Inkscape guide for OotS avatars [Archive] - Giant in the Playground Forums

Trazoi

2007-12-12, 06:38 AM

Lyinginbedmon

2007-12-12, 07:23 AM

Looks pretty good, hopefully it will prove very useful to newer users of InkScape :smallsmile:

The next section should probably cover making different facial positions, like positive talking, negative talking, frown, toothy smile, scared, worried, etc.

Dihan

2007-12-12, 07:59 AM

You should cover things like transparency, gradients, blur, possibly backgrounds too.

Nameless

2007-12-12, 08:09 AM

Dont go to the dark side!

Dark side I say!!!

EVILLLLLLLLL!!!

chef781

2007-12-12, 08:50 AM

this is great, but is there one for paint?

Lyinginbedmon

2007-12-12, 09:08 AM

this is great, but is there one for paint?

That's a whole other box of cans of worms...

B-Man

2007-12-12, 11:30 AM

this is great, but is there one for paint?

Yes there is. Lankybugger made it a while ago. Here it is: [link (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=33471)]

Bayar

2007-12-12, 11:57 AM

this guide is great, will help me a lot in the future....but the part where you had to draw a female figure....made me feel like a pervert...

Ego Slayer

2007-12-12, 12:39 PM

^: Oh, please! :smalltongue:

I haven't looked through the whole thing yet, but it looks great so far. I never did use the layers box... heheh.:smalltongue: And maybe it's just me, but I always found that using the wheel for color is easier...

Trazoi

2007-12-12, 05:13 PM

Thanks for the replies!

@Lyinginbedmon: I was thinking of doing expressions sooner or later, so I'll see what I can put together.

@Doihaveaname: The problem with transparency, gradients, blurs etc. is that they aren't used in OotS (at least I'm pretty sure that's the case: I might have to double check for transparency). I'm more a fan of solid colour myself - I tend not to use gradients myself even in my own non-OotS cartoons.

@Ego Slayer: I tend to use lots of different methods for choosing colours, but usually now I pick them from the swatches in the palette as I like comparing them all to the image currently on the screen. Occasionally I'll go into the Fill and Stroke window and craft something by hand though. For OotS I've been using the eyedropper on the comics as I haven't yet figured out if there's any rules on the colour palette. I've only really been studying Rich's style closely for the last week; using OotS fan art as a method for getting back into Inkscape again.

Dihan

2007-12-12, 05:26 PM

@Doihaveaname: The problem with transparency, gradients, blurs etc. is that they aren't used in OotS (at least I'm pretty sure that's the case: I might have to double check for transparency). I'm more a fan of solid colour myself - I tend not to use gradients myself even in my own non-OotS cartoons.

Rich uses gradients for the sky and sun in his backgrounds. Anyway, you could atleast do a few advanced techniques. Such as different ways of creating magical effects using gradients, blurs and transparencies, as well as solid colour.

Lyinginbedmon

2007-12-12, 05:27 PM

Transparency is used for the spell auras, like around the Bigby spell V used for masonry during the battle, and whenever he's casting a spell his casting hand(s) are surrounded by them

Trazoi

2007-12-12, 05:37 PM

Rich uses gradients for the sky and sun in his backgrounds. Anyway, you could atleast do a few advanced techniques. Such as different ways of creating magical effects using gradients, blurs and transparencies, as well as solid colour.
Ah yes, thanks for correcting me! I remember some of the magic beam attacks having some strong gradient shading on them. I'll think about doing some backgrounds and effects.

Bryn

2007-12-12, 06:01 PM

A good tutorial - well-written, and well-detailed! I'd say it's better than the other one (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=185496&postcount=99). I'd do a few minor details differently if I was making that avatar, but nothing greatly different.

Did you know that if you click on a straight line in node edit mode and then drag it, it will automatically become a curve? I find that to be quicker than selecting and clicking the 'make curve' button.

Other than that, an excellent piece of work! :smallsmile:

Trazoi

2007-12-12, 06:08 PM

Did you know that if you click on a straight line in node edit mode and then drag it, it will automatically become a curve? I find that to be quicker than selecting and clicking the 'make curve' button.
Thanks! I think I mention that you can do that with the node tool; it's pretty much what I usually use; but the "make curve" button is useful if you need to turn path segments into curves while leaving them as straight line segments. To be honest that doesn't come up that often; in the tutorial I was just wanting to show that the option was there.

I'll make a note though to reread that section and make sure it's clear you can use the node tool to make curves.

Pyro

2007-12-12, 08:04 PM

Hey thanks for this. I never knew how to lock the size of the stroke. Before whenever I had to resize something, I had to change the stroke manually.

EDIT: After reading all of it now I feel like updating the avatars I made for some people, especially the faces.

banjo1985

2007-12-13, 05:00 AM

Nice work, there's a couple of things I didn't know in it that will help me somewhat! Nice work, and I 'd be interested seeing a facial expressions tutorial as well, as it's probably what I struggle with most.

Lyinginbedmon

2007-12-13, 05:05 AM

EDIT: After reading all of it now I feel like updating the avatars I made for some people, especially the faces.

I know the feeling, I've just finished re-reading the Gender Change section and now I'm updating all my relevant female characters for Remember...

Bayar

2007-12-13, 05:46 AM

Well, I used your guide to do a Inkscape Freeman, some things really helped...

http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff15/bayar_m2003/freeman.png

banjo1985

2007-12-13, 09:24 AM

Wow...well that tutorial sure makes my art look different:

http://i192.photobucket.com/albums/z175/banjo_the_clown/XrKBXj8pDArRrZdzbbCgif.png Using Tutorial
http://i192.photobucket.com/albums/z175/banjo_the_clown/succubus3.pngMy Usual Style

I think it does look clearer and a bit better proportioned using the tutorial, whether I start using it as a base for the way I draw...I'm undecided :smalleek:

Nameless

2007-12-13, 09:26 AM

Omicroncubed

2007-12-13, 09:33 AM

This is a good guide. I'll have a closer look at this tomorrow when nobody is on the computer (Right now I am on a crappy laptop with a REALLY slow connection :smallfrown:)

I read it, it was really useful, now I know how to draw female avatars better! :smalltongue:

Yeril

2007-12-13, 10:39 AM

Heheh... boobies... :smallcool:

I was so totaly thinking the same thing! :smalleek:

Waaavelength :smallcool: :smallbiggrin:

Threeshades

2007-12-13, 11:02 AM

Heheh... boobies... :smallcool:

this is like a halfling making fun of a dwarf for being so short.:smallbiggrin:

Dallas-Dakota

2007-12-13, 11:08 AM

Nameless

2007-12-13, 11:21 AM

I was so totaly thinking the same thing! :smalleek:

Waaavelength :smallcool: :smallbiggrin:

Great minds...

(say the next part to make it sound more dromatic)

Yeril

2007-12-13, 11:27 AM

.. like boobies

Dallas-Dakota

2007-12-13, 11:32 AM

Can I? Pleeeaaasse?

think alike!

Aww, Yeril, you simu-ninja kobold!

Nameless

2007-12-13, 11:47 AM

.. like boobies

Correct!

I went to get you a flower but it was a venus fly trap and it bit my head so I got you this blade of grass instead.

Ego Slayer

2007-12-15, 03:10 PM

Minds out of gutter and back on topic? Kthx. :smallannoyed:

I second that the "advanced techniques" stuff would be nice, even if only on the grounds that it's part of the program and we, I believe, want to encourage others to find what works for their style, and not just the aspects of basic OotS.

Yeril

2007-12-15, 04:33 PM

@^ You call it the gutter, We call it "Epic uses of the Great Cleave Feat". :smallwink:

Anyway, back on topic yeah, I would like to see transparency and magical effects been shown.

Great tutorial though. :smallsmile:

Shades of Gray

2007-12-15, 08:37 PM

Lyinginbedmon

2007-12-15, 08:43 PM

When I try to drag the head on top of the body it goes see-through. I can see how this would be a cool effect but I prefer my characters opaque:smalltongue: How do I change it to look normal when I have 2 objects on top of each other?

You've probably got at least one of the items set to partial transparency. Go to the Fill and Stroke box and check if the bottom bar is set to 100%. If it is, try checking the bottom bar for the individual fill and stroke sections, which should be at or near 255 for total opaque.

Shades of Gray

2007-12-15, 08:53 PM

it says that the fill and stroke of all my objects is full opacity

I fixed it. Now how do I save it as something Photobucket can open? All it says is that I can save it as things like svg, pdf, and stuff. But no JPEG, GIF, or PNG settings.

Ego Slayer

2007-12-15, 10:06 PM

You can use File>Export for png. You don't want jpeg because it's a poor file type and doesn't support transparency. The only way you can make it gif is if you import the svg into another gif-capable vector program, or if you import a png into GIMP.

Speaking of GIMP, you might want to add that, Traz, if you know about that part... it does make the quality a little weird, but it was in the first guide, and it is a semi-useful tool for those without other gif-capable programs.

Shades of Gray

2007-12-15, 10:25 PM

behold! Avatar!

http://i202.photobucket.com/albums/aa279/oliver426/concept2.png

Wow, I will definitely start using this!

The one thing that didn't work was the thing about sharpening nodes in the female drawing section. That didn't work for me/ wasn't explained enough for me.

Heroic

2007-12-17, 07:43 PM

Hi everyone,

I'm a fan of Inkscape, and I'm glad to see so many people using Inkscape here too. Since Inkscape is extemely well suited for making Order of the Stick avatars, I've written up a guide on how I made my current avatar.

Learning Inkscape - An Order of the Stick Avatar Guide (http://trazoi.net/tutorials/inkscape/oots)

Here's the avatar I step through how to make in the guide:
http://img127.imageshack.us/img127/2636/swashavatarek8.png

If there's anything unclear, please post here and I'll try to fix it. I'm also happy to hear suggestions for how to improve the guide - it currently finishes quite abruptly and I'm still thinking of what to add next.

Hope this is useful, and that you have fun with Inkscape!

:roy: :Hero 1.0: Wow... this.. is incredibly convenient

Yareth

2007-12-22, 02:05 PM

Hi everyone,

I'm a fan of Inkscape, and I'm glad to see so many people using Inkscape here too. Since Inkscape is extemely well suited for making Order of the Stick avatars, I've written up a guide on how I made my current avatar.

Learning Inkscape - An Order of the Stick Avatar Guide (http://trazoi.net/tutorials/inkscape/oots)

Here's the avatar I step through how to make in the guide:
http://img127.imageshack.us/img127/2636/swashavatarek8.png

If there's anything unclear, please post here and I'll try to fix it. I'm also happy to hear suggestions for how to improve the guide - it currently finishes quite abruptly and I'm still thinking of what to add next.

Hope this is useful, and that you have fun with Inkscape!

Great tutorial! After reading it, I realized that there are so many tools in Inkscape that would make my OotS avatar drawings much easier. Thanks to this tutorial, I now know how to use layers, and turn objects into paths (as well as several other helpful tips and tricks). I am going to bookmark your webpage.

Maulrus

2007-12-22, 06:18 PM

This tutorial has opened my eyes. Behold, my first creation:

http://img143.imageshack.us/img143/6214/ootsavatartutgo9vh2wq8.jpg

I am going to have a fun night making stuff in Inkscape.

Trazoi

2007-12-22, 11:30 PM

@Shadow Addict: It looks pretty good! The image seems a bit squished though; is that just from the export from Inkscape?

I'm now on holiday for a week so I've got some time to spend on hobby stuff. I should be able to spare some time after Christmas to add in another tutorial or two - I'll see what I can get done. I'll check this thread then to see if there's anything in particular people would like to see.

Maulrus

2007-12-22, 11:57 PM

Yeah, it went through Photoshop for some reason and got stretched there.

Also, I think a face/head tutorial would be nice. Hair and mouths are kind of hard.

xwd

2007-12-23, 10:33 PM

I "followed" this tutorial (I skipped a couple steps) and got this.
http://img214.imageshack.us/img214/9213/ootsvatarblandui7.png
That's a rough representation of me. My hair really is that bad. :P I got bored so I gave myself a zip-up hoodie (the hood is obscured by my hair) and pants. I was gonna write something on the hoodie, but it didn't show up so well so I dropped it.
I was planning on adding an assault rifle, but I haven't found the time yet. Kinda tricky to get the shape right. I'm uptight about that 'cause I mod Soldat and that makes me really picky about shapes. But, I took your advice about reference images and it's starting to look good.
For my first thing ever made in Inkscape, I think it's pretty good. It's better than what I could've made in MS Paint, at least. I'm not very good with MS Paint.
It does leave room for expansion. Like, say, curling up in a corner listening to a MP3 player. Or busting some hot licks on a guitar. Or dual-wielding pie slices into my mouth. The possibilities are endless.
In any case, thanks for the great tutorial. I now know how to tweak polygons to my will now.

Heroic

2007-12-27, 04:08 PM

wow! I finally learned hoo make OotS Avatars! Proof in my avatar :smallwink:

Emperor Ing

2007-12-27, 04:21 PM

Heroic

2007-12-27, 04:21 PM

wow! I finally learned how to make OotS Avatars! Proof in my avatar :smallwink:

Ichneumon

2007-12-27, 04:52 PM

This guide is awesome.

Adghar

2007-12-27, 05:26 PM

I am an Adobe Illustrator user and/or/but I heartily endorse the use of this product and/or service.

Also, instead of layers, I personally prefer AI's move forward/backward and move to front/back keyboard shortcuts, ctrl+[ and ctrl+] and shift+ctrl+[ and so on, but that
-may be a personal choice
-may not be available for inkscape users.

Will investigate possibility two now. Expect an edit within four moments.

---

Ye gods, it's even easier in inkscape. One can simply use pgup, pgdn, home, and end. However I see the merit in layers if you are using references, as the references may accidentally be edited if you simply use raise/lower. Also you might have mentioned this already and I didn't notice it, because I was skimming the guide. However, if you have not mentioned it, it would be worth a mention the uses of pgup, pgdn, home, and end.

Heroic

2007-12-27, 06:15 PM

Thank you Trazoi, this guide has taught me how to create OotS Images. Thanks to you, I will finally create my webcomic.

Coming February 2008!
DUN, DUN, DUUUNNN!

Lyinginbedmon

2007-12-27, 08:16 PM

I just got a question.
I DL'd inkscape not too long ago, read the guide, and making great progress in learning it
But I need to know how to fit the size of the whole image into the size I want. Any help?

You can select everything, click the lock symbol inbetween the sizes in the top, and then change the sizes until they hit your maximum dimension, or you can do the same last step using the Export box. The latter method is easier because you only have to click Cntrl+E and start messing with the numbers (Which stay relative to each other)

Rayzin

2007-12-28, 10:34 AM

Can you turn it into a GIF or any other usable form like JPEG?

Heroic

2007-12-28, 10:59 AM

I don't know if its possible, but I nominate this thread for stickiness! :smallwink:

Rayzin

2007-12-28, 11:29 AM

That sucks... I made a avatar but i cant upload it onto image shack or anything

Omicroncubed

2007-12-28, 11:34 AM

You need to export it as a bitmap through CTRL+SHIFT+E before uploading

Ava

2007-12-28, 03:59 PM

I think this is a really good guide to help someone (who may or may not have any artistic skills) use Inkscape to make a good-looking OOTS character. I may try it myself and see if it's faster than using MS Paint. So far I've only used Inkscape for adding magical/translucent effects.

I have one problem with the guide though... if you follow these instructions, you're virtually tracing another artist's work and changing the clothes and hair to make your own character. Mimicking someone's style is complimentary, but tracing and calling it your own w/ out permission of the original artist is a grey area. Just be careful and make sure that you make your avatar your own art.

Trazoi

2007-12-28, 05:23 PM

I have one problem with the guide though... if you follow these instructions, you're virtually tracing another artist's work and changing the clothes and hair to make your own character. Mimicking someone's style is complimentary, but tracing and calling it your own w/ out permission of the original artist is a grey area. Just be careful and make sure that you make your avatar your own art.
I was a bit concerned about that when I made the tutorial, but the problem with OotS avatars is that getting the proportions right is a crucial part of making it look OotS. Getting the basic body shape correct is important, and in Inkscape there isn't any reason not to draw on top of your reference material rather than draw just next to it.

I also wrote the tutorial that way because it's very close to what I do with original art. I always start by making a rough draft first, either by scanning in a pencil drawing or by scribbling down some guides with the calligraphy tool within Inkscape itself. Then I make a new layer and make the shapes right on top of my scribbled draft drawing.

I don't think it's too much of a problem as long as everyone realises that
you're making Order of the Stick avatars; the style comes from the hard work of Rich Burlew
use this guide as a springboard for your own unique art

Lyinginbedmon

2007-12-28, 05:37 PM

My artwork evolved in a distinct path:
Direct, copy-paste, using MSPaint
Removal of all OotS pixels, replaced with personal MSPaint pixels, producing something of a distinct lower quality
InkScape duplication of previes MSPaint artwork
Constant, constant, constant minor alterations
So my style started off as a copy of another (The Great Rich Burlew) and then into a copy of my own copy. I could say "copy of a copy is less quality", as any fan of Stargate SG-1 will tell you, or I could call it Post-Mimetic Evolution.

Yeah, that's not a deliberate defense of copyright violation, I stopped after a very short period, but it is an example of mimicry becoming a new art style.

Uncle Festy

2008-01-12, 07:20 PM

This is really cool, I'm working on my first avatar.
One thing to note: There are different body sizes. For instance, Elan's body is tall and thin, whereas Roy's is shorter and wider.

Jimblee

2008-01-13, 01:57 AM

Awesome tutorial! Heres my first avatar:

http://img141.imageshack.us/img141/4094/ootswightun0.png

And a few hours later, my second:

http://img149.imageshack.us/img149/9765/ootskidcn4.png

I have no artistic skills whatsoever, so this really helped

Uncle Festy

2008-01-13, 03:24 PM

This guide is made of pure win. The Guide is Dead! Long Live The Guide!
http://i221.photobucket.com/albums/dd293/Uncle_Festy/UncleFesty-1.png
:cool:
-Uncle Out

Bayar

2008-01-13, 03:36 PM

This guide is made of pure win. The Guide is Dead! Long Live The Guide!

No it's not, Trazoi said he/she will make some more...for advanced stuff, like spellcasting and stuff...

Uncle Festy

2008-01-13, 05:36 PM

...and that.

Yeril

2008-01-13, 06:23 PM

This guide is made of pure win. The Guide is Dead! Long Live The Guide!
http://i221.photobucket.com/albums/dd293/Uncle_Festy/UncleFesty-1.png
:cool:
-Uncle Out

Looking good Festy :smallcool:

Trazoi

2008-01-13, 06:35 PM

No it's not, Trazoi said he/she will make some more...for advanced stuff, like spellcasting and stuff...
Yes, I apologise for not having done so yet. I've been juggling a few too many things at the moment, and with the weather being pretty hot this side of the equator it's sometime hard to muster up some creative energy. I'm also planning a webcomic of my own, so I've been spending a bit too long trying to design characters in pencil; I should get back to using Inkscape!

I'll make a note to put a few hours into improving the tutorial this week (and try harder to actually stick to the promise this time!)

Lyinginbedmon

2008-01-13, 06:50 PM

Trazoi

2008-01-13, 07:09 PM

We're looking more and more like we need a subforum aren't we? :smalltongue:

I wouldn't complain, it'd still be a smaller selection of threads to compete against if every one of them was a webcomic, I think there are fewer webcomic threads than Arts & Crafts threads...
I'm surprised at how many comics are run here. It's hard to tell what's a comic and what's not by the title alone!

In my case I've got my own drastically underused hosting plan already (that's where my tutorial lives) so I won't be using up a forum slot when I go live. Plus the comic isn't really OotS related in style or premise so it doesn't really belong here.

I'm a bit uncomfortable writing about something I'm months away from launching (with a fair chance of never seeing the light of day), so I'd better drag this back towards OotS Inkscape matters.

@jimblee, Festy: Those are really good: very OotS in style!

Uncle Festy

2008-01-29, 09:28 PM

Soooooo...

*Cricket, cricket*
Any chance of those guide updates in the foreseeable future?

Trazoi

2008-01-29, 09:40 PM

Soooooo...

*Cricket, cricket*
Any chance of those guide updates in the foreseeable future?
Yes, sorry. Not only have I been swamped by work but I've had a series of computer problems (I'm also in the process of buying an iMac partly because of this). If I can get Inkscape working stably under Leopard I'll see what I can do this weekend (hopefully I'll have got my iMac by then). It takes ages to write a tutorial, so I doubt I can get it done before.

Sorry about the delay; I'm in the midst of wrapping up my thesis, so I've got a lot on my mind.

Maulrus

2008-01-29, 09:50 PM

Don't rush. It would be better to wait a while for a tutorial on the calibur of the first.

Beniferin

2008-02-01, 11:57 AM

Hi,

I'm new to both this forum and inkscape, and I've made my first vile doodle, but when I attempt to save it in a format acceptable by imageshack/photobucket, none of them appear to work. Also, exporting as a bitmap seems to make it much grainier. How do you host your inkscape drawings?

Thanks :smallsmile:

Bayar

2008-02-01, 12:03 PM

We just export it as Bitmap and upload it on Photobucket...and it does not mess up...

Beniferin

2008-02-01, 12:37 PM

Oh, okay, thanks.

I never tried uploading it, I just made a bitmap copy to test it, and that (perhaps slightly predictably) screwed it up. I'll try uploading it.

DoomITP

2008-02-01, 12:50 PM

hey good guide. do ya think you could go over hoods?

Trazoi

2008-02-03, 04:54 AM

The good news is I've got and set up my new iMac computer. The bad news is that as far as tutorials go it has taken all the time I had on the weekend just to get Inkscape running under Mac OS Leopard; it must have taken about a dozen tries of various different software versions and script hacks just to get it to run, and then a dozen more to get the keyboard working properly. It didn't seem that hard under Tiger, and much easier under Windows XP...

I think it's running now, although it's shown signs it might be as unstable as a man standing on a street corner with a bazooka and his underpants on his head. If it holds up I'll start working on some new tutorials through this week.

Lyinginbedmon

2008-02-03, 05:21 AM

I think it's running now, although it's shown signs it might be as unstable as a man standing on a street corner with a bazooka and his underpants on his head. If it holds up I'll start working on some new tutorials through this week.

Now there's an interesting mental picture...

Dallas-Dakota

2008-02-03, 08:09 AM

My first inkscape creation guided by your guide, I went differently somewhere around the boots.
http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o135/legolas-maxx/Bloody_chef_experimentalsvg-g20968-.png

Uncle Festy

2008-02-03, 09:27 AM

Looks good, Dallas! Though the eyes are too... circley (yes I know I just made up a word, so sue me.)

Dallas-Dakota

2008-02-03, 10:14 AM

(I did the eyes completely as in the guide)

Qeustion : Whats the shortcut for turning things again?:smallconfused:

Uncle Festy

2008-02-03, 10:22 AM

(Ok. Just a comment.)
H flips horizontally, V flips vertically, and there are rotate buttons on the far left of the toolbar in select mode. I don't think there's a shortcut, though. Oh, and clicking an already-selected object (or group) lets you free-rotate, and moving the plus lets you choose from where.

Jimblee

2008-02-04, 08:16 PM

I'm actually getting some issues with the resizing of my new one... I don't know if I put too much into it, or what:

http://img87.imageshack.us/img87/8862/madprinceclockgj4.png

See what I mean? Is there any way I could get that fixed, or will I have to go through the whole thing and make a bunch of little edits here and there?

I do hope this thread is where I'd post this...

Trazoi

2008-02-04, 08:25 PM

See what I mean? Is there any way I could get that fixed, or will I have to go through the whole thing and make a bunch of little edits here and there?
I'm not sure what the problem is as I don't know what the original looked like. Vectors should scale well when you enlarge or shrink the image; that's one of their strengths.

Off the top of my head, there could be a few solutions to your problem:
Are you resizing in Inkscape, or using another tool like The GIMP or Paint.Net? If you're using a raster tool (one that uses little pixels to make the image) for any touch-ups it's best to export a really large image from Inkscape and scale down; that way you'll avoid the worst of the resizing problems.
One other problem with resizing within Inkscape is if you haven't set the toggle button for scaling the stroke correctly (that's the lines on the outside of the shapes). It's a toggle button on one of the toolbars above the ruler; you need to set it to scaling the stoke in proportion to the image if you want to rescale exactly.
If you have any non-vector images in your Inkscape file then you'll still get problems with resizing. Is that clock done in Inkscape or did you import it? In those cases, it's best to use a really large image as well.

Jimblee

2008-02-04, 08:34 PM

I did it all in Inkscape, and I had the rescaling all set up right... Heres an enlarged version, in case it helps:
http://img223.imageshack.us/img223/6743/madprinceclockpb5.png

Maybe its something to do with the thickness of the lines, or something..? :smallfrown:

Or maybe I'm just neurotic, nutters, and picky-nits to no return?

Trazoi

2008-02-04, 08:45 PM

The resizing seems to be fine; is it just you're unhappy with the result?

You could try changing the clock face to a shade of grey rather than white (or maybe grey-purple; that goes well against yellow), and maybe changing the gold rim on the clock to some other colour; since your character is also heavily based on yellow and white she might stand out more against something a bit darker.

Jimblee

2008-02-04, 08:49 PM

Oh.. well,, thanks.. How embarrassing

I can't tell if its comforting or not to know that it was all in my head

I guess I'll have to work the image around 'till I get something that doesn't make me feel ill

Trazoi

2008-02-04, 08:57 PM

No worries; I'm the same. I spend ages fixing tiny little bumps in the image, forgetting that at the end I'm going to be shrinking the thing down to a quarter of the size where no-one can see that level of detail anyway.

Also, here's a crudely retouched version of your avatar I did with the GIMP to see how it looks with a slightly purple clock; I was hoping to make the clock fade a bit into the background and make your character stand out a little bit more:
http://img219.imageshack.us/img219/3118/madprinceclockpb5jf3.png

Not sure how you like that; I think the magenta rim is a bit too garish, but you might want to play around with the colours and see if you like it a bit better.

Trazoi

2008-02-05, 05:15 AM

I've uploaded a new page to the tutorial, covering exporting images to PNG files. I'll try to add a new page every day or two this week.

Here's the link to the tutorial page again. (http://www.trazoi.net/tutorials/inkscape/oots/)

Dallas-Dakota

2008-02-05, 05:36 AM

Nice, though I knew most of it already:smalltongue:

Lyinginbedmon

2008-02-05, 06:11 AM

It does seem to be a recurring issue though, there must be at least half a dozen posts/threads around here about issues uploading SVG files to Photobucket and the like.

Trazoi

2008-02-05, 06:23 AM

That page was one I meant to include at the end of what I wrote originally, but I ran out of time. As a consequence there have been a number of confused people about what to do with their SVG files when they're finished. Plus I thought the technique of using a rectangle to choose where to take the selection might not be particularly obvious, and the use of pngcrush isn't that widespread but is very useful, especially if you've got a file size limit on your avatar or if you're making a webcomic.

Bayar

2008-02-05, 06:59 AM

the PNGcrush thing i did not know...but yeah, I usually use the rectangle to save :smallbiggrin:

Dallas-Dakota

2008-02-05, 09:12 AM

Second Inkscape creation :
For boo the hamster, a paladin'y hamster...thing...
Sketch thingy :
http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o135/legolas-maxx/g6254.png

Real thingy :
http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o135/legolas-maxx/g20144.png

Bayar

2008-02-22, 06:34 AM

Want to contribute to the guide with some tips and tricks:

To color the stroke with the teardrop tool, click on the color you want while holding shift.
It is often easier to shape the stroke if you have a bright color (red is what I use) and no fill.
The object will look better when it has less nodes.
If you wantto have a perfect circle again, hold shift while dragging the circle node (thanks Dr Bath !)

Will add more as i think of them...

Lyinginbedmon

2008-02-22, 08:09 AM

If you wantto have a perfect circle again, hold shift while dragging the circle node (thanks Dr Bath !)

Or you could go into the Circle options, select the arc in question, and click "Make Whole"

It also won't necessarily look better with less nodes, certainly it will look smoother, but smooth isn't necessarily good for everything (Like beards for example)

Fay Graydon

2008-02-25, 07:06 AM

Is there anyway to make it so that the background is transparent?
(sorry if this question has already been asked)

Trazoi

2008-02-25, 08:15 AM

Is there anyway to make it so that the background is transparent?
(sorry if this question has already been asked)
You can make objects transparent by adjusting their colour's alpha value, or by modifying the opacity. When you export, the background will keep the alpha values you give it.

Fay Graydon

2008-02-26, 06:25 AM

You can make objects transparent by adjusting their colour's alpha value, or by modifying the opacity. When you export, the background will keep the alpha values you give it.

After a bit of messing around with Inkscape I worked out how to do it on my own.
But thanks for trying to help out (even if I didn't use your advice in the end)

T-O-E

2008-02-26, 12:22 PM

Great guide, really helped a newbie out.
However, i'm struggling with something not covered in your guide. I want to place accurate speech-bubbles using Inkscape into my art, I know the answer is probably ridiculously obvious but I can't seem to do it.

Ego Slayer

2008-02-26, 12:41 PM

Troll - Not that I have any experience with speech-bubbles, but I'd say to use the circle tool, and then just draw the V shaped part with the freehand tool, and stick 'em together.

AmberVael

2008-02-26, 12:43 PM

Give a little clarification- do you mean you want to position it correctly, or do you need to make one?

Making one is fairly simply, I'd say. Depending on what shape you want to use, you just make a variation on the following method:
Make the main speech bubble object (IE, square, rounded rectangle, or circle) and then create an object that will be the "tail" which points towards the character. Place them so they're overlapping, then select them both and choose the Union option (it's under Path), and then you'll have a speech bubble. I recommend using the premade shape tools for the main bubble, and the bezeir pen for the "tail."

Edit: Ninja'd.

T-O-E

2008-02-26, 12:47 PM

Thankyou, that's what I assumed, I only needed some recognition.

Sorry for not clarifying, my english is quite bad.

Bayar

2008-02-26, 02:15 PM

I prefer to modify the oval bubble into an object, add 2 nodes and drag the thing...that way you know for sure it is perfect.

Dallas-Dakota

2008-02-27, 02:00 PM

I prefer to modify the oval bubble into an object, add 2 nodes and drag the thing...that way you know for sure it is perfect.

Thats what I do for making speach bubbles, only with three nodes and dragging the middle one away...

Goats_o_Mjolnir

2008-02-27, 02:29 PM

Is it better to draw an avatar on the defualt canvas and scale it down, or to draw on a 120 x 120 page?

Trazoi

2008-02-27, 04:47 PM

Is it better to draw an avatar on the defualt canvas and scale it down, or to draw on a 120 x 120 page?
If you're making an avatar for this forum, I'd make the page 120 x 120. It's not that critical as it's trivial to resize your work, but it's good to have the guide be the right shape for the forum. Having a square guide is a reminder that you can't make the avatar too tall or too wide.

Wolf53226

2008-02-27, 10:30 PM

I want to thank you for making this, and to show my appreciation, here is my first creation. Not completely happy with the weapon or the hair, but for a first attempt, I don't think it's too bad...will have to keep playing with it. :smallbiggrin:

http://i221.photobucket.com/albums/dd95/wolf53226/HalberdWarrior.png

And here is my second attempt at a new character, like this one better:

http://i221.photobucket.com/albums/dd95/wolf53226/SorcerorAngel.png

rubakhin

2008-02-29, 12:43 AM

Thanks for making this. :smallsmile: Without the tutorial I wouldn't know where to begin. I tried making avatar for the first time myself:

http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z118/ya_kochevnik/ootschechenguy.png

Now I'm wondering if the big ol' Chechen flag is skirting the no politics rule, but honestly, I just threw that in there so people would know he's not a Russian. :smallbiggrin: I guess there's nothing political about a deep-seated love for traditional dance, though.

Love2spoge

2008-03-07, 12:17 PM

Bayar

2008-03-07, 12:25 PM

play around with the nodes (those white squares/diamonds). It was hard for me too, but you get used to it fast.

Dallas-Dakota

2008-03-08, 05:36 PM

OmG , its a Relly Good Tutorial But.. the Part with the Finger ant the Trinagle and the Body and the Hand so hard... !!!
i was do the body nice and Suddenly THE ARMOR !!!!
the Shirt and all those stuff really hard so... can someone give me another adivce or whatever juts help :smalleek:

Are you doing this on purpose or is english not your primary(mother) language and you are not good at it?
If its the first one, please stop doing it, if its the latter... Well...ehm...:smallredface: :smallsigh:

I can help you via Msn if you have it, you can add me ( [email protected] ) (Any regulars on the A& C forum like bayar, trazoi and Rubahkin, and Vael(if you don't already have me on msn) can add me as wel if they want to:smalltongue: l)

Sensate

2008-03-26, 09:56 AM

I cannot believe I spent a day trying to make a decent avatar in Illustrator when all I needed to do was read this tutorial. You made me love Inkscape, I feel an insatiable craving for making new avatars :smallsmile:.

Lyinginbedmon

2008-03-26, 10:26 AM

You made me love Inkscape, I feel an insatiable craving for making new avatars :smallsmile:.

Ye've got tha quickenin' in ya now boy :smalltongue:

MeTheGameGuy

2008-03-29, 08:03 PM

How do I do talking mouths? :smallconfused: The guide says it'll tell you "later", and never gets around to it...

Also, stickying for this thread!

Lyinginbedmon

2008-03-29, 08:16 PM

Yeah, that is meant to be part of a later section, but Trazoi hasn't had time lately to get it done.

MeTheGameGuy

2008-03-29, 08:29 PM

Yeah, that is meant to be part of a later section, but Trazoi hasn't had time lately to get it done.

Oh. Darn. I haven't the slightest idea how.:smallfrown: Still an awesome guide:smallbiggrin: .

Uncle Festy

2008-03-29, 08:46 PM

Huh, it's bumped again.
Ok. Two things to help all of you budding Inkscape artists out there:
You can round the end of your lines by double - clicking on the stroke width (or just going to fill and stroke - stroke style), and clicking on the button that has a half-circle on top of a rectangle with a dotted line in the middle. Make sure you have the line you want to be rounded selected, though!
Making mouths? Hm, lessee... I'll make a mouth with screenshots of the process later, if anyone wants. At the moment, I gotta figure out how to get the new version of Inkscape to work...

MeTheGameGuy

2008-03-29, 08:57 PM

Huh, it's bumped again.

It must be bumped, for it is not stickied!

And thanks for the line rounding tip, btw. :smallsmile:

Trazoi

2008-03-29, 10:07 PM

How do I do talking mouths? :smallconfused: The guide says it'll tell you "later", and never gets around to it...
Sorry about that. I tend to work on these things when I both have free time and remember about the tutorials, and unfortunately I'm pretty swamped with work for the first half of this year. I'll have time for new tutorials in the second half of the year, although I'm thinking of moving to more general cartooning rather than Order of the Stick avatars.

For OotS talking mouths, I usually draw an outline with the pen as a single curve, and then create a black shape with the rectangle tool that I then mould into the appropriate shape.

MeTheGameGuy

2008-03-29, 10:21 PM

Sorry about that. I tend to work on these things when I both have free time and remember about the tutorials, and unfortunately I'm pretty swamped with work for the first half of this year. I'll have time for new tutorials in the second half of the year, although I'm thinking of moving to more general cartooning rather than Order of the Stick avatars.

For OotS talking mouths, I usually draw an outline with the pen as a single curve, and then create a black shape with the rectangle tool that I then mould into the appropriate shape.

Ah, thanks. :smallbiggrin:

Sensate

2008-03-30, 08:35 AM

For OotS talking mouths, I usually draw an outline with the pen as a single curve, and then create a black shape with the rectangle tool that I then mould into the appropriate shape.
Another thanks from me, that works a lot faster than the way I've been doing it (create a bezier curve and a rectangle and then try to squeeze in both into a mouth shape :smallsigh: ).

Morrsleib

2008-03-30, 12:59 PM

I really like it. After trying it, i made this one
http://img153.imageshack.us/img153/2826/fireelfwithshotgunwk7.jpg

Uncle Festy

2008-03-30, 01:21 PM

Sensate

2008-03-30, 01:36 PM

That is what we call, "pretty damn good for a first try."
It's a little hard to see anything because of the snow, the eyes are a little misproportioned, and it appears that he's naked, but other then that - nice job.

I agree with Uncle Feisty. That is good, though you may have experienced the artistic rush of a first timer so you added all that snow and other effects. The character itself is very well proportioned and has smooth lines, I would prefer to see it as an avatar.

Teutonic Knight

2008-03-30, 01:53 PM

First I'd like to thank Trazoi for the guide.
Second, After I made my third avatar (my current avatar), when I uploaded it using Imageshack, and put it as my avatar, somewhere along the line the file was distorted. If you notice, there are some distortions around the left arm and shield. Also, some of the holes on his helmet are bigger than others. Can anyone tell me what I did wrong?

P.S. If you right-click view image, you can see how it is supposed to look like.

KingofParades

2008-04-02, 02:20 AM

So, I made what seems to be the halfway decent avatar I'm currently using thanks to this. Mostly, I just want to know how to make it look like he's smirking. Any suggestions? Also, the thing in left hand (your right) is supposed to be a baton. Does it look a decent amount like one?
EDIT:
Making it not be stretched...
EDIT2: De-stretched...

Sensate

2008-04-02, 02:35 AM

Bayar

2008-04-02, 02:37 AM

put eyebrows and curve the left end of the mouth sharper.

KingofParades

2008-04-02, 02:41 AM

Will do, but where exactly do you recommend placing the eyebrows?

Trazoi

2008-04-02, 02:42 AM

For a smirk, I'd just do a half smile with the mouth combined with "angry" eyebrows. If you head over to the Baldur's Gate Heal/Hurt in the Silly Message Board Games thread I've illustrated many of the characters, and I tend to draw Edwin with a smirk; you could look at that for an example.

Here's an example:

http://img246.imageshack.us/img246/5743/bghhduel2xi0.png

KingofParades

2008-04-02, 02:45 AM

Er... I suppose I should have been more specific... I'm looking for a more care-free sort of smirk...

Trazoi

2008-04-02, 02:49 AM

Er... I suppose I should have been more specific... I'm looking for a more care-free sort of smirk...
More of a cheery half-smile than a sneer? Maybe just leave the eyebrows off then?

If the stick figures were more deailed, I'd put the eyebrows raised higher than you'd expect to look open and friendly, but I don't think I've seen an OotS character do that expression so I'm not sure it'd work.

Bayar

2008-04-02, 02:50 AM

:amused: <--there.

Trazoi

2008-04-02, 02:56 AM

:amused: <--there.
I've always thought that one looked more smug than amused :smallwink:

Actually, the wink isn't a bad example too. :wink:

KingofParades

2008-04-02, 02:58 AM

Hm... I'm trying this stuff, but its all making him look either like he's sneering, or it doesn't look like a smirk at all, just happy...
OH! I JUST GOT AN IDEA!

... Well this sucks... it works, but now he looks like he has a unibrow...

EDIT: Just realized I should probably say the idea... I just did a sneer and flipped the mouth horizontally...
EDIT2: A curve in the right direction seems to have semi-fixed it... switching to the new one as I type

Sensate

2008-04-02, 03:30 AM

Perhaps letting the teeth show would be the best for your type of smirk. Like Haley is doing here http://img137.imageshack.us/img137/5279/oots0129df3.gif.

KingofParades

2008-04-02, 03:33 AM

Ah...
yes, that would make sense.
I'll try that after sleeptime.
And schooltime.

Sensate

2008-04-07, 04:15 AM

Fostire

2008-04-07, 08:45 PM

If this isn't the right place to ask this question, I apologize, but this seemed like the only appropriate existing thread and I didn't want to make a new one. So here it goes,

Could someone instruct me on how to draw a better diamond (in 3D) or a dodecahedron for my avatar? It was supposed to be a sensory stone (the ones from Planescape: Torment) actually, and any 3D diamond-like object should fit that description. I would like to make it semi-transparent on each side too.

For a 3d effect what you need to do is play with lighting, choose a source of light and when you add color make the parts facing the source a lighter color, parts facing the sides should be slightly darker, and parts facing away should be the darkest.

To make it transparent change the alpha value on the fill color, and remember to draw a backside that you can see.

Here is my attempt at a diamond (non transparent) so you can see the lighting effects:
http://i137.photobucket.com/albums/q224/LordRod/Diamond.png
The source of light would be at the top right corner.

Hope it helps :smallsmile:

Sensate

2008-04-08, 12:48 AM

Trazoi

2008-04-08, 01:05 AM

While those tips about 3d effects could come in handy, that's not really what I was looking for. I wanted some tips on how to draw a diamond from an angle, so it could look more 3D. Your diamond looks pretty much the same as mine, flat.
I'm not sure exactly what you're looking for - are you wanting a diamond like you've currently got, but not as upright as you've currently got? As in the centre axis through the diamond is slanted?

Generally speaking, OotS styled art is very flat; it's sort of the point it looks like that (for one thing, it's a lot quicker to draw :smallsmile: ) But since you're going for a more detailed look for your avatars you might need to go up a level to sore more general cartooning tips.

For general cartooning, it helps if you can split the object you are modelling into a basic primitive shape - these are the "building blocks" you can break anything down into. Once you can draw the building blocks you can combine them to draw anything. The typical building blocks I use and practice are the box (rectangular prism), sphere, cylinder and cone.

For a typical diamond, it looks a bit like a cone with half a sphere on top (or maybe a cone with a short cylinder?). You can use those shapes to angle it the way you want, figure out the shading, and then mold that into the faceted shape of a gemstone.

Unfortunately I'm not at my home computer with my scanner and tablet right now, so I can't provide an example.

Trazoi

2008-04-08, 03:32 AM

Okay, here's a quick example I belted out with Inkscape. Bear in mind this was done all quick-like and I'm not that much of a proper artist yet; I need tons more practice with my perspective drawing!

Here's the basic shape for a diamond: a cone on bottom with a sort of squashed half-sphere on top:
http://img147.imageshack.us/img147/5134/diamond1gw6.png (http://imageshack.us)

(This was drawn using Inkscape's Calligraphy tool, which I tend to use to simulate a drafting pencil. I also tend to draw really wobbly lines when drafting freehand which is why I go over things a few too many times.)

After this, I marked where I want the facets to go by splitting the inner circle up into eight parts:
http://img172.imageshack.us/img172/3047/diamond2ub1.png (http://imageshack.us)

Then I lopped off the top facet face and drew in the facet lines (they could be a little straighter; I did a bit of a botch job here)
http://img172.imageshack.us/img172/8456/diamond3gz6.png (http://imageshack.us)

With the pen tool, you can then draw proper Inkscape shapes based on your draft. You can turn on snapping from the Document Properties to get the faces to all join together at the same point:
http://img266.imageshack.us/img266/2896/diamond4tc1.png (http://imageshack.us)

Then remove the scribbles and you're done!
http://img147.imageshack.us/img147/6895/diamond5cb7.png (http://imageshack.us)

You'll probably need to clean up the position of the nodes a bit to make sure it looks right; my gem is a bit wonky at the top, and if this wasn't an example I'd probably go back and play around with it. If you want to do transparent facets then you just need to draw the ones at the back as well and put transparency on them all. You can also be clever about your layers to make it easy to select different groups of shapes.

While this was pretty brief, I hope it helps!

Holammer

2008-04-08, 10:37 AM

Trazoi my man! Had I read your guide before I started with inkscape I would have saved myself a lot of time from reinventing wheels. The guide should be required reading for anyone wanting to play with OOTS style artwork.

Sticky this or I'll call down the fist of a vengeful god to smite this forum.

Sensate

2008-04-08, 05:49 PM

snip

Damnation, you made it look crystal clear. That is bound to help and doesn't look too time consuming. Currently, I am configuring my Ubuntu Linux (I switched from Windows again), but when I have time I'll make one of these beauties and post my results.

Of course, thank you. :smallwink:

DementedFellow

2008-04-08, 11:07 PM

Dallas-Dakota

2008-04-09, 12:07 AM

Hoplite

2008-04-09, 12:13 AM

This guide was indeed very useful.

Sensate

2008-04-09, 01:22 AM

Okay here is my first try. If anyone can tell me how to make these things bigger I'd like to know.
http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/m55/dementedfellow/avatar.pngFunny thing is, I don't really like clowns.

I'm ready for the constructive criticism.

As for making it bigger: make a 120x120 rectangle in a new layer and reduce it's opacity to 0. Try to use up the most of it by enlarging your character and using a pose that mimics movement (e.g. arms and legs stretched - running).

Lyinginbedmon

2008-04-09, 05:44 AM

You did your first try without it? Ok, no I'm reallys scared what you are up to when you have practised more...:smalleek:

Lots of people managed stuff like that without the guide Dallas, the guide just makes it a heck of a lot easier.

Holammer

2008-04-09, 06:52 AM

You did your first try without it? Ok, no I'm reallys scared what you are up to when you have practised more...:smalleek:

Just as Lyinginbedmon says, the guide made things so much easier. I'm living on easy street as I've been fiddling with art packages since Deluxe Paint. After reading the guide thoroughly and exploring the program on my own, this is my current progress. If not for the fact that I'm doing the stupid "Shattered Sun Offensive" faction on two characters, I'd have more to show. :smallannoyed:

http://i305.photobucket.com/albums/nn217/Holammer/test.png

Lots of teeny-weeny detail, good for close up shots. The other two chars ended up upstaging the cleric character something fierce. So I had to make him a "Cleric in Robes" just to make him look interesting.
Guy on the left is a Paladin (really!) and the guy on the right, well he'll probably be a bit of a surprise if I ever start doing a comic seriously.

Lyinginbedmon

2008-04-09, 07:16 AM

I'm a fairly big player in ABR, so I've had to make a lot of art on a fairly short basis, and things just gradually evolved into the state they are now for me. I started off with collaging The Giant, then I went to MSPaint, then I started getting the hang of InkScape (The effects of which are still largely around in early Remember strips) and then I fully perfected the various bodyforms in InkScape and it became the present-day art style I use.

Now, of course, it's not 100% Giant mimicry, but that I think makes it better rather than worse. It's the eery valley school of artworks, you want it to be as much like The Giant so it's recognisable, but as much unlike The Giant so it's still original and individual.

Fostire

2008-04-09, 01:06 PM

Sorry i couldnt help you sensate :smallfrown:

Anyway, can anyone tell me how to make a chain shirt oots style, i tried doing link by link but it takes forever and looks bad in the end.

Lyinginbedmon

2008-04-09, 01:23 PM

Just colour the shirt grey. The very first page of OotS shows that :smallwink:

Kd7sov

2008-04-10, 04:30 PM

So, here's mine:

http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f395/Kd7sov/Me-made/Eric.png

Except for the fact that the hair morphed into a beret, I'm fairly happy with it. My question, though: can a group be copied from one .svg into another, or does it need to be exported, imported, and traced?

Specifically, the sword was rather harder than I thought it would be. Can I just copy and paste it into future files, or will I have to do more?

Lyinginbedmon

2008-04-10, 04:36 PM

You can, but you need to open the target .svg by opening it from the initial one, instead of just clicking on the file in the folder.

Lyinginbedmon

2008-04-25, 02:46 PM

Just wondering if anyone else is having this problem and, better yet, if they've solved it and how.

I got 0.46 a while ago, and at the time I was running a trial version of Microsoft Office. When that ran out, the Fonts stopped working (Always staying on Sans) and I couldn't make Bold or Italic text.

I then get a full version of Office, but nothing is working. The Bold and Italic are still nonfunctional and the Font still won't change out of Sans (The other fonts are listed in a grey colour in the dropdown menu, but I can't select them). I've tried hunting for a faulty font cache and I've tried reinstalling the program but nothing seems to have worked.

Szilard

2008-04-25, 05:56 PM

When typing the text try ctrl+shift+t, It brings you to a screen where you can chose fonts and sizes and bold/italics.

Lyinginbedmon

2008-04-25, 06:15 PM

Aha, Inkscape provides as always.

Well, it's not a solution, but it's certainly a way around.

Elder Tsofu

2008-04-29, 07:29 AM

Well, this guide is great. Easy to understand, even for someone like me.
And I really like Inkscape after trying to do the avatar in the guide. :smallsmile:
My first attempt, and quite like the "original" (if I may say it myself):
http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w116/Julle34/path3947.png
Now it's just to try creating something of my own too. :smallwink:

Lyinginbedmon

2008-05-15, 03:53 AM

And new word on the facial expressions and such? :smallconfused:

Trazoi

2008-05-15, 05:40 AM

And new word on the facial expressions and such? :smallconfused:
A new word - umm, sorry? :smallredface:

I've got plans on writing a new set sometime in a few months after I finish up my degree, but I forgot about the requests for a few more OotS pages on the current tutorial pages. Unfortunately I'm pretty flat out over the next several days, I'll see if I can work on a facial expression page sometime in the next week or two.

MeTheGameGuy

2008-05-18, 02:01 AM

The Bold and Italic are still nonfunctional and the Font still won't change out of Sans (The other fonts are listed in a grey colour in the dropdown menu, but I can't select them). I've tried hunting for a faulty font cache and I've tried reinstalling the program but nothing seems to have worked.

I HATE that bug! A handy way to handle the forced Sans: Decide which font you actually USE the most, and open up the ctrl-shift-T dialog. Set your font as default, and you'll get that font instead of Sans! :smallbiggrin: More useful if you only use one font, but still a handy trick.:smallsmile:

Falgorn

2009-02-21, 03:24 PM

Nice job, very good tutorial, in fact, I made a little gnome. But, is there a way for you to explain hoods and helmets? I can'y make them. :smallfrown:

CrimsonAngel

2009-02-21, 04:03 PM

Time helps with getting better too.

First creation:
http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e381/CrimsonAngelChris/chris_avatar.gif

Latest creation:
http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e381/CrimsonAngelChris/g458.png

Falgorn

2009-02-21, 08:27 PM

I did everything you told me to, and I can't upload my avatar on photobucket. Am I doing something wrong?

Mortugg

2009-03-07, 06:41 AM

I did everything you told me to, and I can't upload my avatar on photobucket. Am I doing something wrong?

If you can't upload it, the file probably doesn't suit Photobucket's requirements. Make sure you export it as PNG and size it properly.

We want to draw a circle, but this tool can also draw ovals and arcs. We need to make sure that the shape we draw is a circle.
[...]
Once that's done, we can resize the circle by selecting it, holding the mouse on one of the arrows around the edges, and dragging it to the right shape - but we need to make sure it remains a cicle and doesn't skew out of shape

Maybe it's interesting for you to know that the heads actually never seem to consist of perfect circles. I assumed this already after a few first avatars, but recently I have copied the head of a character who was not standing upright, so it was rotated and the elliptic form was clearly noticeable :smallsmile:.

Vwulf DeMarcus

2009-08-23, 08:35 PM

Nice job, very good tutorial, in fact, I made a little gnome. But, is there a way for you to explain hoods and helmets? I can'y make them. :smallfrown:

Same here, except I made a drow.
And I also need explanation on hoods and helmets.

Mortugg

2009-08-24, 03:23 AM

For my Tyrael avatar (see the link in my sig), I started with comics of Miko's first appearances where she is wearing the hood. It's just tracing around it, drawing a black area inside and adapting the shape to make it look good. Or use a face which could be clipped on one side (there are numerous tutorials about using the clip function in Inkscape).
And for my Cleric of Tempus, I just made a half-circle and a slim rectangle below, converted them to paths and adjusted the shapes.

Generally, I think it's the same thing as for props: Find examples or similar things in the comics. If you can't, find them with Google's image search. The rest is just your intuition and liking :smallwink:

Here are some comics to look up some hoods: 200 (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0200.html), 254 (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0254.html), 304 (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0304.html)
And some different types of helmets: 201 (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0201.html), 261 (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0261.html), 283 (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0283.html)

Trazoi

2009-08-24, 04:15 AM

Generally, I think it's the same thing as for props: Find examples or similar things in the comics.
That's what I'd recommend too. It's much easier to draw something if you've got a reference. It helps if you own the books, because it's very easy to flip through the pages to find that one costume you're looking for.

Squark

2009-08-25, 01:40 PM

So you're making a new guide? Good to know, your first one helped me improve my art incredibly, and I'm reviewing this guide to try to fix some problems with porportions that were making certain positions and body types hard.

My question is this- What will the guide be about? Will it, as Lying's comment suggested, simply deal with facial expressions, or will it also deal with other advanced stick figure things, like the difference between Roy and Elan's body types, the difference between Haley and Celia's body types, Dwarf and Hafling body types (I can never get the proportions quite right), and the like?

Trazoi

2009-08-25, 06:02 PM

I'm meant to be making a new guide. :smallsigh: It's been on my list of "Things to do in 2009" since the start of the year. Unfortunately I've let time slip away from me. I feel I need to brush up on my own languishing skills a bit before I'm qualified to write any more tutorials, so it might be very late in the year before it gets done.

I don't know if it will be an avatar guide, however. I'm leaning towards writing a few more general Inkscape ones. The first tutorial series I was writing was on how to make vector art for computer games, back when I was learning Inkscape for the first time, but my skills weren't great and it petered out after only a few installments. I'm leaning towards rebooting it, given I need to illustrate my own stuff. Alternatively, if I finally get my act together and start this webcomic I've been meaning to start for ages (also on my "to do in 2009" list), it would be pretty straightforward to put up a "how I make my webcomic" guide.

V'icternus

2009-08-27, 05:05 AM

Well, without your guide, I'd have never gotten female figures right. (And as one of my main reasons for getting Inkscape was to contribute the the OotS Fanservice thread, well... female forms are important, 's all I'm sayin'.)

Now I just need to get good... :smalltongue:

Delorges

2009-08-30, 02:32 PM

The guide is a great help! Thanks to it I managed to make an avatar for the forums. :smallsmile:
http://img340.imageshack.us/img340/5750/delava.png
Not quite perfect, but for a very first try I'd say it's superb. :smallbiggrin: I basically had little to none experience with inkscape either, so I'm quite happy with how it turned out.

Thanks again for the guide!

Eon

2009-08-30, 02:52 PM

The Neoclassic

2009-08-30, 02:58 PM

The guide is a great help! Thanks to it I managed to make an avatar for the forums. :smallsmile:
http://img214.imageshack.us/img214/2330/ootsava.png
Not quite perfect, but for a very first try I'd say it's superb. :smallbiggrin: I basically had little to none experience with inkscape either, so I'm quite happy with how it turned out.

Wow, that's very good! And indeed superb for a first go. Only a few minor recommendations:

The eyebrow/expression lines could be longer; look at some angry OotS characters (or even the forum smilies) to get an idea for a more fitting length. The eyes look a bit small, but that might be in part due to expression/hair. :smallsmile:

aww all these people did way better on their first try and are still doing better...:smallfrown:
first:
http://i692.photobucket.com/albums/vv288/generick_01/Lightningknight.png

recent
http://i692.photobucket.com/albums/vv288/generick_01/druidandguineapig.png

You still need to work on your line thickness and the size of your eyes. Compare your work to a copy/pasted OotS picture for reference, and adjust those details until they look in line with OotS-style. Positioning and size of the mouth could be worked on too. Really, if you spend a little time working on those and patiently fixing them to look more OotS-like, it'll go a very long way. :smallsmile:

Dallas-Dakota

2009-08-30, 03:00 PM

aww all these people did way better on their first try and are still doing better...:smallfrown:
first:
http://i692.photobucket.com/albums/vv288/generick_01/Lightningknight.png

recent
http://i692.photobucket.com/albums/vv288/generick_01/druidandguineapig.png
Remember, avatar-making is not for everybody. I'm sure you have other stuff you're good at! You can't be good at everything.:smalltongue:

Delorges

2009-08-30, 03:06 PM

Wow, that's very good! And indeed superb for a first go. Only a few minor recommendations:

The eyebrow/expression lines could be longer; look at some angry OotS characters (or even the forum smilies) to get an idea for a more fitting length. The eyes look a bit small, but that might be in part due to expression/hair. :smallsmile:

Thanks! I'll keep that in mind for my next try.

Eon

2009-08-30, 03:37 PM

Remember, avatar-making is not for everybody. I'm sure you have other stuff you're good at! You can't be good at everything.:smalltongue:

i know but it's fun to make them when i have some inspiration on what to make it just... isn't the most rewarding...

Dallas-Dakota

2009-08-30, 04:22 PM

You know what? You have msn?

Eon

2009-08-30, 04:58 PM

You know what? You have msn?

i know that it's not for everyone it's just addicting... and i think i'm getting better: http://i692.photobucket.com/albums/vv288/generick_01/D13srequest1stattempt.png

Emperor Ing

2009-08-30, 05:02 PM

Quick tips:
1) legs and torso are ALWAYS about the same length
2) Curves are your best friend for arms and hands
3) Arm connection to the body is almost always going to be where the neck should be.

Eon

2009-08-30, 05:06 PM

Quick tips:
1) legs and torso are ALWAYS about the same length
2) Curves are your best friend for arms and hands
3) Arm connection to the body is almost always going to be where the neck should be.

oh okay... i think i have to change it for the requester then...

Emperor Ing

2009-08-30, 05:07 PM

and another useful tip: Hair is insanely annoying, so my best advice for that is practice practice practice. You'll get better at it slowly and steadily.

Eon

2009-08-30, 05:09 PM

and another useful tip: Hair is insanely annoying, so my best advice for that is practice practice practice. You'll get better at it slowly and steadily.
:biggrin:
http://i692.photobucket.com/albums/vv288/generick_01/D13srequesttake2.png

Zolkabro

2009-08-31, 02:05 AM

I've used GIMP for a long time, but I mostly used it for pixel art. When I tried to draw Oots characters with it, things got ugly. Especially the art.
So I tried Pages. It isn't an art program, but using the shapes and the pen tools I managed to create some pretty good characters, like Rhedyble's avatar.
But then I tried Inkscape. Perfection. I'm making Oots style versions of my family, and I couldn't have done it without this guide. Thank you so much.

Inkscape and GIMP are pretty similar, so my knowledge of GIMP has enabled me to make even better Oots people, and as I'm pretty practiced with the pen tool in other programs that was easier as well. So I'm looking forward to doing loads of art!

EDIT: I have now completed my first try. An Oots style picture of my brother:

file:///Users/isaac/Pictures/My%20Art/Oots%20art/Family/Eli%20Oots.png

What do you think?

MethosH

2009-08-31, 07:02 AM

EDIT: I have now completed my first try. An Oots style picture of my brother:

file:///Users/isaac/Pictures/My%20Art/Oots%20art/Family/Eli%20Oots.png

What do you think?

I think you should try upload it to the internet first :smallbiggrin:
You can't really post a image from your PC.

Zolkabro

2009-08-31, 10:20 AM

Sorry.

Here is my brother, Oots style. (http://zolkabro.deviantart.com/art/Rezzle-Oots-Style-135409937)

Please view it full size, otherwise deviant art has given it an odd black background for some reason.

Mortugg

2009-09-01, 06:47 AM

Please view it full size, otherwise deviant art has given it an odd black background for some reason.

I had the same problem, but I found a nice solution. Before you export your PNG, go to Document Properties (Ctrl+Shift+D) and choose a background color which has no transparency (set the alpha value to 255). The transparency is dA's problem when displaying the images, so removing it avoids it. It's also a good idea to have control over your background to assure your character is always clearly visible. And it looks nice :smallwink:

Freshmeat

2009-09-01, 12:39 PM

Well, I've tried my hand at an OotS-style avatar by using this guide and I must say it's been a great help.

First attempt, while storming through the guide:
(still needs resizing)

http://img389.imageshack.us/img389/6308/cyborgguy.png

I made a mistake with his right hand, so I just turned him into a cyborg. Go figure.

Second, more serious and considerably longer attempt:
(still needs resizing)

http://img82.imageshack.us/img82/263/gunslingerchickb.png

I messed up in quite a few places, especially where layers were concerned. In hindsight, I also forgot to add proper curves. Still, I think it turned out quite alright.

and another useful tip: Hair is insanely annoying, so my best advice for that is practice practice practice. You'll get better at it slowly and steadily.

QFT.

Mordokai

2009-09-01, 12:53 PM

Those look great Fresh :smallsmile: Especially the second one... love all the details! :smallbiggrin:

Freshmeat

2009-09-01, 01:32 PM

Those look great Fresh :smallsmile: Especially the second one... love all the details! :smallbiggrin:

Yeah, I had some fun with that. I should've started out bigger though and then downsized it to avatar size. Most of the details are a bit of a waste now since they're too blurry if stretched and nigh-unreadable/unseeable if not. Curse my poor sense of perspective!

Here's a quick close-up on the inner coat and random gadgets:
Don't miss the poor layering on the revolver/hand and the holster/belt! :smallbiggrin:

http://img515.imageshack.us/img515/5359/closeup.png

Also: yes, that's an owl. A hypnotizing owl.

MethosH

2009-09-01, 03:29 PM

Looks great!

I just.. well.. there is something wrong with the feet... not sure what yet :smallconfused:

Freshmeat

2009-09-02, 08:48 AM

I think I made the feet too small. Anyway, I've discovered that that avatar doesn't really work well when reduced to actual avatar size, which is too bad.

As a tip to other newcomers, you might find it useful to just make a 120x120 square as a 'template' and make all your avatars inside the 'box' you thus created. I find that it helps a bit to keep proper perspective of height and size, and that it's particularly useful to keep tabs on how an avatar looks at avatar-size (just zoom out all the way - tah-dah!) when working in inkscape.

Zolkabro

2009-09-06, 01:56 PM

Well, I've tried my hand at an OotS-style avatar by using this guide and I must say it's been a great help.

First attempt, while storming through the guide:
(still needs resizing)

http://img389.imageshack.us/img389/6308/cyborgguy.png

I made a mistake with his right hand, so I just turned him into a cyborg. Go figure.

Second, more serious and considerably longer attempt:
(still needs resizing)

http://img82.imageshack.us/img82/263/gunslingerchickb.png

I messed up in quite a few places, especially where layers were concerned. In hindsight, I also forgot to add proper curves. Still, I think it turned out quite alright.

QFT.

I think the first one is unimpressive and badly done.
However the second one is absolutely AWESOME! I love it! The "stabbity" made me laugh. It's just so amazingly detailed. I though my first few tries on Inkscape were good, but that's way too detailed and fiddly for me! How on Earth did you manage it?

More! More!

Freshmeat

2009-09-08, 10:10 AM

I think the first one is unimpressive and badly done.

Yeah, no kidding. :smallbiggrin:

However the second one is absolutely AWESOME! I love it! The "stabbity" made me laugh. It's just so amazingly detailed. I though my first few tries on Inkscape were good, but that's way too detailed and fiddly for me! How on Earth did you manage it?

Patience and trial and error, mostly. And lots of Time™.

More! More!

Well, I've practiced quite a bit and have made a few things in the meantime that I'm quite happy with, but I wouldn't like to show it all yet. However, I've found that Inkscape is absolutely terrific for drawing guns, so I'll show you three that I think worked out pretty well:

http://img181.imageshack.us/img181/5353/inkscapeguns.png

Respectively a steampunk revolver (http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_vv5SDGCiuso/SSgoxjqsmYI/AAAAAAAABjs/vGuwcxkbSNg/s400/2307099935_20f8c0d22a_o.jpg) [not the exact reference picture I based it off though], the Blade Runner pistol (http://www.blade-runner.it/images/deck-gun.jpg) and some kind of steampunk/electricity-based assault rifle I thought of (I forgot to make the background around the trigger invisible before uploading it, but oh well). As you can see, I took a few liberties with some of the details so the first two aren't exactly carbon copies (albeit pretty close) of their non-oots counterparts. The steampunk revolver still has a few flaws so I'll probably edit it at some point in the near-future.

That said, I don't think I'll show off much more pictures from now on, since I wouldn't like to hijack this thread. :smallamused:

Mystic Muse

2009-09-09, 03:40 PM

MethosH

2009-09-09, 05:39 PM

I need help. on my inkscape program all the shapes I make are transparent, not deep enough colors and they have no stroke whatsover no matter how ridiculous I make the amount. It's never done this before though.

I'm on Ubuntu 8.10 in case that affects anything.

This could be 3 things... The transparency of the colour, the transparency of the object, or the transparency of the layer. Could I see some printscreens of your inkscape?

Mystic Muse

2009-09-09, 06:03 PM

sorry. I fixed it somehow and forgot to get rid of my post. thanks though.:smallsmile:

MethosH

2009-09-09, 06:16 PM

No problem.. Next time just remember to post it on the right thread.. There is a InkScape Help Thread here somewhere. :smalltongue:

grubblybubbly

2009-09-11, 02:19 PM

this is exactly what i am looking for!!! thanks soo much!:smallbiggrin:

Psyco Jelly

2009-09-27, 07:21 PM

Thanks for the guide. Using it, I made this awesome Avatar. It's James Hetfield from Metallica.

Crimmy

2009-09-27, 08:49 PM

Psyco jelly, that's awesome.

Psyco Jelly

2009-09-27, 11:01 PM

Thanks, I'm working on the whole band. It's amazing how authentic the characters look if you follow this guide.

Zolkabro

2009-10-01, 07:21 AM

Mods, Mods, Where Ever You Are!!!

Sticky This!!!!!!!!

Gullara

2009-10-06, 02:47 PM

this is great, but is there one for paint?

I would kill myself if I had to make my avatars on paint.

Keris

2009-10-06, 03:18 PM

I would kill myself if I had to make my avatars on paint.
Couple of things:

Some of the best avatars on the forum are made with paint. It's a surprisingly versatile program.
It's generally considered not worth it to reply to a post that is two years old.

Jokasti

2009-10-06, 03:24 PM

Couple of things:

Some of the best avatars on the forum are made with paint. It's a surprisingly versatile program.
It's generally considered not worth it to reply to a post that is two years old.

Don't you mean a thread that is two years old?

Keris

2009-10-06, 03:31 PM

Don't you mean a thread that is two years old?

No, I meant a post. rpgsr4me quoted a post, and because of this I felt fairly safe in assuming that he was replying to it directly, particularly as his post would have little connection with the topic of this thread in general.

Gullara

2009-10-08, 11:25 AM

DwarvenExodus

2009-10-25, 07:38 AM

Until I read this guide, I would spend hours in paint on my avatars.
Now I can make art like this in 15 minutes :smalltongue:

http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb300/roger123275/Roy.png

Trixie

2009-10-25, 10:38 AM

As a tip to other newcomers, you might find it useful to just make a 120x120 square as a 'template' and make all your avatars inside the 'box' you thus created. I find that it helps a bit to keep proper perspective of height and size, and that it's particularly useful to keep tabs on how an avatar looks at avatar-size (just zoom out all the way - tah-dah!) when working in inkscape.

Um... no. In my experience, it's far better to just send your large size screen to paint, do a final adjustment, send to Irfan, make final sharpening and resizing, save. Takes around as much time, but the resulting image is far sharper, smaller and a lot less 'muddy' than what the Inkscape can produce.

That, and I find such little boxes severely limiting, due to a few factors.

I would kill myself if I had to make my avatars on paint.

What.

Paint is hands down the best, most lightweight editor you can use - it you know how to use it. All my avatars saw paint at least once during drawing.

Until I read this guide, I would spend hours in paint on my avatars.
Now I can make art like this in 15 minutes :smalltongue:

http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb300/roger123275/Roy.png

Um... I'd advise to to spend another 15 minutes working on sword, both hands, and legs.

Also - eyes, mouth and shoulderpads.

Fostire

2009-10-25, 10:46 AM

Until I read this guide, I would spend hours in paint on my avatars.
Now I can make art like this in 15 minutes :smalltongue:

http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb300/roger123275/Roy.png

It's not bad but it can still be improved. A lot.
My recommendations:
-Don't use the calligraphy tool for oots style avatars (that's what you used for the boots, isn't it?)
-Manually modify the nodes to make smoother shapes.
-Try to make the side fingers of the hand into one curved line instead of two, and the middle finger I usually make it as a continuation of the arm.
-Change the capping of the stroke into the round one:
Change from this one:

http://i137.photobucket.com/albums/q224/LordRod/thisone.png

into this one:
http://i137.photobucket.com/albums/q224/LordRod/thatone.png

Uncle Festy

2009-10-25, 12:10 PM

http://img181.imageshack.us/img181/5353/inkscapeguns.png

One internet for you, good sir. One massive internet for you. ^^

Gullara

2009-10-26, 10:49 AM

What.

Paint is hands down the best, most lightweight editor you can use - it you know how to use it. All my avatars saw paint at least once during drawing.

I don't mean to say paint is bad, just that I wouldn't use it.

EmeraldPhoenix

2009-10-26, 11:44 AM

What.

Paint is hands down the best, most lightweight editor you can use - it you know how to use it. All my avatars saw paint at least once during drawing.
Plus it's great for spritework!

Um... I'd advise to to spend another 15 minutes working on sword, both hands, and legs.

Also - eyes, mouth and shoulderpads.

Head, shoulders knees and toes (Knees and toes!)
Head, shoulders knees and toes (Knees and to-o-o-oes)
Eyes, and ears, and mouth and nose,
head, shoulders knees and toes (Knees and toes!):smalltongue:

John Cribati

2009-11-07, 09:21 PM

You should add a guide on drawing monsters with odd-shaped heads, like kobolds.

Crimmy

2009-11-07, 09:56 PM

You should add a guide on drawing monsters with odd-shaped heads, like kobolds.

Ehh, this guide is made to tell you exactly HOW to learn those things.
If you can't make them good, then start tracing, make a template, and then continue.

Copacetic

2009-11-08, 02:06 AM

I... I did it. I made a piece of art! I'm an artist! It only took me what, three hours, and I did it! Yippee! Now to show off my amazingly beautiful first attempt!

http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w41/Frigs_album/G-Ninja.png

And then I saw Freshmeat's post. I... am both insanely jealous and awed. Terrific work, sir!

AlfredAmeoba

2009-12-06, 08:58 AM

Awesome guide! Now I'm hooked on the program. I do not know how you would do anything without the nodes tool.

Thajocoth

2009-12-06, 04:06 PM

I used your guide, and then tweaked a bunch to get the left half of my current avatar. I found it incredibly helpful. I would certainly recommend it to others. :smallsmile:

Now if only I could get the bugs to look right...

Trazoi

2009-12-06, 05:16 PM

Now if only I could get the bugs to look right...
The best way is to find something that looks vaguely like the bug type you want in an OotS strip. The demon roaches are one type, but I'm sure are some flies or moths in there somewhere.

AlfredAmeoba

2009-12-06, 05:36 PM

Try looking for roy's corpse shots.

Woohoo halfing!

Thajocoth

2009-12-06, 08:34 PM

The best way is to find something that looks vaguely like the bug type you want in an OotS strip. The demon roaches are one type, but I'm sure are some flies or moths in there somewhere.

Try looking for roy's corpse shots.

Thanks a lot! It does look a lot better now that I looked back at Roy's corpse and the Killer Hornets Belkar put on V... They're like a swarm of tiny glowing things instead of the weird-looking balls of light they were before.

EmeraldPhoenix

2009-12-06, 08:59 PM

You should add a guide on drawing monsters with odd-shaped heads, like kobolds.

I agree with this.

Also, I have a hard time drawing halflings. Anybody got advice for them? The girls especially have a weird body shape I can't get...:smallyuk: Same problem with dwarves.

I'm pretty good doing most other races, though.

Fostire

2009-12-06, 09:03 PM

I agree with this.

Also, I have a hard time drawing halflings. Anybody got advice for them? The girls especially have a weird body shape I can't get...:smallyuk: Same problem with dwarves.

I'm pretty good doing most other races, though.

*ahem*

Ehh, this guide is made to tell you exactly HOW to learn those things.
If you can't make them good, then start tracing, make a template, and then continue.
Just go through the comic and find a kobold or whatever it is you want to draw and trace it.

Gossipmonger

2009-12-07, 10:19 PM

My first attempt! Baby steps, and all that.

http://img710.imageshack.us/img710/645/satyr1.png

(Dunno why I just bothered reposting and spoilering my avvie...)
The guide is really helpful, so thanks for that. I think I just found a new hobby :smallbiggrin:
I think props and/or expressions are going to be my least favourite things to deal with. Gonna have to make a nice big collection of reference material.

Maximum Zersk

2009-12-07, 11:00 PM

Gossipmonger

2009-12-07, 11:40 PM

That's actually pretty good!

Though the mouth seems a bit strange.

Thanks! Yeah, I couldn't get the mouth quite right, but close enough is good enough for now. I'll probably edit it once I get a bit more practise in.

Thajocoth

2009-12-07, 11:46 PM

Thanks! Yeah, I couldn't get the mouth quite right, but close enough is good enough for now. I'll probably edit it once I get a bit more practise in.

http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0692.html

Bottom set of panels. Lots of open mouths there for you to compare with. Good luck!

Gossipmonger

2009-12-08, 12:06 AM

http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0692.html

Bottom set of panels. Lots of open mouths there for you to compare with. Good luck!

Awesome! There's a lot of useful props in that one too. Cheers.

Edit: Minor update. Comparison below! Time for a break now, though.

New And Improved! Changed the mouth, and added a tail.
http://img207.imageshack.us/img207/5181/satyr2.png
Old And... Unimproved?
http://img710.imageshack.us/img710/645/satyr1.png

Keris

2009-12-08, 03:49 AM

The mouth is definitely an improvement, although it still needs a bit of work, I've found mouths one of the hardest things to get right in OotS style. And it may interest you that there is an OotS precedent (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0273.html) for goat-legged fauns, although the stick-legs convey the meaning fine already. :smallsmile:

Zelthax

2009-12-13, 10:18 PM

I apologize if this has already been answered, but what font does The Giant use when speech is concerned?

*EDIT* After much deliberation, I believe that it is Comic Sans.

Trazoi

2009-12-13, 10:24 PM

I apologize if this has already been answered, but what font does The Giant use when speech is concerned?
The speech appears to be Comic Sans MS. It's one of Microsoft's Core Fonts for the Web, so it's on most computers.

The title font appears to be Lucida Grande. This font comes with Mac OS X, but it might be harder to find if you're using Windows.
Edit: Maybe Lucida Sans Unicode might work? It's slightly different (the numeral 1 is different, for example) but it's got a similar look.