I've been trying to get used with Inkscape I need help with two little things. If I can get help with you masters.

1. I've made a cloud and then got it duplicate, now I need the second cloud to look squashed under load but all I can do is resize it and move it. I need only the top part to get resized (I hope am making sense)
2. I've made a speaker I need to trim off abstractly the lower portion of it (just a little bit) I tried using the eraser but it erases the whole speaker.
3. Are there any AutoShapes in Inkscape? they would make life easier. I've to even draw music notes manually

Hope I'm making sense. Please forgive me if it sounds confusing.

1. I've made a cloud and then got it duplicate, now I need the second cloud to look squashed under load but all I can do is resize it and move it. I need only the top part to get resized (I hope am making sense)
2. I've made a speaker I need to trim off abstractly the lower portion of it (just a little bit) I tried using the eraser but it erases the whole speaker.

It sounds like you need to learn about the node editing options in Inkscape. http://tavmjong.free.fr/INKSCAPE/MANUAL ... iting-Node

1) Specifically for the cloud editing use or the tweek tool . When using the tweek tool, I think you should select the "push path in any direction" mode ( it looks like a curve), increase the width of the tool and drag it to squash the top of the cloud. http://tavmjong.free.fr/INKSCAPE/MANUAL ... Paths.html

2) For the speaker, you can either use the node tool (:tool_node:) to select the object and delete the nodes from the part you dont want to keep. Alternatively you can create a big rectangle over the parts you do want to keep and use it as a clip-path (select the rectangle and the speaker object then go object->clip->set

3. Are there any AutoShapes in Inkscape? they would make life easier. I've to even draw music notes manually

3)Apart from the ones on the left hand side ( ), No. However there is an online clip-art library that has svg shapes that you can use: http://www.openclipart.org/search/?query=music+note (just download the shapes you want and drag+drop or copy them into your document.

wow thanks Tom that helped alot

For music notes, you might consider using a font (you should be able to find a free one somewhere on the internet), Character Map (windows), or maybe even Glyphs (Inkscape). You could (one way or another) create a kind of stock of notes, if you use them often. Then you wouldn't have to draw them every time.