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mandydax — Inkscape Vector Art Tutorial
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Published: 2011-11-04 13:01:07 +0000 UTC; Views: 52646; Favourites: 881; Downloads: 1206
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Description
Get Inkscape here: [link]Here's a tutorial on how to use Inkscape to make pony vectors! [link] is the final product of what I was demonstrating.
.txt file of the text in this tutorial here: [link]
Anyone who wants to translate can do so. Please leave a link in the comments and I'll add it here.
[link] (translated by )
SVG version of this tutorial is at [link]
Questions? Suggestions? Leave them in the comments here.
Hope it helps.
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Comments: 424
Ho do you draw ponies on inkscape?
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What do I do for the horn on hair that is a single color?
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Same thing, but you won't have a line already there. Another way is to create an object the same color as the hair in a layer above the horn that only covers up the part of the horn you don't want to see.
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This tutorial helped a lot, starting out. I used pretty much every technique you go over in this to finish my pouty Twilight image and then added my own variations to complete some of the other vectors I made.
After watching you make the Rainbow Dash Cuddle Pile, however... wow. It was like watching a magician at work, pulling tricks out of their hat. I'd love to learn some of the other tools and techniques you used in that video.
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You just need to click the eye symbol on the Background layer in the Layers dialog to make it invisible.
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Using layers, Click the eye. Then you won't see it. But, for it it to be gone for good, right click the Background and click "delete".
Hope it helped.
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OMIGOSH THAT HELPED ME SO MUCH THANK YOU!
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When I try to use the pen tool to draw lines around the object, it keeps changing into a square with dotted lines. What am I doing wrong?
Also, how do you make your dialogue boxes stack vertically like that? Mine keep stacking horizontally and taking up half the screen.
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I think I know what's going on. The square you're seeing is a selection box. It probably just means that the object you just drew is invisible for some reason.
Check the Fill and Stroke dialogue to make sure you have a fill and/or a stroke color selected and that they are not the same as whatever background you're drawing on. Also, make sure the alpha (A) for the color is not 0. There's also an Opacity slider below that, make sure that's not at 0. These both should be at 255 and 100% respectively most of the time when you're drawing. Also check the Stroke style tab there and make sure it's not 0.
If those are okay, check your Layers dialog. If the layer you're drawing in is below another layer with opaque objects in it, those objects will obscure the one you just drew. You can see the current layer alone by clicking the eye symbols next to the other layers so the eye is closed. That just makes them invisible. You can always turn them back on by opening the eyes.
I can't think of any other reasons, so I hope that fixed the problem.
As far as the dialog stacking, you have to grab the box by the title bar, "[icon]Layers (Shift+Ctrl+L) [arrow][X]" and drag it. You should be holding a rectangle. Just drag it onto the title bar of another dialog box and it should snap to the top part. Release and the box should be above the other one.
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Figured it out. The layer I was drawing on was below the reference. I had actually drawn the shape about three times. Ooops
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I always put the reference image in a top layer and then set its transparency to 40-50%. It works super well for backgrounds especially.
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Thank you! that helps so much with the fill colours, I made separate colour layers for everything before (such a time killer). But how would I go about filling something like a leg that isn't closed off on one end?
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The way I do that is to create an temporary object (usually just a single line) that closes off the end. Then fill the area and delete the line.
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also how long does it take on average to complete a vector?
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It depends on how complicated the subject matter is. Some of the backgrounds I have done have taken a good 5-6 hours. A pony usually takes 60-90 minutes for me unless there's something really complicated about it or I can't decide on some aspect. Speed comes with practice.
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thanks for answering my questions, it took me 2 hours just to make a pony's head and it still looks not right, but I shall practice and maybe one day I'll be able to do them as fast as you
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can you tell me how to delete the original image when you are done tracing
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You can either select it and hit delete or, if you put it in a separate layer, either turn off that layer or delete that layer from the Layers dialog
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:T I'm new to these vectors and since I got myself a Ponie I want to make Vectors of her XD
It's also my first time using this programm so i'm all lost and so confused :T
But I guess I need to practice more to get the hang of it c:
Thanks for the tutorial ^ ^
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Play around. Try things out. Practice does help.
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I have wanted to make a digital copy of my ponies, and this should help me. Looking forward to trying this on my hand-drawn art. Thank you!
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This was an awesome tutorial. Really came in handy with it being my first try at Inkscape. My first Inkscape drawing came out really well, even though it wasn't really a pony. xD
Take a look. [link]
Anyways, thanks for the tutorial. I look forward to coming back here for a while.
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That turned out really well.
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Thanks. The horn didn't want to come out pointy no matter what I did. But other that that, I thought it turned out really nice.
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Did you turn the miter limit all the way up to 100? That controls how sharp points can be before their strokes get truncated.
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No. No I did not. I should probably do that. Thanks ^^
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Which settings? Preferences are Shift+Ctrl+P. That lets you set a bunch of defaults for tools.
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Nice tutorial 
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You can use the stroke-to-path command and then edit them as paths (for noses and jawlines), or just draw them as a path (eyelashes).
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Yeah...I've got it as a path, like, just a line, but the end of the line is always either round or square. Is there any way of changing that to a point? Thanks for the reply, though
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Yes, but it's kind of hard to explain, and I haven't used it extensively. With the Pen tool selected, you can choose a Shape from the tool menu. Click here [link] and scroll down to just above the rhinoceros. If you draw a path with a Shape selected, it will create it stroke-only using the currently selected fill color. You can then edit the Shape used if you open the Live Path Effects Editor (Shift+Ctrl+7) and click the Current effect's Pattern source Edit on-canvas button. This shows you the invisible shape that the stroke is based on, and you can edit it like a normal path. (You may have to zoom out to locate it.) In 0.49, they're going to implement PowerStroke [link] , but it looks like they have at least one more bugfix release of 0.48 before that happens, so it might be a while. I hope it's sooner than later.
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Oh, okay. I see. Thanks! You've really helped a lot. Thanks for your time
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arrggghhh! I need help! Please reply immediately. I'm trying to make this Twilight vector following your tutorials steps but when I got to the path after deleting the rectangle by clicking f1 and then delete, I went to the section, 'stroke style' but it wouldn't let me click on Pen B or any of the pens. What did I do wrong?
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Sorry I'm so tardy answering this. I'm not sure what is happening, but if you mean that all the stuff on the Stroke style tab is greyed out, you may not have a stroke paint enabled on that object. With the path selected, try Shift-clicking on one of the colors in your palette, and that should enable it.
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Thanks, your tutorial was very helpful btw.
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Thanks, your tutorial was very helpful btw.
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...sorry, I had mistake on that last one...eyelashes were on wrong layer and didn't notice in my little moment of haste there XD. So this is the official first-try-at-vectoring by me XD [link]
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And by this point I got a full Trixie vector and an OC pony XD. I'm having too much fun with this stuff.
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And I have finally done a vector with this tutorial's help! [link] . Still gotta work a few things out while I try and do the rest of Trixie's body, but over all I don't think it's bad for a first try.
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I've never used Inkscape before, or been very good at artistic stuff in general. With this I was on my way to a half-decent looking Twilight Sparkle vector XD...then I forgot the important rule of "Save Often" and I got an error message and...yeah. But dang it I had some good looking hair and a horn when I was done! XD
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Yeah, I should add in how to get it to autosave. I have mine set for every 3 minutes, I think. I don't remember off the top of my head, but the info is here: [link]
Glad it turned out well, though.
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*Tutorial starts with Twilight going RTFM*
*was just handed the manual*
*...feels ashamed now* XD
But yeah, it was going great. A little lumpy so I need to practice more on smoothing things out, but better than not being able to do anything at all.
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The trick to curing lumpiness is to use smooth nodes and use them sparingly. A good rule is to use the fewest nodes you can get away with for a shape.
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Yeah, like I said, probably something I'll learn more as I practice more and get a better sense of how everything works.
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