Inkscape Tutorial: Pyramid Graphic

this is Nick with logos by Nick comm and in today's tutorial I'll be demonstrating how to create this vector pyramid graphic 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 close out of this and get started the first thing we will do in Inkscape is set the view to custom and then we're gonna want to zoom in at a hundred percent so zoom in at one to one then we'll open up our online and distribute menu at this button right here and make sure you have last selected chosen from the drop-down and then we will go to our edit objects colors gradients and Stroke menu and have that open as well so the first thing we're going to do is create a square so come over to the squares and rectangles tool and then just hold ctrl and shift in the keyboard and click and drag on the canvas to create a perfect square like that and then we're gonna go back to our select tool up here we're gonna take the opacity of this and just drop this down about in half and then I'm gonna click this a second time to get the rotation handles and I'm gonna hold ctrl on the keyboard and just click and drag this around until the corners are going up and down perfectly like that what we could do now is let's click on this again to get back to the scaling handles and I'm just going to take this bottom arrow down here and I'm gonna move that up maybe about that much so we'll put it up to there and then we can click off of the graphic to deselect it let's go to where bezzie a pen by clicking on this or just pressing B on the keyboard and we're gonna turn on our snap to cusp nodes so let's turn that on and we're gonna start we're gonna snap the cursor on this bottom corner right here and then click and hold ctrl on the keyboard and bring this line straight up to about there and then click and then you could let go of control and bring this line over to this corner click and then back to the starting point to create that shape I'm gonna do the same thing over here let's start this line let's start to snap the cursor under this corner and then snap it onto this corner and then to this corner and then connect it back to the starting point and then we go back to our select tool we could turn off our snap to custom nodes for now and let's take this black a little square diamond type of shape here the background and click on that and just press Delete on the keyboard to get rid of that and then we're gonna do now is we're gonna click and drag over both of these let's turn them red and let's get rid of that black outline by holding shift and clicking on the X down here and let's hold shift and click on this red piece to the right to the left to deselect that and with this one selected we'll just turn this one blue for now and then let's click and drag over both of them and bring the opacity down about in half like that and then we can click off of that to deselect everything so what we're going to do next is let's click on this red shape and then right click that and go to duplicate and we'll turn that green and then we'll duplicate it again by right-clicking it and going to duplicate and we will turn this one blue and then I'm gonna hold ctrl on the keyboard and click and drag this blue copy up to about maybe about that far maybe a little less than that maybe about he wants to be about that thickness right there and then we could hold shift on the keyboard and click on the green object below it and go to path difference what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna move this green piece up to about here and then I'm going to right-click it and go to duplicate and then move this one up we're holding ctrl the whole time we're moving it so that it goes straight up on the vertical plane instead of going off to the left or right a little bit so hold ctrl move this straight up to about there and move this one down a little bit actually have them having about spaced out about that much and then we could hold shift and click on both of those green stripes and unify them together by going to path Union and then let's click on this red shape and we'll right click that and go to duplicate hold shift in the keyboard and click on that green those two green shapes you just create it and go to path intersection and then we could right-click that go to duplicate and then we're going to flip that horizontally with this button flip selected objects horizontally and then hold shift and click on this blue shape and click on the button over here that says align left edges and that's gonna put it over there on that side so once we've done that we can click off of the graphic to deselect everything what we could do now is we could click on this series of green shapes and then hold shift and click on this red object beneath it and go to path difference and then path break apart so that we have three different pieces here now I'm gonna do the same thing over here click on this green object hold shift click on the blue shape go to path difference and then path break apart and then click off of the graphic to deselect everything so what we'll do next is let's turn our snap to custom nodes back on and then let's click this red shape in the middle and hold shift and click this blue shape in the middle and with them both selected we'll right click it go to duplicate and then go to path Union and then we could turn that green and flip that vertically with this button up here flip selected objects vertically and then we're going to take this object that we're just snap the corner so we're going to snap this corner these corners together like that just like that and then we're gonna do the same thing down here so let's click on this shape hold shift click on that shape right click duplicate paths Union turn that green flip it vertical and then snap the corners up top there like that and then what we could do is let's let's grab our bezzie a pen you click the button or just press B on the keyboard and we're going to snap the cursor onto this these middle corners right here and then click and snap it onto this corner and click and then snap it onto the corner of the green shape there and click and snap it onto this corner and then back to the starting point and then we're going to turn that we'll just turn that black for now and we'll hold shift and click the X to get rid of the black outline we'll take the opacity and bring that down about in half and then we can go back to the Select tool and click the button that says lower selection to the bottom and then we can take that green shape right there and just press Delete on the keyboard to get rid of that I'm gonna do the same thing right here let's go back to our bezzie a pen press B on the keyboard snap to this corner then to this corner and then to this green corner over here and back to the starting point and again we're going to turn that black we're gonna get rid of the black outline by holding shift and clicking the X bring the opacity down about in half and then we go back to our select tool and send that to the bottom now you take this green shape and just delete that because we are done with that so what we'll do next is let's turn off the snap to cuspid nodes and then let's click and drag over this entire graphic and bring the opacity of it all the way up so what we're gonna do now is let's click on this top blue triangle right here and we're gonna make this yellow I'll pick that shade right there maybe and then I'm gonna click on this one to the left the red one I'm gonna make that the same shade of yellow but then I'm gonna come over here to the fill tab onto the HSL tab I'm gonna slide the H column over to the left a little bit to make it slightly darker we're gonna do the same thing down here we're gonna click on this one we're gonna make this red this one's already red so we can just click on that and make that a darker shade of red and four down here we'll use a blue but a different shade so come down here to a color picker and I'll pick a nice shade of blue that I'd like to use maybe that and then I'll click on this red object and give it the same shade I'll get the dropper out by pressing f7 on the keyboard that gets us the dropper tool and then we can just click on the color we want it to be and it'll make it that color and then we go back to the Select tool and slide the El column over to the left to make that slightly darker and now we can go and let's click off of it to deselect everything let's give each of these a gradients so let's click this first one that we colored in and let's give that a linear gradient and we'll press G on the keyboard to get our gradient tool and we'll click on this stop to the right and bring the opacity up then come over to the L column and slide that to the right to make that lighter and I'm gonna zoom in on this right now by pressing + on the keyboard to zoom in and I'm gonna take this node and put this towards the bottom the lighter node and take the darker node and put that towards the top like that towards the edge maybe like that and then we'll do the same thing down here let's click on this red object and let's give that a linear gradient and we'll click on this node to the right bring the opacity all the way up and then click on this node over here to the left and let's slide the L column over to the right to make that lighter I'm just gonna put this node down here put this one up here and I'll do the same thing down here I'll click on that blue shape give that on linear gradient click on the node to the right bring the opacity up go back to this node slide the L column over to the right and then bring this node down here and then put this node up here and what we could do now is let's click on this black shape up top over here and let's give that a linear gradient but let's go to the drop down and find the linear gradient that we already made for the blue for the red shade and we'll just click on that and we'll go back to the Select tool I'm actually gonna have to move this up one step so click the button that says raise selection one step because it's art it's currently below this black shape which is not good so press that once and there you have it that's that's fixed so let's go to the select I mean let's go back to the gradient tool just press G on the keyboard and we'll take the darker shade and put this over here and take the lighter shade and bring that straight down maybe like that you know what maybe we'll put the lighter shade over here and then this shade over here try it this way I forgot the way I did it in the thumbnail what did I do in the thumbnail oh you know what I just used a darker shade than all of it alright so let's go to the Select tool sorry about that let's just make this red again and we'll slide the El column over to the left to make it darker like that and we'll do the same thing over here let's click on this black square press f7 on the keyboard to get the dropper we'll click on this portion make it that shade and come over to the El column and slide this over to the left to make that darker and now we're gonna have to go create gradients for these three objects right here so let's press G on the keyboard to get back to our gradient tool and we'll click on this this orange shape linear gradient click on this side bring the opacity up and come over to this side and instead of sliding it to the right I'm gonna slide it to the left to make it darker like that put this node down here put this node up here and we'll do the same thing to this one click on that linear gradient let's click that stop bring the opacity all the way up and we'll take this one make that darker like that that's pretty good and then we could finally do this one down here so linear gradient click that one bring the opacity all the way up and then this one make that one darker and that one's actually pretty good position just how it is so maybe I could put that there I should do the trick so let's press sum let's go back to our select tool let's click on this yellow shape and hold shift and click on this other yellow shape and right-click them and go to duplicate and go to path Union and then we'll turn them we'll turn that black and bring the opacity down about in half and I'm gonna hold ctrl and click and drag this down about this much and then I'll click on this this red shape here right click duplicate hold shift and click on that black object we just created and go to path intersection I'm going to lower that one step and click that a few times actually to get that beneath those yellow shapes and that's going to make for a shadow because we're creating this as if the pieces are falling on to each other like that so it's a little shadow it's casting and all right that's pretty good and we'll do the same thing over here let's click on this object hold shift click on the other one next to it right click duplicate path Union will turn that black and bring the opacity down about in half again and then we'll hold ctrl and click and drag this one down about that much click on this blue shape right click duplicate hold shift click on the black object and go to path intersection and then lower that beneath the red objects have to click that a few times I'm gonna take the opacity and bring this down a lot more and I'd say that's pretty good so let's press 1 on the keyboard to zoom back out and click off of the graphic to deselect everything so we're almost pretty much done I should have to add a few more details to this thing to make it pop a little more so let's go back to our bezzie a pen by pressing B on the keyboard we'll turn on our snap to custom nodes we'll turn that back on we're gonna snap the cursor up to the corner up top and then click and then bring the line going about halfway through these shapes on the right maybe about that much and then click and then just bring this over here click and then back to the starting point like that and then we go to our select tool and let's click this blue this little blue arm right there and hold shift click the red and the yellow so we have all three selected and we'll right click go to duplicate and we'll go to path Union and then we get hold shift in the keyboard and click on that shape that we just drew and go to path intersection and we're going to turn that white and hold shift in the keyboard and click on the X to get rid of a black outline and I'm gonna take the opacity of this and drop this down a little bit just to give it the this creates kind of like the illusion of like a little reflective glare I guess and we're gonna do the same thing over here on this side only we're gonna use black to create a shadow instead of a shine so let's go back to our bezzie a pen we'll press B on the keyboard snap the cursor to this top corner and click and then bring the line about halfway through here maybe about that much and then click and then bring this line all the way around and snap it back to the starting point and then we'll go back to our select tool click on this yellow shape hold shift the red and then the blue right click duplicate look at a path Union and then hold shift in the keyboard and click on the shape that we just drew and go to path intersection and we could turn that white actually no we're gonna turn that black and hold shift and click on the X to get rid of the outline and I'm gonna take the opacity of this and bring that down a lot as well maybe about that much in one final step as I'm sure to put a little bit of a glare at the corner of this object right here going down the middle so let's create another rectangle looks good of the rectangles and squares tool and let's just hold ctrl and shift and click and drag on the canvas to create a perfect square I'll go back to our select tool let's click this a second time to get the rotation handles and hold control rotate this around until the corners are going upright and we're gonna take this corner and snap it onto the top of that corner let me bring the opacity of this up a little bit so we could see it and then let's click this again to get our scaling handles I'm just gonna scale this in a little bit and you know what we're gonna have to put it back in the corner there snap it back into the corner and let's take this bottom arrow and just drag this down drag that down a lot I'm gonna zoom out actually just press - on the keyboard to zoom out I'm gonna drag this down a lot maybe um maybe that maybe even that much so let me zoom back in to show you why I did that because we're gonna use this triangle right here that goes along this edge and we want this thing to be thin we want it to be thin up top and then gradually get whiter but not too wide so let's click on this blue shape and then hold shift to click on that blue shape and well while still holding shift we'll click on this red shape and then this red shape and then this yellow shape and then this orange shape and with all of that selected we're gonna duplicate that instead of right-clicking and going to duplicate you could just hold ctrl and press D on the keyboard and that will duplicate it so ctrl D to duplicate it and go to path Union and then hold shift in the keyboard and click on that black shape and go to path intersection then we could turn that white and bring the opacity down more we don't want that to be too you want that to stand out too much won't quite look right and we could turn off our snap to custom nodes let me press 1 on the keyboard to zoom back out click and drag over the whole thing and group it together and you could hold ctrl and shift and scale it up or down however you'd like and that should do it that's how you can create this vector pyramid graphic using Inkscape so if you have any questions let me know and as always thank you for watching

Channel: Logos By Nick

Views: 24,952

Keywords: inkscape, learn inkscape, inkscape tutorial, inkscape logo, inkscape logo design tutorial, inkscape for beginners

Id: zCF50NT6BLk

Length: 18min 41sec (1121 seconds)

Published: Tue Apr 26 2016