Inkscape Tutorial: Book Icon Video Lecture | Inkscape:Design Tutorial for Beginners - Design Softwares

in today's tutorial I'll be using
Inkscape version 91 to show you how to
create a very simple vector style book
icon similar to what you see here on my
screen and at any given time in this
tutorial you can look down at the left
hand side of my screen down here to see
which keys and mouse clicks I'm using so
that being said let's get started when
you first open up Inkscape come up to
view make sure you have custom selected
and we're gonna go to zoom and go to
zoom one to one and then we'll come up
here to this button to open up our align
and distribute menu and then we'll come
up here to open up the Edit objects
colors gradients and strokes menu and
down here make sure from this drop-down
you have less selected chosen and once
you have that done we're ready to get
started so the first thing we're going
to do is create a rectangle so come over
here to the rectangles create rectangles
and squares you're gonna click on that
and let's just click and drag on the
screen make a nice rectangle kind of
like that sort of in the dimensions that
a book would be like the the width and
the length just try to eyeball it
something some somewhat like that should
be sufficient and then we're going to go
to path object the path and we're gonna
come over here to where it says opacity
and let's drop that down in half and
we'll come up here to the Bezier pen and
let's click on that
and let's go to the top over here
somewhere about in this area and come
outside of this rectangle and click and
then hold ctrl on the keyboard and drag
the line over to here click again and
let go of control and press Enter and
that's gonna create a line similar to
that now what we're gonna do is we're
gonna the edit path by nodes button
we're gonna click on that and we're
gonna take this line and we're just
gonna drag it up kind of like that and
we're gonna click on this node over here
and it should bring up these handles and
we can just play with these handles kind
of like that you're gonna want to want
you're gonna want this side this side of
the line coming up like this
and then somewhere in the middle
dropping down and then coming up again
kind of like that so we want to do
something so you play around with this a
little bit until it's nice and smooth
and fluid and once you get to that point
I'd say right here this looks pretty
good
we can go back to the arrow and click on
that and we can go to path and we could
turn that stroke into a path and then
while holding shift on the keyboard
click on the rectangle and let's go to
path difference and then we'll go to
path break apart and that's gonna break
that apart into two different pieces now
we can click off of the graphic to
deselect everything and then click on
just this piece up here and let's press
the delete button to get rid of that now
the next thing we're gonna do is we're
gonna click on this and then we're gonna
right-click it and go to duplicate and
while holding ctrl in the keyboard click
and drag this down to about right about
there I'd say you want to make sure that
the top of this object is fully on top
of this bottom object you don't want you
don't want it's sticking out a little
bit you see kind of like this right here
you see that white space in the middle
you don't want that you want this to be
completely in there kind of like that
now once you get to about there I'd say
that's I'd say that's good you could
hold shift in the keyboard and then
click on the other object and we'll go
to path difference and we're gonna end
up with the shape kind of like this so
the next thing we're gonna do is we're
gonna come up here to our filling stroke
menu
let's click the X button to turn that
off and let's come over here a stroke
paint and let's click the blue box right
there to turn that on and let's go to
stroke style and make sure we have a
miter joint on that we want that we want
a square cap as well as far as the
stroke width goes let's try a 15 let's
see how that looks that's kind of small
I'm gonna try a 20 point stroke still
kind of small maybe 35
okay that should work you want you want
it to be about that thickness that's
pretty good right there and then we're
gonna go to path stroke to path and
that's gonna change that from an outline
to an actual path that we can edit and
manipulate as you can see here so once
you've done that let's right-click this
and go to duplicate and let's turn that
red and while holding ctrl in the
keyboard click and drag this down to
about here right about there
and then we're gonna go to where create
squares and rectangles button we're
gonna click on that again and we're
gonna create a rectangle on the inside
of this right here you just go ahead and
create that rectangle and let's come up
the stroke paint and let's click the X
button to turn that off we don't need
that in fact let's turn this blue so we
can see what we're doing and let's go
back to the arrow over here and let's
just size this rectangle up so that it's
about this size we don't want it really
thick like all the way to the inside of
the page there we want so we want a
little bit of padding on each side if
you wanted about this this width right
here maybe a little smaller yeah
something like that should work and then
once you have it about that size about
that with hold shift in the keyboard and
click on the red object and let's Center
that up on the vertical axis and once
you've done that we're gonna go to path
intersection and what we're gonna do now
is we're gonna right-click this and go
to duplicate and while holding ctrl on
the keyboard click and drag this
duplicated copy down to here and while
holding ctrl and while still holding the
click button on your mouse down press
the spacebar it's gonna create a copy
and then bring this down here press the
spacebar again we're holding ctrl and
the left-click button on the mouse the
whole time and it's gonna create another
copy and this fourth one we're just
gonna leave this right down here and we
could let go of everything so what we'll
do now is we're gonna we're gonna select
all four of these lines we just created
by holding the shift key and then
clicking on each one of them and were to
come down here to where it says
distribute hover the mouse over this
button that says make vertical gaps
between objects equal we're gonna click
that once and it's gonna space them all
out equally and then we can go to path
Union what we can do next actually is
hold shift on the keyboard and then
click on the black outline of the page
and let's Center that up on the
horizontal axis and then after that we
can go to path Union so now it is now
one unified object kind of like that now
the next thing we're going to do is
let's actually flip this thing around we
can come up here to where it says flip
selected object horizontally let's click
that we want it facing this way and then
come up to our you see like this little
guide up here with the measurements
bring the cursor up into there and just
click and drag and it's gonna pull a
guide out you see this red line right
here that's called the guide we're gonna
bring this guide down to about here down
to about the bottom of the page the
bottom of our graphic right here and
then we're gonna go to the Bezier pen
and we're gonna snap the cursor onto
that line right about where the left
edge of this graphic is right here and
we're gonna click once and we're gonna
take the cursor we're gonna bring that
line up to about here we're gonna go
diagonally across like this right to
about here and then click and then hold
control on the keyboard and let's drag
this straight across to the right edge
of the page it doesn't have to be
exactly on the right edge of the page
just somewhere within that proximity
bring it there and then click and while
still holding control bring this line
straight down to the guide until it
snaps onto the guide and then click
again and then you can let go of control
and just connect the line back to the
starting point and we're going to have
an object's going to create an object
like this now let's press f1 on the
keyboard to get back to the arrow or you
could just come up here to click
the arrow f1 is just a shortcut and
let's deselect everything by pressing
the escape key you press escape and
that's gonna deselect everything now
hover the mouse over this line right
here and once it turns red press the
Delete key and that's gonna get rid of
it we don't need that anymore so let's
take this page and let's move this out
of the way and let's hold shift and
click on this object right here and with
them both selected
we're gonna go to extension modify path
and we're gonna select perspective and
what you should end up with is something
like this it's gonna take that page and
it's gonna make it look like it's laying
at an angle and we can take this now we
could take this and press Delete on the
keyboard to get rid of that we don't
really need that anymore
and then we could take this let's take
this let's right-click this and go to
duplicate and let's flip this
horizontally and then hold shift in the
keyboard and click on that first one
that we duplicated and with them both
select to come over here to where it
says align left edges of objects to the
right edge of the anchor and let's click
that once and that should combine the
two of those together and then we can go
to path Union kind of like that what we
can do next is what we're gonna do is
we're gonna right-click this and go to
duplicate and let's turn that red oops I
click the wrong shade of red red kind of
like that and then we're gonna go to
paths break apart and that's gonna fill
it in and make it a solid object and
then we're gonna path the Union and what
we could do now is we could take this
copy and click and drag this down to
here while holding ctrl hold your ctrl
key on the keyboard before you do that
so hold ctrl and click and drag this
down to about here kind of like that and
what we could do next is we're gonna go
to our magnifying glass and we're gonna
click and drag over the bottom left side
of our graphic right here and then we'll
go to the Bezier pen let's
click on that and let's come up here to
this little green icon that says snap to
cusp node we're gonna turn that on and
then we're gonna snap the cursor on to
this corner click once then snap the
cursor on to this corner click again and
let's go over to the other side I'm just
gonna I'm actually gonna press the
subtract key on the keyboard to zoom out
and then we're gonna snap this on to
that corner and then we're gonna snap
this on to that corner and then we can
come up here and turn that off we don't
need that anymore
and then just come along the inside and
continue this this shape along the
inside of the red graphic do not make do
not let the line go outside of the red
graphic just bring it back to the
starting point over here like that and
click it onto the starting point to snap
it all together and then we could go to
the arrow over here and while holding
shift on the keyboard click on the red
graphic so you have them both selected
and we'll go to path Union and what we
can do now is we can click this black
graphic up here the black book we can
right click that and go to duplicate and
we can go to path break apart path Union
and then while holding shift in the
keyboard click on our red graphic below
it so you have them both selected and
we'll go to path difference and what we
can do now is we can click and drag over
the entire thing so you have them both
selected and we can go to path Union you
could press 1 on the keyboard to zoom
back out to a hundred percent and we can
come over here and turn the opacity all
the way up and you can make this
whichever color you'd like and as you
can see we're now finished we have
created a very simple vector style book
icon using Inkscape version 91 so if you
have any questions just let me know and
thank you for watching