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Can you suggest great pen tool tutorials?
Can anyone suggest some good tutorials for mastering the pen tool? I am working my way through some basic tutorials I have seen posted here, but wondered if there are any out there that really focus heavily on using the pen. That's the tool that is really getting me. I'm more of a classically trained artist, and the way this tool work doesn't yet line up with how my brain works (or I suppose I should say the latter). Handles, cusps, etc. - still Greek to me. I know I need lot's of practice. I'm assuming that many of the wonderful works I see on this board such as portraits and the like employ that tool a good bit. I know I'm not ready for anything as advanced as a portrait yet though, I've only been using this software for a few days or so. Thanks!
Re: Can you suggest great pen tool tutorials?
Read this http://www.microugly.com/inkscape-quickguide/ to get you started and start playing around until you get the hang of it.
Then check out places like http://screencasters.heathenx.org/ and Youtube for some tutorials
Then check out places like http://screencasters.heathenx.org/ and Youtube for some tutorials
Re: Can you suggest great pen tool tutorials?
You could also download c-quel's excellent vector here viewtopic.php?f=5&t=4194 open it in Inkscape, and break it apart to give you an idea of what can be acieved with the bezier tool.
Re: Can you suggest great pen tool tutorials?
Yayz, I got a mention! ^___^v
Waaaaaaaaaay back in my ancient tutorial, I had a small section dedicated to the Pen/Len/Bezier tool and how to use it since its probably my second-most widely used tool in the Inkscape arsenal. ^__~
http://pigux.com/deviant/InkscapeTutorial.pdf
Granted the rest of the tutorial is woefully outdated, but that might be of some small help. ^^
But more than just tutorials, I think what you need right now is a philosophy. In that case,... *puts on beard* ...here's a little word of wisdom you can keep at heart as you explore the perilous yet exciting world of vector graphics....
You're not in Kansas anymore.... ^____^
True that the pencil tool
,calligraphy tool 
and Fill tool 
help you transition from the world of raster where you had to translate what's on your mind onto the digital canvas almost instantly (in which case layers are a godsend for people who change their mind often). And indeed they have their purposes.
But the Pen tool, just like the Edit, Rectangle, Circle, Star and all the other true vector tools, is there to help assemble your artwork.
Say you lay down your big lump of clay ( a circle
), you take your hands (edit tool 
), and start molding and demolding at a fairly leisurely pace into the desired shape, say an apple. You add some red colored dyes (red Fill color, but NOT from the Fill Tool) and maybe take another piece of clay to form the leaf (pen tool 
), position it on top to get the right shape and angle (move, size and rotate 
), and then give that a green dye (green Fill color, but again NOT from the Fill Tool which does something different).
That's a good quick analogy for vector art. ^___^
But how about a more hands-on example?
Attached I've included my classic "Snowman" example.
On the left is a "raster-style" snowmen drawn with nothing but the Calligraphy , Pencil and Fill tools,... and a whole bunch of layers, just like in GIMP/Photoshop.
And on the right I did the same snowman "Vector-style", utilizing only Circles , Rectangles, 
, very sparing use of the Pen tool , the Text tool 
, and of course the Move and Edit tools for careful adjustments if they're not perfect on the first go around. No fancy Boolean operations, Clipping or Masking was used, although I did use my trusty CTRL+D (duplicate command) to get this done in half the time. And all this on just ONE layer, using PgUp and PgDown to reposition the objects as necessary.
Oh, and as one final caveat, BOTH were drawn ONLY with a mouse. Try not to laugh at my horrendous mouse drawing skills, but it helps prove a point anyway.
So there you have it... one drawing with two different drawing styles -- and despite the fact that the vector one is smaller, lighter, neater looking and faster to produce, it's also inadequate for certain applications. You wouldn't want this thing hanging in the Louvre, you know, and just like that there's a place for raster as well as vector graphics.
Waaaaaaaaaay back in my ancient tutorial, I had a small section dedicated to the Pen/Len/Bezier tool and how to use it since its probably my second-most widely used tool in the Inkscape arsenal. ^__~
http://pigux.com/deviant/InkscapeTutorial.pdf
Granted the rest of the tutorial is woefully outdated, but that might be of some small help. ^^
But more than just tutorials, I think what you need right now is a philosophy. In that case,... *puts on beard* ...here's a little word of wisdom you can keep at heart as you explore the perilous yet exciting world of vector graphics....
"Raster is to painting as Vector is to sculpting."
You're not in Kansas anymore.... ^____^
True that the pencil tool
,calligraphy tool and Fill tool help you transition from the world of raster where you had to translate what's on your mind onto the digital canvas almost instantly (in which case layers are a godsend for people who change their mind often). And indeed they have their purposes.But the Pen tool, just like the Edit, Rectangle, Circle, Star and all the other true vector tools, is there to help assemble your artwork.
Say you lay down your big lump of clay ( a circle
), you take your hands (edit tool ), and start molding and demolding at a fairly leisurely pace into the desired shape, say an apple. You add some red colored dyes (red Fill color, but NOT from the Fill Tool) and maybe take another piece of clay to form the leaf (pen tool ), position it on top to get the right shape and angle (move, size and rotate ), and then give that a green dye (green Fill color, but again NOT from the Fill Tool which does something different).That's a good quick analogy for vector art. ^___^
But how about a more hands-on example?
Attached I've included my classic "Snowman" example.
On the left is a "raster-style" snowmen drawn with nothing but the Calligraphy
, Pencil and Fill tools,... and a whole bunch of layers, just like in GIMP/Photoshop. And on the right I did the same snowman "Vector-style", utilizing only Circles
, Rectangles, , very sparing use of the Pen tool , the Text tool , and of course the Move and Edit tools for careful adjustments if they're not perfect on the first go around. No fancy Boolean operations, Clipping or Masking was used, although I did use my trusty CTRL+D (duplicate command) to get this done in half the time. And all this on just ONE layer, using PgUp and PgDown to reposition the objects as necessary.Oh, and as one final caveat, BOTH were drawn ONLY with a mouse. Try not to laugh at my horrendous mouse drawing skills, but it helps prove a point anyway.
So there you have it... one drawing with two different drawing styles -- and despite the fact that the vector one is smaller, lighter, neater looking and faster to produce, it's also inadequate for certain applications. You wouldn't want this thing hanging in the Louvre, you know, and just like that there's a place for raster as well as vector graphics.
- Attachments
-
- snowman.svg
- Raster-style and Vector-style Snowmen
- (145.99 KiB) Downloaded 190 times
Re: Can you suggest great pen tool tutorials?
Wow! These all look great! And c-quel, thanks for the indepth response! I have lots to play with over the weekend! You have me curious now, as a newbie, I just assumed that the pen tool would be the most widely used tool, but you rank it as second. What should be first? Thanks again everyone!!!
Re: Can you suggest great pen tool tutorials?
hehe! Well that would be the Edit Tool , my good friend. ^___~
If vectors are all about nodes, than naturally the tool to manipulate said nodes is king! Not only will the edit tool help you reposition Pen, Pencil and Calligraphy lines not drawn well on the first going, and not only will it help you create or reposition bezier curves (essential for smooth, shapely graphics), but it can also convert any objects that don't have nodes (e.g., circles, squares, stars, text) into objects with nodes (aka, "paths").
[course, you can also do this from the Path menu too]
If the Pen Tool is your clay, the Edit Tool is your finger, and I can tell you now that a clay sculpture will look pretty crappy unless you use your fingers. 
, my good friend. ^___~If vectors are all about nodes, than naturally the tool to manipulate said nodes is king! Not only will the edit tool help you reposition Pen, Pencil and Calligraphy lines not drawn well on the first going, and not only will it help you create or reposition bezier curves (essential for smooth, shapely graphics), but it can also convert any objects that don't have nodes (e.g., circles, squares, stars, text) into objects with nodes (aka, "paths").
[course, you can also do this from the Path menu too]
If the Pen Tool
is your clay, the Edit Tool is your finger, and I can tell you now that a clay sculpture will look pretty crappy unless you use your fingers. Re: Can you suggest great pen tool tutorials?
Oh, and see the problem with using Inkscape too long is that you take certain essential things for granted. ^___^
Let's say the Edit Tool is your right hand, and the Selector is your left hand. Just like how you would use both hands while sculpting (one to hold, the other to craft), both tools in Inkscape form a symbiotic relationship of utility. They are inseparable, and just with the two alone I was able to turn one single tiny white circle into 85% of the snowman's body. 
Let's say the Edit Tool
is your right hand, and the Selector is your left hand. Just like how you would use both hands while sculpting (one to hold, the other to craft), both tools in Inkscape form a symbiotic relationship of utility. They are inseparable, and just with the two alone I was able to turn one single tiny white circle into 85% of the snowman's body.