Inkscape Tutorial Download Icon with Long Shadows Video Lecture - Inkscape

this is Nick with logos by Nick comm and
in today's tutorial I'll be
demonstrating how to create this flat
style download button with a long shadow
using Inkscape and at any point in this
tutorial you could look down at the
bottom left hand side of my screen to
see which mouse clicks and keystrokes
I'm using so we'll minimize this and
we'll get started the first thing we'll
do in xscape is make sure this the view
is set to custom and then we'll zoom in
to 100% zoom 1 to 1 we'll open up our
align and distribute menu with this
button up top and we'll open up our edit
objects colors gradients and Stroke menu
with that button right there and from
this drop down make sure you have less
selected chosen the first thing we're
going to do is create a square so let's
come over to the squares rectangles tool
and hold ctrl and shift in the keyboard
and click and drag on the canvas to
create a perfect square like that we're
going to take this little handle up top
here and bring this down to give these
rounded corners like that that's pretty
good and then we could finalize that
just where it is by going to path object
the path and we'll take the opacity of
this and drop this down about in half
and then we'll go back to the Select
tool and I'm going to take this and just
put this to the side for now we're going
to come back to that shortly so the next
thing to do is create a circle so let's
come over to the circles and ellipses
tool and hold ctrl + shift on the
keyboard and click and drag on the
canvas to create a circle about that big
we'll go to the Select tool we'll right
click that and go to duplicate and hold
ctrl on the keyboard and click and drag
the circle to the right about that far
away and it will take this circle we'll
right click that go to duplicate and
we'll put this one up here between those
two circles and then I'm going to hold
ctrl and shift and pull this out to
enlarge that a little bit and I'm going
to click and drag over all three of
those circles and we're going to make
sure they're all evenly spaced apart by
coming down to the distribute panel and
clicking on this button that says make
horizontal gaps between objects equal
and they are now spaced out evenly so
let's click off of that to deselect
everything and let's zoom in over these
three circles by just press
plus in the keyboard a few times and you
can move your page around by pressing
down the mouse wheel moving the mouse
and we're going to grab our bezzie a pen
which is right here or you can just
press B on the keyboard to get that and
I'm going to turn on the snap the pads
tool which is that little green squiggly
line up there and I'm going to snap the
cursor onto the bottom the very bottom
of this circle over here on the left and
click and then hold ctrl and bring this
line straight across horizontally until
it snaps onto the bottom of that circle
and then click we collect go of control
and finish this line up going through
these circles and through the
intersecting points as well and then
back to the starting point like that and
that's pretty good and we could turn off
the snap the pads we're done with that
and we go back to our select tool and
click and drag over all of those objects
right there and unify them all together
by going to path Union and we can press
1 on the keyboard to zoom back out to a
hundred percent and as you can see we
have a little I guess you can call it a
cloud icon here now we're going to
create a little arrow to put inside of
it so to do that I'm going to come over
to the squares and rectangles tools
again and I'm going to create a narrow
long rectangle maybe that much and we're
going to take this node up here and just
make sure that this is down as far as
it'll let you go and that's pretty good
then we'll go back to the Select tool
I'm going to right click on that and go
to duplicate and then I'm going to click
on it again to get the rotation handles
and I'll hold ctrl on the keyboard and
I'm going to rotate this to the right a
few steps I'm going to go one two three
three steps like that and then I'll hold
shift in the keyboard and click on the
the vertical rectangle beneath it we're
going to align the bottom edges and then
align the right sides now I'm sorry
align the left edges just like that and
we click off of that to deselect and
we'll click on this this little shape
right here we right-click that go to
duplicate we could flip that vertically
by coming up here to this button that
says flip selected objects horizontally
rather I'm sorry not vertical
horizontally like that and then hold
shift on the keyboard and click on the
vertical
rectangle again and for this one we will
align the right sides so we end up with
the shape like this and now we can click
and drag over all three of those little
rectangles and unify them all together
by going to path Union and I'll turn
that red for now and I'm going to take
this and put this within this cloud icon
and I'm just going to hold ctrl and
click and drag one of these arrows to
scale this down so it fits inside of
there I'm going to position it where I
like it right about there and then once
we have once you have it positioned
where you like it just click and drag
over both of them and make sure that
it's aligned on the vertical axis so the
arrows centered within that cloud like
that now we could take the the opacity
of this and bring it all the way up and
then we can come back over to this
little square over here let me take
these and put these off to the side I'm
going to take this little square and I'm
going to bring the opacity of this all
the way up and I'm going to give this a
shade of green maybe like a greenish
bluish shade maybe something like that
that's pretty good and under the fill
tab and under the HSL tab we're going to
see these three little rows right here
I'm going to take this s column and
slide that to the to the left a little
bit too just to make that a little
duller like that and then I'm going to
give this a linear gradient by coming
over to this button it says linear
gradient click on that and we could
press G on the keyboard to get the
gradient tool and then I'll click on
this stop right here
and I'll bring the opacity of that all
the way up and then I'll take this the
other row the letter L row and I'll
slide that over to the left a little bit
to make that darker maybe about that
much and I'll take this stop and put it
in the bottom right corner I'll take
this stop and put this in the top left
corner now we come back to our Select
tool and we could take our cloud and
arrow over here and put this inside of
that square and I'm just going to hold
ctrl and shift and click and drag
scale this in so it fits inside of that
square that's a pretty good size then
let's click on that Green Square and
then hold shift and click on the black
cloud there and make sure that's
centered on the vertical and horrors
de Laxus and then we can click off of it
to deselect everything so what I'm going
to do now is I'm going to take this
black cloud icon and I'm going to give
this a shade of where you can make it
white but I decided to go with something
other than white I go with a maybe like
an off shade of white I'll slide that
over to the right a little bit that's a
pretty good shade right there and we can
take this arrow this red arrow and I'm
going to give this an off shade of red
maybe that that's pretty good like that
okay so let me click off of that
deselect everything we're going to do
next is I'm going to put up I'm going to
put a backdrop behind this in order for
what we're going to do next in order for
that to work we're going to put long
shadows on this to give it that that 3d
flat well not quite 3d but like a flat
style kind of effect so let's create a
rectangle and click and drag over the
object to create a great big rectangle
going over it and we don't want rounded
corners on this so we'll come up to this
icon that says make corners sharp and
click on that now we'll come back to the
Select tool and we'll send this to the
bottom lower selection to the bottom
with that button right there then we can
hold shift in the keyboard and click on
that green square and make sure it's
centered on the vertical and horizontal
axis and then we could hold shift and
click on that green square again to
deselect it so we just have this red
square selected and I'm going to come
down here to the color picker and I'm
going to give that a dull shade of blue
a dull darker shade of blue now I'm
gonna go something duller than that
maybe this yeah that's pretty good I'm
going to give that a linear gradient as
well click on the linear gradient key
and press G on the keyboard to get the
gradient tool and we'll click on this
stop over here to the right bring the
opacity all the way up and the L column
or row bring that to the left to darken
that up a little bit I'll take this stop
put it down here in this bottom right
corner I'll take this stop put it up in
this top left corner and then we can
come back to the Select tool and you can
see what we've done here we've created a
we've made it like there is like like
there's a light source up here to the
top left and it's shining down
the bottom right so everything gets
lighter and then gets darker same thing
with this green square I gets lighter
and then darker going down into the
right so that's how we're going to
position our long shadows as well and in
order to create the long shadows I'm
going to use guides to do that so let me
click off of that to deselect everything
and I'm going to come up here you see
these little these little increments up
here it's almost like a little ruler if
you if you come up there and then you
just click and drag it pulls down a
guide like that now let me undo that if
you come over here to the all the way to
the right side and you pull down you get
this 45-degree angle guide and that's
what we're going to use to create our
shadow so I want to take this guide and
put it up here on this on this top right
edge and I'll grab another guide pull
that down put this on the bottom left
edge and then I'm going to grab another
guide we're going to put shadows on the
cloud and on the arrow as well so I'm
going to grab another guide from up here
I'm going to put it on this part of the
arrow on part of the cloud that's pretty
good and then I'll grab another guide
put it on the the right side of that
arrow I'll grab another guide and put it
on the top part of that arrow you know
what let me we could turn off the snap
to guide you could turn that off for now
while we're doing this so they don't
snap together when we're trying to
position them so let me do that again
put that at top of that arrow grab
another one put this on the left edge of
that arrow and then finally we can go
grab one more and put it on the bottom
left side of this of that cloud right
there now what I'm going to do now is
I'm going to zoom in on this just to
make sure it's positioned right you just
press Plus on the keyboard to zoom in
and you can see like this guide right
here is a little too far in I'm going to
put this a little closer to the edge
like that and I'm pressing down on the
mouse wheel and moving the mouse in
order to do this so
I'm going to take this guide and put
that at the edge right there
and then I guess that's good where it is
we'll take this guide put that on the
edge of the red one and this one is way
off when I put this one up here to the
to the edge there and come over here
this one as well is way off I'm going to
put this on the on the edge of the right
object there take this one align this
one up as well and line this last one up
this one actually looks pretty good I
think I might alright that's pretty good
I'm going to press one of the keyboard
to zoom back out to a hundred percent so
let's click off of that to deselect
everything the first thing I create they
are the long shadow four is the green
box so let's turn on let's turn the snap
to guides back on and press B on the
keyboard to get our bezzie a pen and
we're going to start this shape going
outside of the blue box so I'm going to
start it down here on this this line and
then snap when the cursor snaps onto
that line click and then just follow
that guide up and then snap on to that
point and click and then bring this down
here snap on to that side and click and
bring this one down here outside of the
blue box click and then back to the
starting point and we could turn that we
could turn that black we can get rid of
the black outline you can't see that
there's a black outline there but there
is a black outline there we can get rid
of that by holding shift and clicking on
the X and then we can go back to the
Select tool we can click on this blue
box right click that go to duplicate and
hold shift in the keyboard and click on
the the black shape that we just drew so
we have them both selected and go to
path intersection and I'm going to lower
this down beneath lower selection one
step I'm going to keep lowering that
until it goes beneath everything like
that then we can take the opacity and
bring it down and you can see there we
have our long shadow so what I'm going
to do now is I'm going to go through I'm
going to do the same thing for this
cloud and then for this arrow
so let me let me uh I'll press B on the
keyboard to get the bezzie a pen and
again I'm zooming in and out you could
use plus and minus in the keyboard I'm
just holding ctrl and rolling up and
down in the mouse wheel that that's how
I like to zoom in and out I'm going to
start this shape for the cloud going
outside of the green box on that guide
click bring it up to there click and
bring it to there and then down then
down here and then connect it back to
the starting point and again we're going
to turn that black we're going to get
rid of the black outline by holding
shift and clicking on the X and go back
to the Select tool and lower this down
one step two steps then I click on the
green box right click that and go to
duplicate and hold shift and click on
our black shape that we just drew and go
to path intersection and we can take the
opacity of that and bring that down
maybe about that much and then finally
we have our arrows so let's do the same
thing with the arrow let me zoom in a
little bit I'll press B on the keyboard
to get back to the bezzie a pen I'm
going to start this shape going outside
of the the white cloud right there right
about here click snap it up to there and
then click and then we want to bring
this one down to here snap it onto that
line and click and then bring it up to
here and then click and then bring this
one straight through to this point click
and following this guide and click and
then snap it back to the starting point
connect it all back together and we're
going to turn that black hold shift
click on the X to get rid of the outline
we'll go back to the Select tool I'm
going to click on this white cloud right
here where right click that and go to
duplicate hold shift in the keyboard and
click on the black shape and go to path
intersection then we'll lower that
beneath the arrow bring the opacity of
that down and press 1 on the keyboard to
zoom back out so we can click off of
that to deselect everything what we can
do now is we can get rid of all these
guides but we're not going to actually
get rid of them we're going to turn them
off we'll go to view
and guides will click on that where and
that will toggle off the guide so there
we have our our long shadow with our
download icon icon download icon what we
could do now to enhance this a little
bit is I can give these shadows
gradients so I'll click on this shadow
I'll give that a gradient a linear
gradient press G on the keyboard to get
the gradient tool I'll put the
transparent end down here and I'll take
this one and bring it up I'll even hold
ctrl so it follows a 45-degree angle
like the like the the shape does
and it'll do the same thing with this
shadow click on that give that a linear
gradient take this one put it down here
the transparent side it will take the
colored inside while the full side hold
ctrl to go straight up at a 45 degree
angle and then finally we'll do the same
thing here click on that one
give that a linear gradient put the
transparent end down here and take this
and hold ctrl bring it out and maybe
I'll bring this one down a little more
we'll go back to the Select tool click
off that deselect let me just make sure
I'm at a hundred percent yes I am and
you know what we might even want to make
these a little darker now that we've
done that so we could see it a little
better click on that one we do that just
by bringing the opacity up bring that up
a little bit and that pretty that that
pretty much does it that's how you can
create a download icon in Inkscape with
long shadows so if you have any
questions let me know and as always
thank you for watching