Tag: Tutorial

When I was in poetry classes in college, I was always very interested in symbols of life, such as roads, rivers, paths and the like. It made an impact on the way that I self-examine — I’ll look at whether I feel like my road, surroundings, and speed are all just right, or if maybe I’m going a little too fast, I’m a bit too sleepy, or if I’m talking on the phone instead of paying attention to the road. So to speak. 😉 At any rate, this is a quick sketch that is hopeful, wishful thinking about life’s path. Even with curves like these, which life always seems to throw at us, the ride can be fun, if it’s relatively smooth, not jarring, without potholes, and so on.

In Inkscape to make this sign,

1. using the rectangle tool, create a square and make it yellowish orange.
2. rotate it 45 degrees to a diamond position.
3. Using the rectangle tool’s curved corner handle, adjust the corners to round like a road sign.
4. Duplicate the sign, and convert it to a path using ctrl-shift-c
5. use path/inset path to shrink the shape into the inside of the first shape.
6. set the outer stroke to black, and set the fill to none.
7. Using the ellipse tool, add bolts to your sign.
8. Using the rectangle tool, create a pole for your sign, and decorate it as you wish.
9. Add your message using the text tool.
10. Make a background that reflects your message.

I hope you enjoyed it!

John.