• Software: Inkscape (or Adobe Illustrator)
• Level: Advanced
• Subject: Peacock

Peacock Workshop: Standing Peacock | Dancing Peacock | Painting Peacock | Vector Peacock | More …

In this tutorial, we would do a walkthrough of illustrating a vector artwork of a peacock. Much of the techniques mentioned in the other peacock tutorials here would be used.

Drawing

I used GIMP to do a rough work, but you can use any other tool that you find comfortable sketching. See Drawing A Standing Peacock for a detailed tutorial.

After we get the form of the peacock, a little work on the details is done to get the idea of how much detail we want to put into the vector artwork in the end.

Basic Form

At this point in time, I import the PNG file into Inkscape and get the rough outline form of the peacock. If you had done the sketch/lineart on paper, you can scan it in using a scanner and import into Inkscpae.

Make further shapes, to block out the different areas and depth using the lineart as a guide. Take extra care to layer them from back to front. A little bit of planning goes a long way when the amount of detailing is going to be quite complex.

The blue outlines are at the same level. The green outlines, three of them are layered one over the other.

Plumage

After giving some basic flat color and gradient to the whole body, zoom in towards the center and use the pen tool to draw details of the plumage.

Further apply gradients to these detail shapes. If the form feels flat, create shapes of lighter blue color and change opacity to 10% or 20%.

Head and Beak

Apply gradients to the blue outlines with a pale yellow-brown color and you get the head detailed.

There is no need to give a lot of attention to this part, as the area is quite small. In full view, much of the details would be lost.

He looks a bald due to lack of the crown feathers - we will be adding that later.

Feathers

Now we get to the identifying feature of a peacock - his exhuberent feathers. Have a look at Peacock Feather Vector Art post that has a detailed walkthrough on creating vector art of a single feather - we will not be going to that amount of detail, but it helps to know.

As mentioned above in the basic form, this particular angle has three layers of the feathers. Start with the lowest layer.

Get the basic shape fo the feathers end that looks like an exotic eye. Concentric blob like shapes, with colors ochre (yellow), orange, cyan and deep blue will be the template.

Reduce the opacity of this to around 20%. Since it is the lowest layer of feather, we make it dull by reducity the opacity (increasing the transparency). You do not need to draw them all, just make copies of them, rotate and scale to get them in the required positions.

Its feathers have sparkling highlights. Even on the lowest layer, they would be visible. Use the pen tool to mark out couple of these in each section.

You can even put in some stray strands of the feathers and merge them with the main shape, to give volume to each layer of feather.  Thsi makes it look less flat.

Cut (not copy) and paste in place the remaining green outlines and start detailing the same way as you did the earlier layer. Make those eye like shapes 40% opaque this time.

Take a little more time when doing the upper layer. Add darker shadows to make the highlights standout more than the other. Increase the opacity of the circular patter to around 60%.

Finishing Details

Draw a couple of the crown plumage. Make copies to create the full set.

For the rest of the body, add some stark highlight shapes.

You can download this artwork as a desktop background over at ClipArtLog.com - Peacock Wallpaper.

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• Software: Inkscape (or Adobe Illustrator)
• Level: Intermediate
• Subject: Genie Lamp

By the end of this tutorial, you would be able to create a vector artwork of a Genie Lamp. You should be familiar with the tools of Inkscape or any of the other vector editor you use (like Adobe Illustrator or Corel Draw).

Base Shape

Use the ellipse drawing tool and create two of them one below the other and overlapping. Align them so that their centers are exactly above each other. The blue ellipse is the base shape of the main lamp body. The red one would become the stand of the lamp. Create two more ellipses (green) on either side of the red one. Use the subtract operation to chop of this area from the red ellipse to get the base shape.

Use the pen tool to create a roughly trianglular shape on the left (or right - your choice). Note that the tip of the triangle pointing outside has been chopped off and it is actually a four sided polygon (green). Use the node edit tool to curve them as shown above.

Create two more smaller, concentric ellipses and tilt them a bit. Subtract the inner ellipse from the outer.

Position it to the right (or left), opposite to the curved triangular shape.

Base Color

Make a copy of all the shapes you created and paste it exactly over the original. With the new set of shapes still selected, perform the union operation. This creates a single shape. Layer it to the back of all the original shapes (use Page Down or End in Inkscape) and give it a very dark brown fill and stroke color. A dark brown has a good harmony with the yellow metal color we will be using.

Increase the stroke width to around 3 to 5, so that it bleeds around the original shapes. This will give it a nice thick outline when we are done.

Now start filling all the four original shapes with the yellow color. Before turning the outline/stroke off, you should be ordering the shapes as shown above. Once you are done, give it a basic shading.

Ensure that you have turned off the outline before proceeding with the shading. Once you start shading, it can be a bit of paint to turn them off later. The process of giving the basic shading is something as follows.

1. Make a copy of the basic shape
2. Paste it exactly over the original. Use [Ctrl]+[Alt]+[v] in Inkscape.
3. Give the copy a darker brown color
4. Use the gradient tool (or format color option) to give it a gradient

Details

Once the base shape, color and shading is done, you can start detailing. Let the creativity take over - I went for a minimal approach to make it easy to explain.

Take the pen tool and out line the intricate pattern as a contour of the shadow area. Use the pen tool to create the shape and adjust using the node edit tool.

Switch off the stroke/outline of this shape and give it the outline color. Reduce the opacity to around 50%.

You can go over this process any number of times adding details. Draw the new shape and then apply a union operation with the other to give it a uniform coloring/opacity.

I added some glossy highlights by creating some blob like shapes, and giving it a whitish-yellow color.

As I said, let the detailing be guided by your creativity. Do post links to your works that you did with the help of this tutorial below.

If this tutorial helped you, subscribe to KalaaLog.com feeds (or use the email subscription form) if you have not done already - there will be more tutorials.

• Software: Inkscape
• Level: Beginner
• Subject: Spider silhouette

Here is a video tutorial - it should be pretty self explanatory. I have tried to use the menu commands as far as possible, even though I use the keyboard shortcuts usually to increase my workflow speed.

Check out more vector tutorials using tags, or the tutorial index page for the rest of them.

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This is a simple video tutorial on illustrating Moon in Inkscape or similar editors like Adobe Illustrator or Corel Draw.

If you liked this tutorial, subscribe to KalaaLog.com Feeds and spread the word.

This would be a simple tutorial on creating a vector illustration of Sun in Inkscape or similar vector editors like Adobe Illustrator or Corel Draw. There would be a screen-cast video at the end of this post.

Basic Shapes

Start of with basic shapes - a circle and a twelve sided polygon, aligned concentric to each other.

Shape Edit

Edit the outer polygons segment to have a concave curve (curving inwards towards the center).

Flat Colors

Apply flat colors.

Here is the screen cast video.

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This is the second part of the video tutorial - see part 1 if you have not seen it yet.

For a larger image, see devianART entry - Corn Clipart.

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The last video tutorial was on digital painting of an ear of corn. This two part series would be on the same subject, but doing an illustration instead.

The second part would be published tomorrow, so stay tuned.

This is the second and final part on illustrating scythe in Inkscape - continued from part 1.

I started out to do an illustration of a scythe - the grip reaper’s (or personified death’s) iconic weapon.

To do this illustration, I did a bit of study in GIMP.

Then, I opened up Inkscape and started creating the vector shapes.

Subscribe to KalaaLog.com feeds for to be updated on the second part.

A screen cast on illustrating a simple folder icon in Inskcape.