So this is a pretty common effect, but it’s easy to master, and works beautifully in Inkscape. Thanks again to the crew on Monday night at Princeton Public Library who came for the fourth installment in the Inkscape Workshop series. To make this image above, do the following:
- Using the ellipse tool, create a circle and make it red.
- Select and duplicate (ctrl-d) the red circle, make it gray, and send it beneath the first circle using “lower selection to bottom” button in the selection tool’s options bar.
- select and duplicate the red circle again, and make it white, then send it above the red circle using “raise selection to top” button in the selection tool’s options bar.
- Using the same method, duplicate the white circle and make it orange. Then, move the orange circle so that it’s bottom is at the white circle’s center.
- At this point, make all of the circles into paths by selecting all objects (ctrl-a) then making selected objects into paths (ctrl-shift-c).
- Select the white and orange circles, using shift-click.
- With those two circles selected, use the path/intersection operation. You will have a football shape in white remaining.
- With the football shape selected, perform three path/inset operations.
- Move the football shape over the red shape. move the gray shape a bit below the red shape.
- Using the fill and stroke dialog, apply a blur of 1 or 2 to the gray shape.
- Select the white football shape. Using the gradient tool, apply a full white to fully translucent white gradient to the white football shape by clicking and dragging the gradient tool from the middle top of the football shape to just below the football shape. You can play with the gradient to make it just right.
- For fun, create a yellow start with the star tool. Place it between the white football shape and the red circle using the raise/lower tools.
That’s it. You can apply the effect to almost any shape as long as you use the instructions set out here.
