Eye Draw It

Inkscape Eagle

Written By: eyedrawit - Oct• 22•12


My wonderful hubby surprised me by making an awesome Mission Style picture frame. I’m working on an Inkscape drawing to put into it. What do you think about this?

If you haven’t already done so, Download Inkscape and give it a try. Inkscape is a great free (and open source) drawing program and there are a lot of wonderful tutorials online that can get you started if you are not familiar with Vector drawing programs. I have a few tutorials on this site, including this simple tutorial to help you learn how to use Inkscape if you are brand new to it.

Happy drawing!

Laurianne

 

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Somewhat Uninspired Inkscape Vector Art

Written By: eyedrawit - Oct• 09•12

Sometimes I get stuck… in a rut … totally uninspired. I used to think I was the only creative person that felt this way. When it happens, I feel like my ability to create in any aspect of my life is on hold. Oh how I hate when that happens. I find great joy in creating and so the inability to do so makes me feel…. well….. stuck.

Guess what! I have learned that it’s normal to feel this way, and may actually be part of the creative process. It seems that all artist types go through periods of “stuckness”. :) I am so encouraged to discover this. Beyond this discovery, I think I’ve found something that may help me pull myself through these periods of creative drought.

Julia Cameron poses an interesting question. “Are you willing to make bad art?” Strange question? It’s not really so strange if you think about it. If I am “willing to make bad art”, I will learn, grow, and perhaps surprise myself with a great piece of work. Instead of waiting to feel inspired I now have a new mantra…. “Be brave enough to make bad art”!

While practicing my new mantra the past couple days, I came up with a little fun art for our home. I used some of my older Inkscape vectors that I had filed away. If you’d like to have a free SVG of a Vintage Fishing Lure, help yourself. A link to my Scarecrow SVG can be found here.

Happy drawing.

Laurianne

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Inkscape Extensions ~ How to Jitter Nodes

Written By: eyedrawit - Sep• 24•12

Inkscape has some pretty cool filters and extensions. One that I use quite frequently is the “Jitter Nodes” extension. In the sunset illustration here, notice the outline of the sun. You’ll see that it is not smooth. Take a look at this tutorial for how to add and jitter nodes.

I’ll mention one other technique I used in the picture. Take a look at my little guy in the kayak. I wanted to give the impression that the sun was sort of highlighting the outline of his silhouette. To do this I simply chose a light color for the stroke and then used the gradient tool, setting the top portion of the stroke at 100% and the bottom portion 0% opacity. Then, I again used the gradient tool … this time on the fill, decreasing the opacity toward the back of the kayak to suggest a bit of mist or fog coming off the water.

I have a couple of tutorials you might like if you want to practice using gradients in Inkscape.

Happy drawing.

Laurianne

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Learning GIMP

Written By: eyedrawit - Sep• 18•12

I like learning new stuff. But sometimes I get lazy and don’t want to put forth the effort it takes. So when I hear my son’s mantra of, “Mom, you really need to learn GIMP“, I usually just smile, nod, and continue on in my comfortable Inkscape world. After all, I’ve viewed a few online GIMP tutorials, including some You Tube videos, and frankly I wasn’t all that excited.

Being a lover of all things arts and crafty, photography is another interest of mine. I treated myself to my first DSLR last year. I have enjoyed playing with my Nikon D3100 and think I get some pretty cool photos, but honestly I have learned little beyond the camera’s auto settings.

Well… I’ve stumbled across a website that I think is going to help me with expanding my photography knowledge.  Kat over at Pare and Focus has an awesome knack for explaining all of that confusing photography technology in language that makes sense to me. And guess what! She also has authored an eBook for GIMP!

Yes siree Bob…  I’ve finally found something that actually makes me excited about learning GIMP!  In fact I downloaded the book last night and have already learned quite a bit. (Hehe…. my son is going to be so proud.) I’m starting to get a grasp on how the tools work and I think I’m going to like it! If you want to learn more about GIMP go to gimp.org or check out the GIMP book Before and After.

Stay tuned. I hope to learn some new things to share with you!

Happy drawing…. and happy learning!

Laurianne

 

 

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Using Inkscape, Cuttlebug, and Silhouette to Create a Card

Written By: eyedrawit - Sep• 07•12

These CAS-ual Fridays gals have inspired me to create another card! For this week’s card challenge I designed in Inkscape, and used both my Cuttlebug and Silhouette. I like the looks of text inside of text and found it easy to accomplish in Inkscape. I used a pen in my Silhouette to draw the text on white presentation paper. However, I think if I do it again, I’ll use a little heavier card stock. The green piece was embossed with the Cuttlebug. The branch and bird were drawn using Inkscape and cut out of leftover programs from my daughter’s wedding. I tried cutting the leaves out as well, but decided they were too small. So, I used a pen in my Silhouette.

The rick-rack bow was an afterthought. Actually…. I put it there to cover a mistake. ;) The ink from the wedding program that I cut the branch from bled when I glued it and made a bit of a mess on the white background. I wasn’t about to start over…. so the bow. I think I like it!

Happy drawing!

Laurianne

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