Here you go. Some different things I did since last time (post) include: simplifying paths (ctrl-L) on some of the more visible hair strands. The simplify function helps take out the natural shakiness using the stylus on the tablet. Instead of using many layers for nose and face, I used the same layer for the face shading and the nose. The nose is after all just a protrusion of the facial skin right? I still don't like the hair that much.. I either need to go thinner for each strand or maybe add a .1 blur effect. Right now it seems too thick and sharp. My favorite parts of this one are the lips and nose because they look really good no matter how far you zoom in.



I appreciate any comments and criticism. I plan to keep using Inkscape to do more photo-realism so if you see any way to make my technique better (especially with the hair) please say.

I used http://amethystdreams1987.deviantart.com/art/Suburban-3-147574765 as a reference.
Please visit my deviantart account for more of my work.

on some of the strands that stick out the most you could try using a tapering 'pattern on path' object to have the hair end in a point. if you are using IS.47 that is..
the modeling on the face is superb!

druban wrote:on some of the strands that stick out the most you could try using a tapering 'pattern on path' object to have the hair end in a point. if you are using IS.47 that is..
the modeling on the face is superb!

I have tried using pattern on path to make hair before and it really doesn't work well at all. Do you know if there is a way to taper the calligraphy paths?

That's really great work!

I think the edges of the face could be sharpened up a bit though

snel wrote:I have tried using pattern on path to make hair before and it really doesn't work well at all. Do you know if there is a way to taper the calligraphy paths?

Well, pattern on path is the way i usually go to get tapered ends ... Are you using the pencil? check bezier (not spiro) set smoothing to 50 or so and pick a triangle profile or make your own: I like a combination rectangle +triangle profile for hair.The biggest problem is matching the stroke width and zoom to your drawing.
using the bezier pen is not as quick or intuitive.
if this doesn't work for you and you have a drawing tablet you could try using the calli tool.
there are two ways to get tapered ends. you can use the 'thinning' button with any drawing tool, pen or mouse. this responds to the speed of your stroke and makes the line thinner. the other way is to use the pressure sensitivity button. My tablet does not communicate with inkscape when it comes to pressure so I can only conjecture how well this might work for you. overall the calli tool generates many more nodes in the same distance than the pattern profile tools, so be warned.

And one last unrelated tip: you might consider masking the whole contour with a shape that fades to transparent on the edges so as to soften the effect of the hair ends. you might be able to achieve very precise strand by strand softening without actually drawing a lot of lines.

druban wrote:

snel wrote:I have tried using pattern on path to make hair before and it really doesn't work well at all. Do you know if there is a way to taper the calligraphy paths?

Well, pattern on path is the way i usually go to get tapered ends ... Are you using the pencil? check bezier (not spiro) set smoothing to 50 or so and pick a triangle profile or make your own: I like a combination rectangle +triangle profile for hair.The biggest problem is matching the stroke width and zoom to your drawing.
using the bezier pen is not as quick or intuitive.
if this doesn't work for you and you have a drawing tablet you could try using the calli tool.
there are two ways to get tapered ends. you can use the 'thinning' button with any drawing tool, pen or mouse. this responds to the speed of your stroke and makes the line thinner. the other way is to use the pressure sensitivity button. My tablet does not communicate with inkscape when it comes to pressure so I can only conjecture how well this might work for you. overall the calli tool generates many more nodes in the same distance than the pattern profile tools, so be warned.

And one last unrelated tip: you might consider masking the whole contour with a shape that fades to transparent on the edges so as to soften the effect of the hair ends. you might be able to achieve very precise strand by strand softening without actually drawing a lot of lines.

I currently use my tablet with the calligraphy tool. I was wondering if the calligraphy tool could have tapered ends. By turning the cap setting all the way up to 5.0 you can achieve a very small taper. I have tried the thinning setting, but really trying to get your hand to move quicker only at the end of the strand is quite difficult. Usually my hand slows near the end of the strand before I stop the stylus. I have tried a tutorial using pattern on path for hair (as discussed in my last thread), but as I mentioned before, that method does not give enough control over color and strand placement/direction. Since I have a tablet it is most beneficial to just do each strand by hand. It is interesting to me that the developers put a limit of 5 on the cap setting of the calligraphy tool. If the cap setting could go higher I think it would work really well for tapered hair ends. I like your idea of using another shape to fade the hair strands out, it seems like this could produce pretty good results with not much work.

hellocatfood wrote:That's really great work!

I think the edges of the face could be sharpened up a bit though

Yeah I was kind of torn because I didn't want a noticeable line from the face to the neck skin, but I definitely agree that the left edge of her face is too blurry. Thank you for your comment.

Nice! (: But you have to work more. Try adding more details.

But you have to work more. Try adding more details.

Work MORE? It's not lacking in details for me, that's for sure!

Another "OMG!" from me!
I just wanted to comment that the hair strands do look too wide for me, if they are meant to be single hairs. However, single hairs would probably not even show up in a photo. So I'm thinking they are really small kind of clumps of hair ("clumps" isn't the right word, but I can't find the right word). Anyway, the "pieces" of hair are probably....I'd say at least 5 to 10 single hairs' thickness. But in reality, most people's hair doesn't stick together for the full length, like it appears in your image. A flyaway piece of hair will probably only be all stuck together where it's closer to the rest of the head of hair, and flying apart towards the ends. If it's someone with curly hair (like me), a flyaway piece or clump will come together at more than one place along the length of the piece or clump, and be kind of splayed out in between. But for straight hair like your subject, it would probably only be splayed out once, and almost always for some distance from the end (depending how windy it is) and almost always together towards the scalp -- so that each clump/piece is really like a very elongated triange, or maybe diamond, rather than like a line or elongated rectangle.

All of these comments are about the hair that flies across her face, the forehead and cheek. Sadly, I don't have any suggestions for technique. I think your technique is probably fine, and maybe just needs more refinement. I think the rest of the hair looks fantastic (it's not being affected by the wind as much, and so it's much more clumped together).

Anyway, just my thoughts about the hair
Another great effort, snel

Hi again.
I just happened across this, and thought I'd post in case you haven't seen it.
http://inkscape.org/screenshots/gallery ... ealism.png