purpose.
Copy your next word (path) and move back to your pencil to fill in finer details, being aware of the limits of the amount of detail that you can fit in with this size brush.
Finally, copy the smallest word and use the pencil to fill in the finest details. When text covers all of the gray, you are finished your painting work.
Select the gray bitmap traced image and move it off of your page, as it is no longer needed.
Feel free to add a rectangle behind the image for background color, and to apply color to your text strokes you’ve applied. It helps to make the background a lighter color and the foreground marks you’ve made with the pencil a darker color. The more contrast, the better. In fact, black on white is a fine combination.
Extra points if you grab a fabulous color combination from colourlovers.com as the basis for your color scheme. I searched for the keyword innocent to find the palette I used in this sketch. Look for the preview image link on the palette page and download and import the image into Inkscape. Then select the part of the image you wish to apply the color to and use the dropper tool to apply the palette’s colors.
Special thanks to workshop attendees for their inspiration in creating this sketch, and to you for stopping by!
Weighted Companion Cube from Portal by John LeMasney via lemasney.com
Weighted Companion Cube from Portal by John LeMasney via lemasney.com
So my friend Robert has been trying to get me into gaming. He alerted me to the fact that the gaming platform called Steam was coming to Mac OS a few months back, and they offered a free game called Portal as an incentive to get you to download and install the engine. I loved the game, a mix of strategy, first person play, and a manipulation of the physical world that is just amazing. One mission from the game involves having to travel with a weighted companion cube throughout the level, and without giving too much away, you end up having to do something horrible to it at the end of the level. Since it’s just a bunch of metal, you needn’t care so much, but many do. Robert asked me to do a sketch based on my feelings about this event in the game. So, here’s my note of apology to the weighted companion cube, with an acceptable excuse, I hope. 🙂
Lightning outside the plane by John LeMasney via lemasney.com
Night flight storm
So, those of you who are friends of mine on Facebook (lemasney) saw a status after my recent night flight home from Orlando. I said that I had seen an amazing lightning storm outside of the plane from a distance and it has haunted me in a very good way ever since. The brilliant colors, bright lights, and bulbous clouds has a real impact on my imagination. We were far enough away that we were never in any danger, as far as I could tell. We were also close enough so that I could see the enormity of the storm. It was right on eye level and it was mesmerizing. I tried desperately three times to capture it on video or in a photo, but it just escaped my lens. It would never have matched my imagination anyway, which is why I love Inkscape. I’m able to make whatever I can see in my mind in the finest detail out of whole cloth. 🙂
This is a video that came out of the recent workshop series on Inkscape I’m giving. I was asked to demonstrate clipping and masking in Inkscape, and was not fully prepared to discuss the proper use of masking. I did my research and decided to put together a short overview to talk about it the way I could have in class if I had been a bit more prepared. Hope this helps!
So this is an answer to Erika Bredahl’s picture submission of her dog Yoda. After bitmap tracing the image a few times to get some various levels of shadow and detail, I overlapped the paths and colored them using the eyedropper tool and a vidcap of Yoda from ESB. I then used another vidcap of Yoda in the Swamp scene, took it into the GIMP and used the stamp tool to remove Yoda, then brought the resulting image into Inkscape and bitmap traced it, then gave it some blur.
‘Yoda (/ˈjoʊdə/) is a fictional character in the Star Wars universe, first appearing in the 1980 film The Empire Strikes Back. He is a small, green humanoid alien who is powerful with the Force. In his first appearance in the original trilogy, Yoda is described as the Jedi master of Obi-Wan Kenobi and subsequently trains Luke Skywalker to use the Force. The character reappears in Return of the Jedi where he reveals his age to be 900. Yoda has become iconic in popular culture due to his distinct pattern of speech and role as an old, wise mentor. In the prequel trilogy, set a generation before the original trilogy, Yoda is among the most powerful members of the Jedi Order and a general of clone troopers during the Clone Wars. He also trains all Jedi children, before they are assigned a Jedi master. Yoda appears again in the sequel trilogy, advising an older Luke and empowering Rey to face a revived Emperor Palpatine, along with other past Jedi.’
from “Yoda – Wikipedia” at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yoda curated by lemasney creative. Feel free to share.
