This was fun. I saw a 3d image as I was looking on recently, and thought I can do that in Inkscape! I took a dingbat font based fish and placed it in Inkscape on the canvas. I duplicated it twice and placed each slightly apart from one another. I used 3d glasses colors with transparency to set the tone for the 3d feel. I placed it on a slightly oxidized paper background. I added the text, played a bit with each letter’s relative kerning and spacing, and when I was happy with it, I duplicated it, and made a shadow of the duplicate. Hope you enjoyed it! If anyone has 3d glasses, let me know if it pops in the comments!
Crosshatch pattern by John LeMasney via lemasney.com
Crosshatch pattern by John LeMasney via lemasney.com
This is another example of the wonderful and new Spraypaint tool in Inkscape. I took a single stroke of the calligraphy tool, then used the spraypaint tool in order to create all of the other shapes you see just by swiping the mouse on the canvas. A truly powerful and simple to use tool.
I started making these calligraphic lines many years ago as a way of making shorthand notes on movement while watching a video of ballet. As the dancers turned and spun in the air, being thrown and jumping, I’d record the motion with a pen on a page.
It turned into a primary form of my mark-making ever since that first moment. I have thoroughly enjoyed moving from analog mark-making on paper and canvas to the digital canvas. Inkscape has been a beautiful analogue for that process. The things that I learned in one have definitely influenced the other, and I feel privileged to be among those who had a foot in each pool (digital and analog mark-making).
Using a digital canvas
I never get tired of making things glow, shine, have depth, reflect, or stand out in Inkscape. In this case, I took my Wacom tablet, and with the calligraphy tool, I made the key 3 marks you see. Then I duplicated, applied a yellow, and applied a blur to the duplicate, sending it behind the first marks. I added a deep red background, and to create some depth I made a pill shape and used the spray paint tool set to single path to create the texture.
What about you?
Have you ever practiced making marks on a page? Do you doodle in corners? How would you like to see the ways in which you could turn those marks into art using tools like Inkscape and the GIMP? Contact me at 6095539498, or john@lemasney.com to see how you could get started!
Cupcake illustration with orange sugar, vanilla and chocolate frosting, and a cherry on top cc-by lemasney
Cupcake illustration with orange sugar, vanilla and chocolate frosting, and a cherry on top cc-by lemasney
Cupcake Illustration
So today’s post was just about using a few different tools in Inkscape to create some interesting effects. First and foremost, I saw the stitch sub paths live path effect as a great way to create ridges of a cake cup and so it was. I made a shadow with a blurred ellipse. I used the calligraphy tool to create the cake and the icing. I used the dot tool feature of the pencil for the confetti sprinkles. I created the cherry with the ellipse tool and the node editor, and the stem with the Bezier tool. I added some highlights for the frosting with the calligraphy tool, then blurred them a bit.
I’m very proud of this sketch. It’s one that I feel succeeds in color, in tone, and in pictorial illustration, but beyond that I just kind of like it. It reminds me of what I love in the spring.
In Inkscape, I created the branch with the pencil tool and grouped the paths, and then duplicated the group twice, and rotated and blurred the duplicates. I made a single flower shape with the calligraphy tool, then duplicated, rotated and resized the original to create the rest. I then gave a blurry blush to each of them with the calligraphy tool.
Today is beautiful in central New Jersey. I hope it’s beautiful where you are too.
Jungle of vines and leaves by John LeMasney via lemasney.com
Jungle of vines and leaves by John LeMasney via lemasney.com
So here, I wanted to play some more with text and the pencil tool. I started by typing in the word Jungle, converting it to path, and sizing it up to be readable at 500px. Then I took the pencil tool, set as usual to shape: triangle in with spiro splines and 50% smoothing, and added vine-like shapes to the ends of each of the butts of the letterforms, to extend them. I performed a union on all of the letterforms and vine shapes, so that they all became one path, and cleaned up the joints between the letter ends and the vine beginnings. After I was satisfied with the shape, I set the color, duplicated it, and outset it twice, sending the outset path back and giving it a brighter green. I did this once again, making that outset path light yellow, with a slight blur for a glow effect.
Satisfied with the forms, I decided to create a leaf motif in the corner, which is simply an ellipse converted to path and shaped gently into a leaf form with the node tool. I added a vein to the leaf with the pencil tool using the same settings as above. I grouped those two paths into a single leaf and stem, then duplicated the leaf several more times. I created another full opacity leaf for the foreground, and many others in the background, altering the size and rotation to create a pile of leaves. I set the opacity of the background leaves to 40% or so, to let them fade into the background.
Design | Covert to Inkscape illustration software now
Inkscape Projects
