Inkscape for Beginners Bicycle Icon Video Lecture - Inkscape Design Tutorial

this is Nick with logos by Nick comm and
in today's tutorial I'll be showing you
how to create this very simple bicycle
graphic using Inkscape and at any point
in this tutorial you could look down at
the bottom left hand left hand side of
my screen to see which mouse clicks and
keystrokes I'm using so we'll minimize
this and get started here at Inkscape
the first thing I'm going to do is set
the view to custom
I've been zoom in at 1 to 1 and then I'm
going to open up the align and
distribute menu and we're going to want
last selecting chosen from that
drop-down and then we'll open up the
Edit objects colors gradients and Stroke
menu with that button so the first thing
I'm going to do is create a circle I'm
going to grab the circles and ellipses
tool and hold ctrl and shift in the
keyboard and click and drag to create a
perfectly round circle like that then
I'll bring the opacity down about in
half
I'll come up here to the select tool and
I'm going to turn on the lock icon and
where it says W for the width whatever
that number is just erase the all of
that and type in 200 we want to make
that 200 by 200 pixels and then I'll
right click that and go to duplicate
I'll turn that red and I'll change the
width of this to 170 hit enter I'll
click and drag over both of those and
I'm going to Center them on the vertical
and horizontal axis and then we'll go to
path difference and what I'm going to do
now is this is going to represent a
wheel the back wheel here so what I'm
going to do now is I'm going to turn on
I'm going to put an outline going around
this otherwise known as a stroke
hold shift in the keyboard and click on
the color black right here and then I'll
click on the X a let go of shift and
then click on the X to get rid of the
fill color and I'll bring the opacity up
and there's our outlined bicycle tire
and the next thing I'm going to do is
create a another circle so let's come
back to the circles and ellipses tool
and I'll hold ctrl and shift and click
and drag to create a circle we want this
one to be considerably bigger than then
the circle that we just drew and then
let's come over here to the select we'll
actually forgot something
let's come back to this and let's go
over to the stroke style tab and we want
to make sure that the width of this is
set to seven you want that to be a seven
pixel stroke and after that come up here
to where it says effect and make sure
you have this first button turned off
when scaling objects scale the stroke
width by the same proportion you don't
want that on we want that uncheck that
turned off like that now we could take
this circle and again just make sure you
have this set to this circle set to a
seven-point stroke as well now once you
do that just hold shift and click on the
other pair of circles and we'll Center
that on the vertical and horizontal axis
and then click off of it deselect so we
can select just this other circle that
we just created hold ctrl and shift and
scale it in like that maybe about that
much maybe a little put a little more
padding in there that's pretty good and
then I'm going to create a square so
we'll come over to the squares and
rectangles tool and I'm going to hold
ctrl and shift in the keyboard and just
click and drag to create a big square
like that I'll come over to the Select
tool click on this a second time to get
the rotation handles hold ctrl on the
keyboard and just click and drag this
around so the corners are going up right
like that and then I'm going to take
this and put this I'd say right about
here you know what I'll put that there
I'm going to hold shift and I'll click
on this object and I'll Center that on
the vertical axis and then align the
bottom edges and then what I'm going to
do now is I'm going to click and drag
over that whole thing to duplicate to
select it all and then we'll right-click
it and go to duplicate and then hold
ctrl on the keyboard and click and drag
this off to the right then we're going
to take this square right here and then
hold shift and click on this outer
stroke right there that outer outline
that outer circle and we'll go to path
cut path that we can click off of that
deselect and we can take this bottom
piece of the circle and just press
Delete on the keyboard to get rid of
that and there we have it's kind of like
a I guess it's called a mud guard or a
rain guard or something like that that
sits over the wheel of a bicycle we're
going to do the same thing to this to
this tire as well only it's going to be
positioned
so we'll take this square click on it
and then click on it a second time to
get back to the rotation handles and
hold ctrl in the keyboard we'll rotate
this back around so it's sitting upright
like that what I'm going to do now is
I'm going to come up here to where it
says snap the custom nodes I'm going to
turn that on and I'm going to turn on
this box that says snap from into an
item's rotation Center and turn that on
as well then we're going to grab this
box near the bottom right corner and
we're going to snap the bottom right
corner into the center of that circle
and that's what that tool does that
snaps objects to the center point of an
object so I want to snap it right to the
center point that's pretty good
and then we'll hold shift in the
keyboard and click on this outer circle
right there and again we'll go to path
cut path click off of it to deselect we
could take this little object and just
press Delete on the keyboard to get rid
of that so we have our two wheels here
the next step would be to create some
spokes to put in here so let's go to the
bezzie a pen you just click beyond you
could also press B on the keyboard to
get back and I'm going to zoom in on
this wheel a little bit I'm going to
press plus in the keyboard a few times
to zoom in and you can move the page
around like this by pressing down your
mouse wheel and moving the mouse I'm
going to put this up here and click and
hold ctrl and bring that line straight
down to the bottom part and then click
and press ENTER to create a line like
that and I'm going to make the width of
this four pixels so change that to 4 and
I'll press actually I'll go back to the
Select tool and I'll take this object to
put it out to the side and I'll press 1
on the keyboard to zoom out so what I'm
going to do is I'm going to take this
object and I'm going to click on it a
second time to get the rotation handles
and I'm going to hold ctrl on the
keyboard and grab one of these corner
arrows and you can see we could rotate
it around like this so what we're going
to do is we're going to rotate it back
to the upright position like this and
then press the spacebar and that's going
to make a copy and we can make more
copies and you could just rotate this
around pressing the spacebar and making
copies so once we made the first copy
I'm going to bring this over on a
rotated two steps
we're holding ctrl and left click the
whole time so I'm going to rotate it two
steps one two press the spacebar and
then we're going to do this all
around so one two space bar is another
is another and as another just like that
we click and drag over the whole thing
group that together and then hold shift
in the keyboard and click on the tire
Center that on the vertical and
horizontal axis and then click off of it
to deselect and we'll take this those
spokes that we just created right click
that go to duplicate hold shift in the
keyboard and click on the on the other
tire Center that on the vertical and
horizontal axis and then we can click
off of that to deselect we can go over
to the circles and ellipses tool and I'm
just going to hold ctrl and shift and
create another circle and we're going to
come over here to the stroke style tab
and change this back to 7 well press 7
go to go back to the Select tool hold
shift in the keyboard and click on the
tire right here and Center that on the
vertical and horizontal axis and click
off of it to deselect then we can take
this circle right here and we could turn
this we can turn the fill color white
and then just hold ctrl and shift and
scale it down about that much and then
we could right-click that go to
duplicate and hold shift click on this
tire center that on the vertical and
horizontal axis click off then to
deselect everything so we have the two
tires and the wheels and the spokes in
the mudguards right here the next thing
we're going to create is the frame of
the bicycle so to do that I'm going to
grab the squares tool squares and
rectangles
I'll hold ctrl and shift and click and
drag to create a square about that big
let me go back to the Select tool you
can't see can't really tell maybe if I
drag it over this object you can see
there's a white fill in here we're going
to get rid of that white fill by
clicking on the X right here and then
we're going to take this bottom corner
bottom left corner and snap it to the
center point of the tire right there
just like that and then we'll convert
this to a path by going to path object
to path and I'm going to go to the Edit
path by nodes tool click and drag over
these two top rows of nodes and I'll
hold ctrl in the keyboard and just click
and drag these down
so right about where they're above the
the the rain guard there and then I'm
going to hold ctrl and drag these over
to the right maybe about that much
that's pretty good just like that and
then we can go back to the Select tool
I'm going to take this circle right here
in the middle of that tire and just
raise that to the top so it's going
above the frame this button right here
raise selected object to the top and
then let's press let's go back to our
Bezier a pen we can press B on the
keyboard to get that and let's snap the
cursor on to this corner and click and
then snap it on to that corner and click
then press ENTER on the keyboard to
create that line we're going to make the
width of this seven just like the rest
of the graphic we'll give this a rounded
around to join and a rounded cap we'll
go back to the Select tool and I'm going
to hold ctrl and grab this top left
arrow of that line and just click and
drag that up maybe about that much and
then we can right click that and go to
duplicate and then hold ctrl on the
keyboard and just click and drag this
over to about here right about there
right about right before the corner of
the frame there and we can right click
that and go to duplicate and then hold
shift in the keyboard and click on the
frame so we have it both selected and go
to path cut path and then click off of
it to deselect and we could take this
object and just press Delete on the
keyboard to get rid of that and then we
could take our wheel right here let's
click and drag over that entire thing
and let's grab it right here in the
center and put it let's snap it to the
snap the center point to the end of this
line that we just created click off of
that to deselect we'll take this line
we'll raise that to the actually know
we'll take this circle right here and
raise that to the top so that's going
above the fork right there the fork of
the bicycle click off at the deselect
and let's create a seat and a handle for
this thing so I'm going to zoom in by
pressing plus in the keyboard a few
times and I'll press B on the keyboard
you get the bezzie a pen I'm going to
snap to this corner right here and click
and then hold control and just bring
this out to the right maybe about that
much and click then we get press enter I
can change the width of this the stroke
style we've changed that back to 7 give
it a round to join in a rounded cap and
I'll go to the select tool and I'm just
going to hold ctrl and shift this over
to the left a little bit maybe about
that much and then we can come over here
to the handlebars we're to create some
handlebars actually and again I'm just
pressing down the mouse wheel and moving
the mouse to move the page over we'll
grab we'll press B on the keyboard to
get the Bezier a pen will snap to this
off will snap to this corner right here
and click hold ctrl and bring this line
out to about here and then click and
then while still holding ctrl click and
drag it down to about there and then
click and then just press ENTER on the
keyboard to create that line and again
we'll change this to a seven-point
stroke we'll give it a rounded cap and
around to join and let's go over to the
edit pads by nodes tool and let's grab
this portion of the line right here and
just pull that out a little bit like
that and once we've done that we can
click on this node and you'll see these
handles pull out and what we want to do
is grab that handle and just pull it out
straight to the right just hold control
so it's locked
to go horizontally pull it out about
that much and we'll do the same thing to
this handle hold ctrl and pull it out
about about the same distance go back to
the Select tool let's press 1 on the
keyboard to zoom back out click off of
it deselect let me see what else see
what else I'm missing here all right so
we're going to create the the chain
wheel there so let's go back to the
circles and ellipses tool and actually
you know what we don't have to do that
let's go to the Select tool and we could
take this object and we could just
duplicate that we can right click that
and go to duplicate and we can grab this
and snap it onto this corner right there
and just hold ctrl and shift it will
make that one a little bigger maybe
about that much and I'm going to zoom in
by pressing plus in the keyboard and
we're going to create the pedals you see
here I got pedals going up and down
there I'll press B on the keyboard to
get the back to the Bezier a pen
I'll snap to the center right there and
click hold control bring this line
straight down and click and press enter
and I'm going to make the width of this
seven rounded cap and round to join go
back to the Select tool we'll
right-click this go to duplicate we're
going to rotate this around 90 degrees
clockwise or counter clockwise either
one hold shift click on the the other
line we just drew and we're going to
align the bottom edges and click off the
DES elect I'm going to the edit pads by
nodes tool will click on this object
hold ctrl and just click and drag this
in a little bit and again hold ctrl
click and drag that in a little bit I'll
go back to the Select tool and again I'm
just going to hold shift and click on
this line just to make sure that it's
still centered up on the vertical axis
and then we could actually we can group
that together and then we could right
click that and go to duplicate and then
flip that vertically and snap the object
onto the center point right there but
then lower that down one step lower
selection one step click that a couple
of times so it goes beneath the circle
right there we press 1 on the keyboard
to zoom out let me see what else so I'm
going to put these little lines
underneath the tires here just to make
it look like it's riding on a surface or
something and this should be pretty easy
we'll just press B on the keyboard for
the Bezier pen click hold ctrl bring the
line straight out about that much click
press Enter we're going to use our
preset size of seven rounded cap and
join I'll go to the select tool and I'm
going to hold shift and click on the
tire and make sure the bottom edges are
aligned click off of it to deselect and
again we'll take this one we'll right
click that and go to duplicate hold
control bring this over about that much
I'll go to the edit pads by nodes tool
and just hold ctrl and bring this node
in a little bit and I'll go back to the
Select tool and I'll right-click this
and go to duplicate and hold ctrl and
bring this over about that much and then
we'll go back to the Edit path by nodes
tool and
hold control and take this note and just
bring that over to the right about that
much and there there you have it we can
just click and drag over the whole thing
and group it together if you notice if
you go to scale it down I'm going to
hold ctrl and shift if you go to scale
it down like that it's going to make the
lines a lot thicker but if you scale it
up it's going to make the lines a lot
thinner if you want to lock everything
in at this size we can go and just turn
this back on when scaling objects scale
the stroke width by saying proportions
we can just turn that back on and it
will lock the stroke at whatever size it
is and we could scale it up and down
without any kind of distortion so that's
how you can create that using Inkscape
if you have any questions let me know
and as always thank you for watching