Tutorial 13, Part C – Creating Airbrush Effects

This particular tutorial is the third of a three-part chapter. Yes, the end is in sight!

Be comfortable using the Undo function and the Zoom function. The Undo function makes it very easy to retrace your steps if something doesn’t look the way it should. The Zoom function allows for deep, up-close viewing of fine-detail work – it’s a great magnifying glass when needed, and a great telescope when also needed.

Do take breaks! Time passes with amazing speed when you get into the flow.

In this tutorial, you’ll learn how to do the following:

• Apply transparency to a gradient mesh.
• Copy artwork from one Inkscape file to another.

In this tutorial, you’ll continue working the art file that you began in the previous tutorial.

1. Start Inkscape if you exited it.

2. Download file Tutorial13C_end.svg and store it in a convenient location on your computer. Note that the file image might look like there are wing parts missing when viewing it in its Internet source location. There are wing parts — you might just be experiencing an incompatibility between the viewing software in your browser and the flavor of svg (scalable vector graphics) that Inkscape uses. Choose File > Open, and open the Tutorial13C_end.svg file. The missing wing parts should appear (along with everything else in the file).

   

3. If you like, choose View > Zoom > Zoom Out to make the finished artwork smaller, adjust the window size, and leave it on your screen as you work. If you don’t want to leave the image open, choose File > Close.

4. To begin working, File > Open file Butterfly.svg, which you worked on in Tutorial 13A and 13B. If, however, you did not create Butterfly.svg, then download file Tutorial13C_start.svg and store it in a convenient location on your computer. Choose File > Open to open it.

   

5. Choose File > Save As…, name the file Butterfly.svg, and store it in a convenient location.

6. Download and File > Open art file Dragonfly.svg.

   

Adding transparency to a gradient mesh is very easy to do. In this section, you will simulate the tinted see-through quality of a dragonfly’s membrane wing.

1. To start, magnify the dragonfly. Select a wing with the Select tool ( ) (we selected the lower left wing) and duplicate it using <Ctrl>-D.

   

2. Move the duplicated wing to the left and rotate it so it is oriented horizontally in preparation for makiing a gradient mesh.

   

3. With the wing still selected, click on the Create and edit meshes icon in the toolbox (). In the Mesh Tool Controls Bar that appears, set Rows = 3, Columns = 2, and Smoothing = Bicubic.

   Choose Objects > Fill and Stroke…, click on the Fill tab, and click on the Mesh gradient icon (). The dragonfly wing is now enclosed by a 3 row × 2 column gradient mesh.

   

4. You will shortly move mesh points so they conform more to the overall shape of the wing.

   Move all the mesh handles in toward their respective mesh points.

   

5. Now move all the edge mesh points in so they just touch or lie just outside the shape of the wing. Adjust mesh handles so external mesh lines follow the curvature of the dragonfly wing outline without entering the shape – you’ll cut off part of the wing, otherwise.

   

6. Group-select or singly select all mesh points in preparation for coloring the wing.

   

7. Color all the mesh points with the original deep purple of the wing. Use the Dropper tool () to sample the color of the original wing.

   

8. You will now add a highlight to the middle of the dragonfly wing. Group-select the two inner mesh points with the Mesh tool cursor ().

   

9. Click on the HSL button in the Fill panel and set the lightness value L = 100.

   



10. You will now make the wing transparent. Set the opacity of the wing to 29 percent.

    Remember that opacity is just the opposite of tranparency. If an object is less opaque, then it is more transparent.

    

11. Here is a neat technique for replacing the original dragonfly wing with the new transparent version.

    Select the original wing. Set its border to black to by <Shift>-clicking on the black swatch in the Color palette at the bottom of the work window.

    Make the fill absolutely transparent by clicking on the none swatch next to the black swatch.

    Move the tranparent wing closer to the original wing and rotate it so it has roughly the same orientation as the original.

    

12. Move and fine-rotate the new wing so it fits precisely into the black outline.

    

13. With the new wing object still selected, click on the Lower selection one step icon () once or twice to place it underneath the black outline.

    Press the <Esc> key to deselect the wing. Then, select the black edge of the wing and press the <Del> or <Delete> key to delete it. If you accidentally delete the transparent wing instead, then press <Ctrl>-Z to undo the mistake and press the Lower selection one step icon again.

    Click off the artwork to deselect the wing. Select the black edge of the wing again. Press the <Del> or <Delete> key again. If the black outline disappears, then good. Otherwise, repeat the previous few steps until you successfully delete the black outline.

14. Select the lower right wing with the Select tool ( ).

    

15. With the wing selected, set its border stroke to black and its color to none.

16. Duplicate the lower left wing with <Ctrl>-D and make a mirror-image of it using the FlipSelectedObjectsHorizontally tool ().

17. Move and rotate the duplicate transparent wing into place.

    

18. The original wing with the black border and transparent fill lies underneath the colored wing in the image stack. With the colored wing selected (reselect it if you deselected it), click on the Lower selection one step icon () once or twice to put the colored wing underneath the black border. Click off the artwork to deselect the wing, then click on the black border and press the <Del> or <Delete> key. If you accidentally delete the colored wing, then undo the mistake with <Ctrl>-Z and repeat the previous couple of steps until you successfully delete the black border.

    

19. You will now repeat all the previous steps to create transparent upper wings.

    Duplicate and move both upper wings to the left of the dragonfly. Make 3 × 2 gradient meshes for both wings, color them with the original deep purple color, and give them the central highlight, just as you had done with the lower pair of wings.

    

20. Marquee-select the two wings with the Select tool () and set their opacity to Opacity (%) = 29, just as you had done earlier.

    

21. Group-select both original upper wings using <Shift>-click, set their borders to black by clicking on the black swatch in the Color palette, and set their color fill to none.

    

22. Position the wings and delete the black borders as you had done earlier.

    



23. You will emplace the two butterflies you had created earlier onto the dragonfly-and-leaves image.

    Go to the Butterfly.svg file that you opened at the beginning of this tutorial. Choose Edit > Select All to select both butterflies.

    Choose Edit > Copy to copy the two butterfly images to your computer’s clipboard.

    

24. Switch to the Dragonfly.svg Inkscape window. Position the cursor to the right of the artboard and press <Ctrl>-V to paste the butterflies on that side.

    

25. Group-select the butterflies and move them onto the dragonfly-and-leaves artwork. It would be wise to make each butterfly its own group before moving. They are now ungrouped body parts, wings, and legs that can easily and accidentally separate upon being moved and rescaled.

    

26. The lower butterfly is partially covering the dragonfly. <Ctrl>-drag a sizing handle to resize the two butterflies while maintaining the aspect ratio. Move them until they are positioned where you would like them.

    

27. Choose Edit > Deselect to deselect the artwork.

    

28. File > Save. File > Quit to exit Inkscape.

You have now learned how to create and modify mesh gradients, and finally, how to add transparency to objects that have mesh gradients attached to them.

1. How do you add transparency to a mesh gradient?
2. Can you add transparency to multiple objects?

1. You add transparency to an mesh gradient object just like adding transparency to any other object. Choose Objects > Fill and Stroke…, click on the Fill tab, click on the Mesh gradient icon (), and adjust the Opacity (%) bar to the percent opacity that you want.

2. Yes, you can group-select multiple objects using the marquee-select technique or by <Shift>-click on disparate objects. You then set the transparency for all the selected objects. They will all have the same degree of transparency.