Hi All,

I'm a traditional artist and not a digital one. I'm thinking of using graphics programs and I dediced to use Inkscape for now as I'm still a newbie I dont want to spend money on Illustrator. However, as I was collection information about various vector programs I noticed that Inkscape drawings don't have so much appeal as Illustrator drawings have. Is it really the lack of capabilities of the program or the user of the program?

PS : Pardon me am not here to create any kind of tension. I just want to understand the program without jumping on conclusions.

Welcome to InkscapeForum!

Oh my goodness! No, I think you must not have seen very good representations of what Inkscape can do. You can check out these galleries: http://wiki.inkscape.org/wiki/index.php/Galleries. You can also see some good stuff in our Finished Inkscape Work forum. Also you can search DeviantArt for Inkscape, and see just all kinds of excellent work.

Inkscape is every bit as capable of the same quality of work as any other graphics program, raster or vector. But you must keep in mind the differences between raster and vector graphics http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vector_graphics. It means that there is a different approach to accomplish most things. However, if you have never used any computer graphics program, you won't have to "re-learn". That's how I started with Inkscape. Besides piddling with GIMP (a raster graphics program) a little bit, I knew next to nothing. But I can tell you that I've had a blast learning....and I'm not even an artist, lol!

I just thought of a couple of guys whose work with Inkscape I want you to look at. They do some of the best work I've seen with Inkscape. And as I said, there are many, many, countless others too. Have a look at this topic: viewtopic.php?f=8&t=9424. And also this one: viewtopic.php?f=8&t=3187

Omg, DillerKind's work are awesome. But I dont think such high level inking is possible without a Tablet?!..

Inkscape is a brush, just like Illustrator is a brush and the computer is the canvas. It's up to the artist on how they're utilized. This Inkscape work might be visually unappealing, but that's on purpose: http://loadus.deviantart.com/art/Gemini ... -181088048

You can still do your drawings in the traditional way, scan it in, and trace it and recompose it + recolor it. Add textures or highlights etc, only your creativity sets the limits.

A lot of artists, especially sketch artists do use a tablet with Inkscape. But as far as I understand, the only thing a tablet can do that a mouse can't do (with Inkscape) is pressure sensitivity. I'm not sure if Dillerkind uses a tablet or not?

Loadus wrote:Inkscape is a brush, just like Illustrator is a brush and the computer is the canvas. It's up to the artist on how they're utilized. This Inkscape work might be visually unappealing, but that's on purpose: http://loadus.deviantart.com/art/Gemini ... -181088048

You can still do your drawings in the traditional way, scan it in, and trace it and recompose it + recolor it. Add textures or highlights etc, only your creativity sets the limits.

yes thats a good idea about scanning, only problem is I've to use my office scanner

BobSongs wrote:

Off topic:

A friend of mine (who uses a Wacom tablet for graphic art) put it this way: "Creating art with a mouse is like trying to paint the Mona Lisa with a brick."

A mouse is certainly useful in some cases. But the key is understanding how artists use the pen. The pointer's appearance on the screen is relative to the tablet: lift the pen and place it top left of the tablet and that's where the mouse appears on the screen. Press the pen to the tablet and slide it along to the bottom right and the pointer moves across the screen in like manner.

Most mouse users know the drill when there's not a lot of desk space: click and drag, lift up from desk, restore to original position and drag again, all without lifting the finger from the mouse button. That's just one clumsy aspect that's eliminated with a tablet.

It took me about a week to "get" this very different use of the pen. After installing the tablet my only thoughts for a week were: "Why did I buy this thing??" Then at some point it just clicked. I no longer looked at the tablet as I shifted the pen. It become second nature.

wow thats an awesome explanation, thanks mate

brynn wrote:A lot of artists, especially sketch artists do use a tablet with Inkscape. But as far as I understand, the only thing a tablet can do that a mouse can't do (with Inkscape) is pressure sensitivity. I'm not sure if Dillerkind uses a tablet or not?

I need to ask him, thanks for the reply

Ah, Brynn's too kind with his link to The Greys - if you did follow it I suggest jumping to the last page as our artwork has improved considerably over the years as we've become more comfortable with Inkscape. I don't think the early images in the thread really support Brynn's argument much

There is some incredible Inkscape artwork out there - certainly pieces that put our little aliens to shame. From a creative perspective I'd say that the biggest limitation of Inkscape is also its biggest strength: the SVG file format. This imposes a practical limit on what features Inkscape can support, whereas Adobe are free to add whatever they want to Illustrator's proprietary format. For example Inkscape only supports linear and radial gradients, because that's all that SVG defines. Variable line thickness is faked using Inkscape's Live Path Effects, or by drawing a "line" as a closed path instead. I'm sure there are many other limitations, but those are the ones that most affect me - though the work that's going on to define SVG 2.0 will hopefully address some of the more obvious omissions.

In practical terms, although I own a tablet, I don't use it with Inkscape. I'm not a natural artist, so being able to draw freehand is of little use to me. I work with primitive objects then convert them to paths and sculpt them to the shapes I want. With The Greys we have deliberately gone for a very vectorised style which fits in well with this sort of workflow.

We've just embarked on a new comic, "Monsters, Inked", which is being printed in our local newspaper (not a lot to see online yet, though). This is hand-drawn by my more artistically talented colleague. We then scan it, and trace, colour and letter it in Inkscape. Whereas "The Greys" is an exercise in creating images from scratch using Inkscape, "Monsters, Inked" is more about using Inkscape as part of a more traditional workflow. Tracing a hand-drawn strip results in lots of nodes and a result that is less straightforward to tweak and manipulate, but does give a very different aesthetic.

If you want to use hand-drawn artwork as a starting point, even a cheap and nasty scanner is up to the task, as you can clean up the resultant bitmap before importing into Inkscape, or just get rid of erroneous nodes after tracing.

FYI, in another thread Dillerkind says he does NOT use a tablet.

Just some other links to show its all about the skill of the artist, not just the tool:
http://hrum.deviantart.com/art/a-Car-41457161 & http://hrum.deviantart.com/art/car-41456206
http://maddrum.deviantart.com/art/Tea-49410000
http://maddrum.deviantart.com/#/dtz5ix
http://maddrum.deviantart.com/#/d28c1sq
http://happyline.deviantart.com/gallery ... 48#/dz6ht9
http://happyline.deviantart.com/art/jos ... d-85817528