3. Thinning/thickening of paths with Alt

Even with background tracing, the visible lightness/darkness of
a hatching may not correspond too well to your artistic
intention. Also, with guide tracking, the ends of strokes are
often far from ideal - they may be too blunt or have unsightly
bends or blobs. This is where the new thinning/thickening
function is indispensable.

While in the Calligraphy tool, press Alt. You will see a
orange-colored circle indicating the area that will be affected;
this area is 10 times the size of the pen when you draw (so you
can change it by changing the Width parameter on the
toolbar). Now select some or all of the paths (as with most
tools in Inkscape, only selected objects are changed), for
example by pressing Ctrl+A, and start '''Alt+dragging''' over
the paths. Where you touch them, paths become thinner, as if
melting away, up until total disappearance. Conversely,
'''Shift+Alt+dragging''' makes selected paths thicker in places
where you touch them.