Hey stranger! Good to see you

Yes, I can see where this technique allows for both multiple use in the same document, as well as flexibility. You could even make a document template with these word balloons built in.

Instead of changing the stroke thickness, since Inkscape 0.92, one can also change the drawing order of stroke and fill.

Here's a mostly visual version, using Duplicate Selected rather than "option-drag" (which doesn't exactly exist in Win)*.



*While dragging selected objects, tapping the spacebar will drop copies onto the canvas, so holding down the left mouse on selected objects before dragging and tapping the spacebar will leave a copy in the original postion, much like an option-drag".

Heya Brynn! Glad to see you're still posting away!

I downloaded the new Inkscape 0.92.1 and noticed six new icons under the Stroke style tab (fill and stroke). One of these nifty new little buttons thinned the outer stroke. At first glance it reminded me of this technique of creating a word balloon. Wondering how many folks who use Inkscape as their graphics tool, I decided to post this here, hoping it will help.

Thanks to you too, Tyler, for the graphical representation! May I ask what software you use to get it from a screen capture to GIF file?

Hi Bob, I use Sharex.

BobSongs, that's exactly what I suggested Those buttons are for determining the order in which stroke, fill and markers will be drawn.

Moini wrote:BobSongs, that's exactly what I suggested Those buttons are for determining the order in which stroke, fill and markers will be drawn.

Nice suggestion! And they couldn't have been added too soon. The ability to order the components within an object is a welcome change.

Edit: However, the idea behind the tutorial is to create a dual circle/shape system that leaves a layer between both objects. This middle layer contains the word balloon "tail". The top circle/shape has no border allowing the "tail" to move anywhere within the group of objects, within reason, and appear to be "joined" to the main balloon.

To produce this almost magical effect requires that the top circle/shape/object have no border while the duplicate 2 layers beneath has a double-sized border. Combined, this duo reduces the border to the correct/desired thickness while allowing the "tail" mobility between the circles/shapes/objects.

Previous to my learning this method, I would simply
1. create a balloon around the designated text.
2. create the tail.
3. select both objects and do Ctrl + +.

The obvious weakness to this workflow: any change in text requires a complete reworking of the balloon.

The ComiCraft method allows the artist to lock down the text/tail layers, select both balloons (heavily bordered and non-bordered), resize the balloons simultaneously (with the border/stroke Affect options switched off, of course), then resize the tail and shift its position. Done.

It's all about workflow.