Inkscape Tutorial: Vector Interlocking Rings

this is Nick with logos by Nick comm and in today's tutorial I'll be demonstrating how to create these interlocking rings using Inkscape and at any point in this tutorial you could look down at the bottom left hand side of my screen over here to see which mouse clicks and keystrokes amusing so I'll go ahead and close out of that and we'll get started the first thing we'll do in Inkscape is good a view we'll set that to custom and then we'll zoom in at a hundred percent and then we'll open up our line dish and align and distribute menu with this button right here make sure you have less selected chosen from that drop-down and then we will open up our edit objects colors gradients and Stroke menu with that button there so the first thing we're going to do is create an oval so come over here to the the create circles and ellipses tool let's click on that and let's come over to the canvas and just click and drag on the canvas to create an oval it could be any size like that then we'll go back to our select tool and up here where it says W we're gonna change the width highlight all of this and then type in 350 so hit three five zero and then press tab on your keyboard to skip over to the height where this is right here the H is says height we're gonna change the height to 225 and then hit enter and then what we will do is let's take the opacity of this and drop that down about in half and after we've done that we'll right click this and go to duplicate and we will turn that duplicated copy red then we could hold ctrl on the keyboard and click and drag it up about maybe about that high and then we'll right-click that and go to duplicate and we'll turn that copy blue and then let's hold ctrl and shift in the keyboard and click and drag one of these arrows to scale this in about that much and then afterwards we can go to our bezzie a pen let's click on that and then we'll turn on the snap to paths tool and we're gonna want to snap the cursor to the very far left edge of this bottom oval right here so what's the snaps onto there go ahead and click and then hold ctrl on the keyboard and bring your cursor up drag that line up until it snaps on to the to the bottom of the left edge of this red over and then click still holding control the whole time we're doing this drag this line over to the right until it snaps and then click and then bring this down until it snaps and then click and we can let go of control and connect this back to the starting point and then what we can do is let's go back to our select tool and let's hold shift in the keyboard and click on this black oval on the bottom and let's go to path Union so we unify those together and then we'll click on this red oval right here and let's right-click that and go to duplicate and let's hold shift in the keyboard and click on the black shape beneath it and go to path difference and then we could right-click this and go to duplicate we could turn that green and let's flip that vertically by going up here to this key this is flip selected objects vertically go ahead and click that and then hold shift in the keyboard and click on the blue oval and let's align the top edges so go ahead and click this button right here align top edges and then hold shift and click on the green object so it deselects it and we just have the blue one selected and then we can right click on that blue object and go to duplicate and then hold shift in the keyboard and click on the green object and go to path intersection so what we'll do now is let's click on this blue object right here and then hold shift and click on the red object beneath it and we'll go to path difference so now we have the shape and structure of our ring so what we're gonna do now is let's click and drag over this whole thing and let's bring the opacity of that all the way up and let's make this a gold a gold color I'm gonna I'm gonna use this color right here and then I'll come over to the HSL tab under the fill tab but I'll go to the L column I'll slide this over to the left a little bit just to just darken it a little bit maybe about that much and then we can click off of the graphic to deselect everything then let's click on just this bottom portion of the Ring right here click on that to select it and we're gonna give that a linear gradient by coming to this button right here that says linear gradient go ahead and click that and then we'll go to our gradient tool which is right here if you don't have this on your screen probably if you're using a laptop that that key won't be there so you could just press G on the keyboard to get the gradient tool and there we have it so let's come over to this node on the right over here and let's click on that and let's turn off our snap to paths we don't need that right now so let's click on this node right here and when you click on it this little dialog should show up here in this box if you're under the fill tab and once we get that let's bring the opacity of that all the way up and then let's take this L column under the HSL tab let's take this L column and slide this to the right a little bit maybe about that much and that's pretty good right there and then we'll click on this little ring here that's supposed to be the rim of the Ring and we'll give that a linear gradient as well but instead of creating a gradient for it we'll just go back to the gradient we used before there should be a drop down right here go ahead and click on that and there's our linear gradient that we just created so go ahead and click on that and what we're gonna do now is we're gonna swap this thing around so we're gonna take this node right here and let's click and drag this to the left and then take this node right here and click and drag that to the right and I'm actually gonna hold ctrl on the keyboards that that line goes straight horizontally kind of like that and then let's click on this piece right here actually let's go to the select tool and then let's click on this and we'll come over here to the L column and let's darken that up a little bit by sliding it to the right maybe about that much and then we'll give that a linear gradient as well but we're gonna use we're gonna create another new one so go ahead and click linear gradient and we'll go back to our gradient tool if you don't have the key again you just press G on the keyboard to get it and let's click on this one right here the one on the right and let's bring the opacity of that all the way up if that doesn't work you could also go to the a column and just drag that up as well it does the same thing and I will go to the L column and slide this to the right just to darken that up a little bit and that should work pretty well like that so the next thing we're going to do is let's go let's go to our L create squares and rectangles tool and click on that and let's click and drag over this thing and create a rectangle like that for some reason it didn't you know what before you do that we were just on the gradient tool like this before you leave this let's click on that the Select tool for you first and click off of the graphic to deselect it otherwise it didn't really work the way I intended it to and then we can go back to our rectangle tool and then let's just click and drag over this thing right here and create a rectangle it's coming up at zero opacity for some reason I'm just gonna bring that up I'm actually going to leave that in half I'm gonna make the opacity of that about in half and I will go back to the Select tool and I'm gonna make this a little thinner and I want it quite that big I'm gonna put this right here what I'm looking at here where I'm placing this rectangle is this bottom segment right here I'm placing it over the left end right here and then I'm gonna right click this red copy and go to duplicate and hold ctrl and click and drag this off to the right and then let go of control and take this side our right here and just bring that in a little bit maybe about that much and then hold shift in the keyboard and click on the first red object and go to path Union then we could right-click this go to duplicate and put this copy over here and what I'm looking at here is this this piece right here I'm gonna place that over the right side of that right about there and we'll take this bottom piece down here let's right click that and go to duplicate hold shift in the keyboard and click on the red objects and go to path intersection and we could turn that white and we could just adjust the opacity accordingly I think maybe maybe about that much say that looks pretty good and then we can click on this darker piece right here let's right-click that and go to duplicate hold shift in the keyboard and click on those those red pieces right there and go to path intersection and then I'm going to turn that black and I'm gonna bring the opacity down a little bit maybe about that much that's pretty good like that and what I'll do now is I'll click and drag over this whole thing and I'm gonna group it together by clicking this button up here group together group selected objects and then I'm going to right-click this and go to duplicate and hold ctrl and click and drag this off to the left and then I'm going to flip this vertically and then flip it horizontally and then I'm gonna click this a second time they get the scale of the rotation handles and hold control in the keyboard and grab this arrow on the top right and we're going to bring that down two steps so let's click and drag and go one to two steps just like that and then we'll click on this one right here the original ring will click that a second time to get the scaling handles the rotation handles rather hold ctrl on the keyboard and I'm going to grab this bottom right corner and rotate it up three steps so let's click and drag this one two three and then what we could do is we could take this ring and click and drag and bring this over to about here so it's positioned right about here you want to make sure you have a little bit of white space in there between the two intersections of the Rings you don't want to put it like this so there's no white space in there we're gonna need a little bit of white space right there so maybe maybe I'll put that right there just like that and then I'm going to ungroup this let's click on the button it says ungroup selected objects and then click on this ring to the right right here and let's right-click that and go to duplicate and let's ungroup that and then go to path Union and then I'll turn that red and bring the opacity down a little bit just so I could differentiate it from the rest of the graphic and I'm gonna zoom in a little bit here I'm gonna grab the magnifying glass and just click and drag over this portion right here to zoom in and then we'll get the Bezier pen again and I'm gonna start this in the center here so I'm gonna come to this white space in the middle here and click and bring this line down here right about there and click come out here click come out here to this side and click and then bring it back to the starting point so basically what I've done there is it-- so I drew a shape going around this portion of the red ring the portion of the red ring where it intersects with the ring on the left so that's the that's the piece I'm looking at there that I'm trying to grab so once we've done that we can go back to the Select tool we could hold shift in the keyboard and click on that red ring and go to path intersection and what I'm gonna do now is I'm gonna right-click this and go to duplicate and then I'll hold shift in the keyboard and click on this lighter part of the Ring right here the little rim and then go to path difference and then I'll grab this original red shape hold shift click on this darker part right here and go to path difference and then we could press 1 on the keyboard to zoom back out and see what we did there so we now have two rings that look like they're interlocking kind of like that so this little part back here this darker piece I'm gonna click that actually let's ungroup this first ungroup object click off of it to deselect everything and this little black piece right here I'm gonna get rid of that that's just press Delete on the keyboard to get rid of that and the final step here would be to add some kind of a shadow right here and right here so in order to do that I'm just going to grab this little rim right here I'm gonna click on that and then I'll hold shift and click on the bigger piece above it and I'll right click that and go to duplicate and go to path Union and then I'll turn that black and then I'll hold shift actually no let's click off of it to deselect everything and let's click on this lighter rim right here and hold shift and click on this darker part and let's right click that and go to duplicate and go to path Union and then hold shift and click on that black object and go to path intersection and then we can move this off to the side a little bit bring the opacity down a lot so it looks like it's a shadow and I'm just gonna lower this beneath that ring so I'm gonna go here to where it says lower selection one step I'm gonna click that a few times 1 2 3 4 it looks like it took 4 times to get it beneath that ring and then I'll do the same thing over here let's click on this lighter rim right here and then hold shift and click on this darker piece right there right click duplicate let's go to path Union and we'll turn that black now let's bring the opacity down a little bit and let's click and drag this off to the left until it's positioned about where we want it maybe right about there and then I'll click on this RIM right here hold shift click on that darker part right there so we have both of these selected and we'll go to right we'll right-click it duplicate paths Union and then hold shift and click on that black object we just created and go to path intersection and then we will go to path break apart because it also created an object right there - that was also part of the intersection so we're gonna get rid of that and once we've broken it apart let's hold shift and click on this part right here to deselect it so we just have this piece right here so we could press Delete and get rid of it and one last final step would be to let's click and drag over this whole thing and group it together and then we'll right-click this and go to duplicate and then let's ungroup it and go to path Union and turn that black and let's click this a second time to get the rotation handles and when you do that there should be this little crosshair here in the center and I'll hold ctrl and click and drag that across hair all the way down to the bottom of the per the perimeter right there and then I'll click this again to get back to the scaling handles and I'll grab this top arrow and just click and drag that down about this much maybe about there and then I'll click it again to get back to the rotation handles but instead of rotating it I'm going to grab this top hour right here I'm gonna slide that out maybe to the right about that much go maybe that far and then we'll lower this beneath the Rings and then we could take the opacity and drop this down a lot just to create the effect of somewhat of a shadow so that pretty much does it for this tutorial that's how you can create a couple of interlocking rings using Inkscape so if you have any questions let me know and as always thank you for watching

Channel: Logos By Nick

Views: 37,671

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

Id: 4bs2pKrakNc

Length: 16min 22sec (982 seconds)

Published: Tue Feb 16 2016