To create smooth transitions from light to shadow we'll use gradients and for more complex cases we'll combine them with Gaussian blur. Now that we are done with base shapes, let's go for three-dimentionality. The application provides hints about using them in the status bar, so it's easy to learn them. As a matter of fact there's a lot of such combinations in Inkscape. And of course you still can use the good old Ctrl+Alt+Click combination using Selector tool. This really has made looking for a particular path a lot easier in cases when there's a lot of them on canvas already or when they are grouped or when they are covered by other objects. Inkscape 0.47 features path outline highlight upon hovering it with Node tool. For 'nose' I used Bezier curves, and the same tool was used to finish the bucket after performing union of parts of ellipses via 'Paths > Union'. Here I started drawing snow balls and eyes from ellipses, then I used arcs of ellipses to create bottom and top edge of the bucket. Usually I just draw a curved line and then bend it, refine nodes placement and change their type (cusp, smooth etc.). More complex shapes should rather be drawn with Pen (Bezier curve tool). However, if you want your drawing to look more vivid, it's better to outline a shape ( Ctrl+Shift+C) and bend it. Inkscape has specific tools to create graphic elements like ellipses, rectangles, stars and polylines. I'm going to show you how to use this great application to create 3D looking images and I'll use my snowman postcard as an example.įor a start let's create very basic shapes and play with them. Its main file format is SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics, a W3C standard recommended for publishing vector graphics on the Web).

The application can be run on Linux, Windows and Mac and it's freely distributable along with source code. Inkscape is a relatively young yet fast evolving generic vector graphics editor in the lines of Adobe Illustrator and Corel DRAW. With this Inkscape tutorial you will learn to draw a 3D looking snowman, but ultimately you will get a grasp of creating shadows and reflections the right way.

Inkscape gradient around entire object