Introduction To Inkscape
Contents |
About This Course
NOTE: This page is under heavy construction and will be updated from January 8 - mid February 2010 - watch this space. :)
This course is aimed towards middle-school students. It spans a total of 8 40-minute sessions. Extra optional activities are provided on a per-lesson basis.
The theme of the course involves Blanchard Records, Inc. It's a young record label and they've just signed a deal with a hot new band. They think this is going to be their big break, so they want to make a big splash - and it's time to release a new album and kick off a worldwide tour.
There's just one small problem. The band doesn't even have a logo yet!
Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to create a logo for this new band, along with the artwork for the new album, a design for their worldwide concert tour poster, and their tour T-shirt.
You'll learn how to do this using the free graphics program Inkscape, in a 8-session course at Blanchard Middle School. At the end of the course you'll even get your own tour shirt, designed by you, to wear!
Course Materials
Lesson Plans
Session 1
Worksheets
- Show example artworks produced in Inkscape.
- What is Inkscape?
- Bitmap graphics vs. vector graphics
- Inkscape basics bootcamp:
- Panning the canvas
- Using the scroll bars
- Using Ctrl+Arrows
- Zooming in and out
- Using the zoom tool
- Using + and -
- Creating objects
- Overview of the toolbox
- Selecting Objects
- Click
- Shift + Click (multiple objects at once)
- Mouse lassoing (multiple objects at once)
- Moving objects
- Drag with mouse
- Arrow keys
- Arrow keys + shift for longer distances
- Copy / Paste / Duplicate / Cut objects
- Scaling and rotating objects
- Click modal scale / rotate control selection
- Rotating in even increments using control
- Maintaining aspect ratio
- Flipping Objects
- H for horizontal
- V for vertical
- Grouping and ungrouping items
- Arranging items in the stack.
- Saving Files
- Panning the canvas
- Undo/Redo
Exercises
- Create a circle.
- Make a circle with perfect aspect ratio.
- Make a circle that is not a perfect circle - squish it.
- Make 5 copies of your squashed circle, all the same size, and arrange them in a row.
- Make your 5 squashed circles start from small to big. You make scale down the first four, scale up the last four, or use any of the techniques you've been shown to accomplish this.
- Create a rectangle.
- Create a rectangle that is a perfect square.
- Create a long rectangle that is not a perfect square.
- Make 5 copies of your rectangle, all the same size.
- Rotate each of the 5 copies of your rectangle circularly to make a start or flower out of your rectangles.
- Group all of the rectangles of your flower together. Ungroup them and pull them apart. Undo and rebuild the flower. Group them again.
- Save your file. Copy it onto a USB stick and share it with a classmate.
- Bonus: Create a star. Play around with the star object to create fun effects. Try making a star with 20 points. Try making a star with really rounded points.
- Apply this to your schoolwork: These simple shapes you've learned today are a great foundation for creating diagrams to explain how things work or illustrate a concept. The next time you need to write an essay or paper for a class, consider using Inkscape to create a diagram to help drive home your message.
Session 2
Worksheets
- Pen tool - creating paths and shapes from scratch.
- Inspirational images using techniques reviewed today
- Shapes and paths - circles, squares, stars, spirals, strokes, fill shapes
- Path arithmetic - combining paths in mathematical ways to create interesting shapes
- Union
- Difference
- Cut Path
- Breaking Paths Apart and reconstructing them
- Strokes and paths - convert a stroke to a path. Drawing freehand strokes, convert to path, and combine them with shapes.
- Introduction to path nodes - selecting and moving path nodes. (More next session!)
Exercises
- I'm going to ask you to pick your favorite image from a set of images I'll provide. Import your chosen image into Inkscape and trace around its outline, creating a full path.
- 1991 Steinberger Sceptre electric guitar - by tawalker on Flickr, CC-BY 2.0 license
- 2003 Faith Saturn electro-acoustic guitar - by tawalker on Flickr, CC-BY 2.0 license
- Fat Daddy - Lead Singer - by Tobyotter on Flickr, CC-BY 2.0 license
- Singer - by Flo_and_me on Flickr, CC-BY 2.0
- 梁詠琪(a singer) - by macromike on Flickr, CC-BY-SA 2.0
- Singer - Close Up Portrait - by jdn on Flickr, CC-BY-SA 2.0
- Roland TD-6KW Drum Set - by Matti Mattila on Flickr, CC-BY 2.0
- My second drum set, tuned - by Matti Mattila on Flickr, CC-BY 2.0
- Create 'Space Invaders' characters using path arithmetic.
- Bonus Create an interesting shape and use the brush stamp method to paint a composition using it.
Session 3
Worksheets
- Inspirational images using techniques reviewed today
- More on path nodes - node handles, node connecting lines, node arithmetic
- Working with type - fonts, sizes, weights
- Converting type to paths
- Reviewing path arithmetic and nodes with paths converted from type
- Path tweak tool - applying it to type
Exercises
- Maybe you're already in a band, or have a favorite band, or have a cool name for one. What kind of music do they play? What instruments do they use? What are their songs about? Who's in the band? What kind of feel does the band's music have? (Loud, fast, slow, powerful, laid-back) Create a type composition that reflects your music group's musical style, personality, and message.
- Bonus Create a type composition of your name that reflects your personality.
- Bonus Download a famous brand logo of your choosing, and convert it to vectors. Modify it for comedic effect - for example, instead of 'Coca Cola', 'Rock 'n Rolla.'
- Apply this to your schoolwork: Being able to work with type is a very useful skill. The next time you put together a story in your language arts class, consider creating an attractive title page using the type techniques you've learned today.
Session 4
Worksheets
- Lesson 4 Worksheet
- Lesson 4 Assignment
- Inkscape How To Download and Install Sheet
- Inspirational images using techniques reviewed today
- Fills, strokes, gradients, stroke styles - manipulate these to customize the look of your composition
- Special effects using blur and opacity - create glassy/glossy textures and drop shadows.
Exercises
- Create a little character to represent yourself out of circles.
- Use Tatica's approach shown in: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_G0pQjfqfGM
- Take your music group name type composition from last session's exercise, and give it an 'iPod' style glossiness with drop shadows.
- Bonus Take your type composition from last session's exercise and give it a glowing neon, burning fire, or cold steel metal look.
Session 5
Resources
- Lesson 5 Sheet
- Band Name Suggestions
- T-Shirt Size Signup Sheet
- Class Calendar and Deadlines
- Sample T-Shirt Design
- Inspirational images using techniques reviewed today
- Licensing considerations and introduction to public domain and the Creative Commons - potentially play the White Stripes Creative Commons video.
- Introduction to openclipart.org - finding artwork and downloading it.
Exercises
- Think about a design you'd like for a promotion for your music group from earlier sessions. Find a piece of clip art that might help on openclipart.org, download the SVG vectors, and open it in Inkscape. Remix the artwork using the techniques you've learned so far so it could suitable for your band's album.
- Bonus Share your creation as a remix of the original artwork with a classmate, and in trade take a clipart remix from a classmate that they share with you, and remix it further.
- Apply this to your schoolwork: Openclipart.org is a great resource for freely available artwork under the public domain. The next time you need to provide illustrations for a school project, consider using some images from openclipart.org - modifying them if you need to using the techniques you've learned so far.
Session 6
Resources
- Inspirational images using techniques reviewed today
- Image resolution and pixels
- Image formats: GIF vs JPG vs PNG vs SVG
- Working with the canvas and exporting artwork
- Bitmap tracing
Exercises
- Find a Creative Commons Attribution or Creative Commons Attributions ShareAlike image of a music group that fits your vision for your music group from earlier exercises. Design a poster for an upcoming appearance of the music group. You may use an Inkscape template to figure out how big your design should be. Remember to include a graphic element, the name of your band, the date and time of their performance, and the location.
- Bonus Explore the templates that are available in Inkscape. There are templates for icons, various poster sizes, business cards, CD and DVD covers. Pick one that appeals to you and fill it in.
Session 7
Resources
- Inspirational images using techniques reviewed today
Exercises
- Design a logo for a band of your choosing, fictional or real. Be sure to make good use of the techniques you've learned thus far, and feel free to make use of Public Domain and Creative Commons imagery (but be sure to cite the images you use!) Think about the kind of message you want the band's logo to express about that band, and experiment with how the different techniques you've been taught can be use to express that.
- Bonus Come up with a name for this band's album. Design a logo for the album's name that complements the band's logo.
Session 8
- Inspirational images using techniques reviewed today
- Discussion of printing techniques - ink jet, laser, and screen printing. Maybe bring in a screen printing device for demonstration. Show before & afters of various CD cover & disc artwork created in Inkscape and final printed product.
Exercises
- Design an album cover for your band, using the logo (and optional album name logo if you came up with one.) You can use the Inkscape CD cover template to start. Again, as in the last session's exercise, be sure to make good use of the techniques you've learned thus far, and feel free to make use of Public Domain and Creative Commons imagery.
- Bonus Design an disc image for your band's album. I'll provide you with a template for this.
Session 9
- Inspirational images using techniques reviewed today
- Discussion of screen printing T-shirts and associated costs, showing before & afters of various T-shirt Inkscape designs and the actual screen printed T-shirts.
Exercises
- Design a T-shirt for the front of your band's latest tour to promote their album. I'll provide you with a template. As before, feel free to make full usage of the techniques you've learn and any public domain and Creative Commons assets you can find.
- Bonus Design the back of your band's T-shirt. What cities have they visited? What was the tour's theme?
Post-Class
- Bonus Convert bitmap photo to vector artwork to produce an Andy Warhol-style composition. Ungroup your vector trace and move, scale, and rotate the pieces of the trace in order to create your composition.
- Bonus Take a photo of family or friends and convert it to vectors, manipulating it to make an screen-print style poster design (like the Obama 'Hope' posters.)
