The Book of Inkscape

24.4 Treatment 4: A Photorealistic Rendition

This rendition is the most time-consuming of all: We want to recreate the original photograph as closely as possible in this part of our drawing. Absolute photorealism, of course, is neither possible nor desirable, but we can try to achieve the characteristic “vector photorealism” look which is attractive in its own unique way. The key here is the proper use of shapes, gradient, and blur.

After positioning the square in which we’re going to work, reveal the layer where you have the source photo. Then, start by dividing your drawing into areas, each approximated by flat color or a single gradient. Use the Pencil tool (14.2 The Pencil Tool) to create these areas and the Gradient tool (10.1 The Gradient ...