Pre-Workshop Videos & Activities
This workshop is primarily hands-on practice with Inkscape, but the following resources will give you a helpful overview of what Inkscape is and how it is used.
Please complete the following before the workshop:
- Watch Inkscape Explained in 5 Minutes (↪) (5 min).
- Read All 21 Inkscape Tools and Uses Explained (↪) (5 min to review the webpage, which includes an optional video to view).
When to use Inkscape vs. other graphics programs
Inkscape is a free and open source graphics editor that has a number of features to help you to produce your own art and promotional materials like logos, posters, illustrations, typography, flow charts, and more.
The following table lists some popular graphic-design tools and their general use:
| Software name | Purpose | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Inkscape (↪) | logos of any size, printable documents (posters, brochures, and flyers), digital art, diagrams, marketing materials for web and print | Free |
| GIMP (↪) (Gnu Image Manipulation Program) | photography and image manipulation, such as image optimization, colour and contrast editing, cropping, scaling, combining, and conversion (like changing a .png to .jpg) and many of the tools and features found in Adobe Photoshop. Checkout our GIMP workshop: Intro to Image Editing with GIMP (↪) | Free |
| Photopea (↪) | a free, online (no software installation required) photo editor which looks a lot like Photoshop and has many of the same tools. Photopea is great for beginners. The free (ad-supported) version gives you up to 500mb of storage. Photopea also connects to Dropbox, OneDrive, or Google Drive. There is a paid version that gives you more storage and removes the ads. | Free & Paid (roughly 4.50 CDN per month) |
| Photoshop (↪) | photography and image manipulation, like GIMP, but used by professional photographers | roughly 30 CDN per month |
| Illustrator (↪) | a vector-graphics program like Inkscape, but considered industry-standard for professional designers | roughly 30 CDN per month |
How do I choose?
With so many other graphic-design tools out there (↪), it can feel difficult to choose.
One way to think about it is to ask yourself what you’re trying to do and how much time you’re willing to invest in learning a particular software. For example, if you make the occasional poster or brochure, then Inkscape should be fine for your design-needs, but if you’re exploring a career in graphic design, then you will eventually want to try Photoshop and Illustrator. Although, some professionals prefer Inkscape and some amateurs prefer Illustrator.
Why Inkscape?
Like Illustrator, Inkscape edits and exports standardized scalable vector graphics (.svg) format (↪). An SVG file is a type of image-file format that allows for unlimited sized images that still look sharp, no matter how big they are.
“Raster graphics,” in file formats like .jpg and .png, lose resolution and look pixelated when scaled up, but SVG files do not. Inkscape is a great choice for creations like poster boards, flyers, or even large-scale signs for brick-and-mortar businesses.
Inkscape can import, combine, and export images and files in a number of popular formats, including SVG, AI, EPS, PNG, PS and PDF. You could design a poster, export it as a PDF and get it printed at a local printshop. Or, you could use Inkscape to make a wireframe (↪) for your next website, and so much more.
One big advantage for Inkscape is that this a free program with a wealth of available tutorials on the Internet and Youtube.
The Inkscape bonus: learning crossover
All graphic-design softwares share some basic similarities, like the use of layers, grids, and rulers, and tools to draw, manipulate, and edit images on a canvas.
By doing this Inkscape workshop you will learn helpful principles that crossover into other graphics programs!
Background and practice
You will notice that many of the tutorials in this workshop are divided into separate sections: background and practice.
The background sections teach you the “why” and the practice sections teach you the “how.” Put another way, the background sections provide context for why we are doing something, while the practice sections walk you through steps that you can practice on your own.
The practice sections will also include tips that you might find helpful, especially if you are new to working with graphic design programs.
Allow yourself to have fun with this process. You can’t “break” anything and you can always hit Ctrl + Z (or Command + Z for macOS) to undo whatever you last did.