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Skills, Challenges & Artwork => Drawing Challenges and Contests => Topic started by: brynn on October 31, 2013, 04:26:05 AM

Title: draw your favorite candy challenge
Post by: brynn on October 31, 2013, 04:26:05 AM
Hi Friends,
If you live in the US, there's a good chance you have a bunch of candy around your house right now, which inspires this challenge.  Draw your favorite candy or your favorite Halloween (or any holiday) candy.  It could be your current favorite candy, or a childhood favorite, or maybe you'd like to invent some new kind of candy.  It could be the candy itself or the candy wrapper/container, and it can be in any style you want.

My current favorite candy is actually sugarless (sweetened with xylitol) (which is good for the teeth) and comes in a cute little container.  So I think I'll draw its container, and maybe a couple of individual pieces.

Happy drawing, and let's see your results (if you like)  :D
Title: Re: draw your favorite candy
Post by: Inkspots on November 01, 2013, 03:24:37 PM
Hi brynn,
I like the bright colors and interesting textures and shapes of many candies, so I think I'll give this a try.
I'll see what I can find to use as a model, and post again when I've decided what to draw.
Title: Re: draw your favorite candy
Post by: brynn on November 01, 2013, 03:52:06 PM
Yeah, I hope to be able to draw a piece of that old fashioned (but still readily available, lol) ribbon candy, that I often see around xmas.  But first, I'll have to find some so I can buy a few pieces to use as a model.  My memory does not contain enough details to make it realistic (which is the style I prefer to draw).  Meanwhile, I'll just draw this cute little candy container.  The actual candy is fairly simple round pieces, but I might add a few of those scattered around the container.  But I'll definitely be looking for some ribbon candy, so I can draw that too, later!
Title: Re: draw your favorite candy
Post by: Inkspots on November 01, 2013, 04:32:06 PM
O-my, Ribbon candies!
I started drawing a Ribbon Candy over a year ago, and I still dont have it looking like I want.
that subtle diamond grid texture on the surface of this kind is a pain to draw, but vital. Most people might not be consciously aware of seeing it but, leave it out and they notice immediately that something isnt right. I've got lots of comments from family, like " why bother with that? no one will ever see it anyway." but I know its there, and I know the drawing isnt right without it. maybe I've draw it too subtly, I dont know. I have a bit of a problem trying to depict the way light passing through the thinner parts of the candy affects the colors to, but I havent given up.

Maybe we should do Christmas candies around holiday time.
p.s I also tried drawing candy Santas, but failed dismally.

Title: Re: draw your favorite candy
Post by: brynn on November 01, 2013, 05:13:58 PM
diamond pattern?  Wow, that's a detail that my memory left out, lol.  I'm sure I've seen ribbon candy with smooth glaze though.

Since these challenges are not time dependant, people can post candy from whatever holiday it happens to be, when they see this topic and decide to draw.  Hopefully we'll get all kinds of candy, over time!
Title: Re: draw your favorite candy
Post by: brynn on November 03, 2013, 11:22:42 AM
Ok, I've got a wip ready:

(http://inkscapecommunity.com/jd/ss/candy-wip1.png)
So hopefully that looks like a tiny tin.  It's roughly the size of the old fashioned chewing gum packages (the kind that had 5 sticks of gum....idk, maybe they're still made, I don't chew a lot of gum anymore).  That tiny lid flips up, something like Pez candy containers (if anyone remembers those).  It will look a lot more like what it's supposed to, when I put the reflections in.  Possibly, the lid is too large -- I'm not sure if it's too large, or if it's just the perspective that does that?

Those aren't the final colors at all, I'm still playing around with those.  Actually, the tin is still in the original 3D Box tool colors.  I'd like to be able to combine the Inkscape logo, with the text on path around it, and "sugar free", make them a lot smaller, and put them inside a shield shape, or star or something similar, so that the whole thing is like the logo for the Inxcape brand.  But you wouldn't be able to read the text, at the size it would need to be.  But I still might experiment with that idea.

I'm thinking of adding some kind of an oval shape, like shown with just a stroke, in the non-perspectivized version (on pink bg).  I'm thinking of giving it the appearance that the inside of the oval is sunken in (like looking into the tv/movie concept of a wormhole) so that it looks like the words are shooting out of it.  But I don't have a complete concept about that.  It might work to just make "Inxcape" quite a bit larger.  Any comments or suggestions about that would be welcome  :)

Another idea I'm considering, is a sunburst for the backgroud, where the Inkscape logo is the center of the sunburst, and the rays extend around the tin.  That would be tricky, since it will have to be mostly freehand, to make the rays appear to wrap around.  Although Bend LPE could be very helpful.  :wink1:   I should also say that I do not have any professional experience with branding or advertising, or even graphic design (since I only use Inkscape as a hobby).  So I'm only drawing what I might have seen somewhere -- I don't know anything about the concepts behind branding or advertising graphics.

So I guess that's about all I can say.  Questions, comments, suggestions welcome  :D

PS - With my ribbon candy idea, I'm thinking of putting together a little "still life" of a bunch of different hard candies, for another drawing.  Might have to visit a candy store  :f5:    :-D
Title: Re: draw your favorite candy
Post by: Lazur on November 03, 2013, 02:07:37 PM
Ha!
So there might be a place for creating fast branding contests,
if anyone interested in how to summon and steal the customer's soul with eye candy.

You mentioned pez -made a silly image based on that some time ago for another "contest" (http://www.puregraffiti.com/graffiti-space/forum/graffiti-junkies/graffiti-contests-battles/graffiti-contests-battles-archive/88209-candy-battle).
Just for fun, nothing serious. (http://kepfeltoltes.hu/100603/peppr2_www.kepfeltoltes.hu_.png)
Title: Re: draw your favorite candy
Post by: brynn on January 26, 2014, 02:22:54 AM
Ok, after a lot of virtual crumbling up paper and starting over (i.e. deleting), I'm finally at a close, good enough for me, wip, that's almost finished.  I'm really not good with the advertising part of this.

(http://inkscapecommunity.com/jd/ss/inks-mints-wip2.png)

What's left to be done?  The little dimple in the lid, that makes it snap closed and not fly open, needs a bit more realism.  Still need to add major reflections, and I guess some shadows too.  Already made some shading for the top of the lid.  Hopefully the reflections will help it look more "tinny".

Something still seems "off" about the lid, so I'm still pondering what I can do.

I'm not sure what kind of surface I'll make, that the tiny tin is sitting upon.  That's something I struggle with, as far as what's artistic and together with my personal style.  I'd like to make it look like it's sitting on some surface, without actually having to draw that surface....and also not to look like it's floating in space.  If anyone has any tips or examples, I'd appreciate it   :)

Or of course comments or suggestions about the rest of it, are welcome as well.
Title: Re: draw your favorite candy
Post by: Lazur on January 27, 2014, 07:02:57 PM
Hi,

maybe you should put a candy right next to the package? Without that it's just a box that could hold anything.

One of my favorite candy is cream fudge, but couldn't find a good photo referrence for it.
It had quite a huge popularity for decades, and still is an important part of local sweets.
It has it's most well known form's roots in Poland.
The yellow colour, the picture of the cow, and the inner paper preventing you from getting sticky everywhere
-which you will end up, if you open it anyway- and the actual size makes it's appearence "iconic".


(http://m.blog.hu/re/retrogastro/image/20100308_Boci_karamella/Bozci_karamella.JPG)




Maybe a bit late for Christmas but here is the other one:
szaloncukor.
Quote from: wikipedia
Szaloncukor (literally: "parlour candy") is a type of sweet traditionally associated with Christmas in Hungary. It is usually made of fondant, covered by chocolate and wrapped in shiny coloured foil, then hung on the Christmas tree as decoration.
Every year, almost a kilo and a half of it are consumed per household during Christmas season.
The tradition of hanging these candies on the Christmas tree started in the 19th century. It was named szaloncukor because the tree usually stood in the parlour (szalon in Hungarian; Cukor means "sugar" or "candy").
The name comes from the German-Austrian Salonzuckerl, this is why the original name was szalonczukkedli.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Szaloncukor (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Szaloncukor)

It is a small filled chocolate, with a special wrapping.
There are many flawours, and there are recipes available too, not just factory made sweets.
The classic wrapping consists of a flimsy paper trummed at its end, and a shiny stanniol -tinfoil.   
The foil has changed to aluminium, and nowadays most covers are made only of one piece of plastic foil.
At least the shiny appearance and the trumming is kept mostly.
Each flavour has a different colour usually.

Some images:
(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/hu/3/35/Szaloncukorfelbe.png)

(http://alfahir.hu/sites/barikad.hu/files/szalonc.jpg)

(http://visitbudapest.travel/images/content/body/szaloncukor.jpg)

Here are handmade ones:

(http://m.cdn.blog.hu/me/megvalositas/image/2013-zsele.JPG)

.

(http://m.cdn.blog.hu/me/megvalositas/image/2013-karamell-csom.jpg)



Here is my first sketch:

(http://inkscapecommunity.com/ic_gallery/albums/userpics/10014/sz2.svg)

Will be challenging to add a realistic look as I'm not planning to use filters.
Title: Re: draw your favorite candy
Post by: Lazur on January 27, 2014, 09:03:35 PM
Some details added:

(http://inkscapecommunity.com/ic_gallery/albums/userpics/10014/sz5.svg)
Title: Re: draw your favorite candy
Post by: brynn on January 28, 2014, 07:23:08 PM
maybe you should put a candy right next to the package? Without that it's just a box that could hold anything.

Oh yeah, that was actually my original plan, and I had totally forgotten about it.  I'm anxious to finish this one, and start on another.  The candy itself is not really exciting in its appearance, which is part of the reason I wanted to draw the box.  Actually they might come out looking like pills....high on Inkscape, right?!!  Or I could just make up something, I guess.

Oh nice -- all of that candy looks yummy!  The cream fudge sounds delightful!  So do I understand correctly that there are different flavors for the filling of the szaloncukor, inside the chocolate?  Mmmm!

Yes, I think those little scratches on the chocolate surface will be tricky....also the texture of the filling.  Are you going to try and draw the foil?  Omg, that would drive me crazy, trying to make the foil realistic. 
 
Title: Re: draw your favorite candy
Post by: Lazur on January 28, 2014, 09:36:23 PM
maybe you should put a candy right next to the package? Without that it's just a box that could hold anything.

Oh yeah, that was actually my original plan, and I had totally forgotten about it.  I'm anxious to finish this one, and start on another.  The candy itself is not really exciting in its appearance, which is part of the reason I wanted to draw the box.  Actually they might come out looking like pills....high on Inkscape, right?!!  Or I could just make up something, I guess.

Oh nice -- all of that candy looks yummy!  The cream fudge sounds delightful!  So do I understand correctly that there are different flavors for the filling of the szaloncukor, inside the chocolate?  Mmmm!

Yes, I think those little scratches on the chocolate surface will be tricky....also the texture of the filling.  Are you going to try and draw the foil?  Omg, that would drive me crazy, trying to make the foil realistic.


Maybe if you want to keep it from looking it floats in sapce, you should draw something next to it, holding the box in that position.
Otherwise it would fall to the side I guess.
Drawing a hand that's holding it? Hmm that won't make it easier.

Yes, each flavour is covered in the same chocolate. Without the foils being "colour coded" you cannot be sure.
The most common colour is yellow, with a "jelly" flavour usually,
a bit closer to orange is caramel, blue is coconut, the red is marzipan.
Other flavours include nut, and sweet chestnut.


The original plan was to make one with the foil too.
I'm not sure about this technic though.
The current details were made by adding transparency to the objects -which is good for an artistic view, but I would like a cleaner solution.
Title: Re: draw your favorite candy
Post by: brynn on January 29, 2014, 01:29:32 PM
I think those handmade examples you showed, would be easier to draw than the top example.  The handmade ones look like they are wrapped in something that's part foil, part waxed paper, or just paper.  They don't seem to be as crinkley.

I'm not sure what you mean by a cleaner solution.  But it seems like in your drawing, a lot of those little marks on the chocolate surface (that I call scratches) are much bigger than in the photo.  I often zoom in until I can see the pixels, to get tiny details right.

The part that always fouls me up, is that I can get all the details just perfect, while I'm zoomed in.  But then when I go back to 100%, it doesn't look the same anymore.

I think on a lot of those tiny marks, you can avoid the transparency, and just use solid color.  Especially those that are essentially just tiny dots.

I'm looking forward to see how it works out!
Title: Re: draw your favorite candy
Post by: Lazur on January 29, 2014, 05:15:02 PM
Started it again, here is a comparision.
The new version is much "rotoscoped", without any transparency.
There are at least three times more node used.

(http://inkscapecommunity.com/ic_gallery/albums/userpics/10014/sz7.svg)
Title: Re: draw your favorite candy
Post by: brynn on January 29, 2014, 06:54:58 PM
Lol, I don't know what "rotoscoped" means.  But I think if you are going for realistic (which is not a requirement for the challenge - any style is ok) the 2nd more detailed version will give you more choices, in the end.  Realism work with Inkscape almost always involves tons of nodes!

Looks like a good start!

Title: Re: draw your favorite candy
Post by: Lazur on February 02, 2014, 01:34:11 PM
Took it easy this time: auto-trace with 64-63 colours, with a little adjustment here and there.

(http://inkscapecommunity.com/ic_gallery/albums/userpics/10014/sz10.svg)

This makes photorealistic look to be achieved manually a bit pointless with the previous process.
Title: Re: draw your favorite candy
Post by: brynn on February 02, 2014, 03:10:00 PM
Quote
This makes photorealistic look to be achieved manually a bit pointless with the previous process.

Lol, photorealistic a bit too much for you?  Once you start looking at those photo pixels, it's all an exercise in sanity, lol!

Pointless only if the end result is your goal.

That Trace Bitmap tool is indeed awesome.  And there are a few others around.  I hear Illustrator has an unbelieveable one....live trace, or something like that?

I just like the challenge of realism and photorealistic.  There are a couple of IF members who do awesome photorealistic work.  I just don't know how they do it so fast!

And I do see that there's a difference between realism and photorealistic.  Realism looks almost real.  Photorealistic looks just like a certain photo.  So those seem to be my current style interest.  Who knows, maybe will change someday.

But it's just a hobby for me anyway.  Of course if it's your job, you'd never use Inkscape to manually make a photorealistic image, if you can just use a camera and take a photo, or use Trace Bitmap and trace a photo.
Title: Re: draw your favorite candy
Post by: Lazur on February 11, 2014, 04:39:56 PM
Photorealism won't make it better on an artistic scale in my opinion.
Nor would a process going on forever would be useful for challenges I guess.

And if I wanted a photo, then I wouldn't autotrace it -the original raster image would be fine for me.

So this time, adding a new flavor to it, with hatching:

(http://inkscapecommunity.com/ic_gallery/albums/userpics/10014/sz12.svg)
Title: Re: draw your favorite candy
Post by: brynn on February 11, 2014, 07:42:48 PM
Quote
Photorealism won't make it better on an artistic scale in my opinion.

True, I agree!

Very nice, I like that effect  :D
Title: Re: draw your favorite candy
Post by: Lazur on February 11, 2014, 07:52:47 PM
Thank's!

Title: Re: draw your favorite candy
Post by: brynn on February 17, 2014, 06:15:34 PM
Ok, all but finished on the candy tin.  Now for a background.  I guess that's going to be like a placemat on a kitchen table.  Although I do wish I knew a way to have just the candy tin, and maybe some shadows, where the surface it's sitting on is implied, rather than actually drawn.  I'll have to do some brainstorming, lol.

Comments welcome  :D

(http://inkscapecommunity.com/jd/ss/candy-wip3.png)
Title: Re: draw your favorite candy
Post by: brynn on February 24, 2014, 07:11:30 AM
Ok, unless I or someone notices something that I need to change, this is going to be my final version.  Rather than try to draw the table and the napkin underneath it, I've just left that mostly to the imagination.  But I did add a few candy pieces.

(http://inkscapecommunity.com/jd/imgs/inkx-mints-final.png)

The only thing I'm not real happy about is the shadow behind the tin.  The problem is that I'm not sure what's bothering me about it.  So I don't know what to fix.

Comments welcome.  And meanwhile, I'm now working on a drawing of ribbon candy!
Title: Re: draw your favorite candy
Post by: Lazur on February 25, 2014, 11:45:51 PM
The lid's highlights show a different light source direction than the remaining part of the box.
Which wouldn't make such casted shadows.
If the height of the box was all the same -and no ring involved on the lid- you could construct roughly how the shadow would look, with the lightsource in the distance, like sunlight.

Here is how it would look with all parallel projected and parallel light:
(http://inkscapecommunity.com/ic_gallery/albums/userpics/10014/mints.svg)
The cast shadow is parallel with the top of the box in this simplified version.
Even the otiginal has that ring around the lid, it doesn't make for such an angle of the shadow.

Also, the lightsource direction makes it clear that the highlights are at where the light hits the surface closest to perpendicular.


Oh and I thought before the candies would look similar to pez or mentos, now it all came clear!
Title: Re: draw your favorite candy
Post by: brynn on February 26, 2014, 07:45:08 AM
You know, I didn't quite believe what I was seeing, myself, lol.  But I was working from a physical model.  The highlight on the lid is a reflection from a nearby lamp, which light is roughly 45? angle to the long, front side of the tin.  However most of the light comes from a window, which is 3 (or 4) times the distance from the lamp, and more like 10 to 20? angle to the long, front side of the tin.  1 highlight on the body of the tin is also from the lamp (lower stronger reflection).  The upper weaker reflection must be the window.

Too bad I don't have a....well actually I guess I could use my phone to take a photo....  I'll wait a few more hours to take the photo, so you can see what I tried to draw, which was the mid-day light (still morning here).

(http://inkscapecommunity.com/jd/ss/candylight.png)

So the darker part of the cast shadow is from the lamp, while the more blurry part of the cast shadow is from the window.  I used interpolation to create the complex cast shadow.
Title: Re: draw your favorite candy
Post by: Lazur on February 26, 2014, 10:27:52 AM
If you know the exact dimensions of the box then it can be modelled in 3D.
Setting the lights up in blender is the only tricky part, but I may try to reproduce the scene.
Title: Re: draw your favorite candy challenge
Post by: Lazur on March 11, 2014, 08:44:33 AM
Gave it another try.
This time, all done with a painter's logic, van Gogh much?
Made with rough strokes with the calligraphy tool, and used only five gradients.
This method is way faster and seems more effective on giving an "artistic feel" in my opinion.
Hope you like it.

(http://inkscapecommunity.com/ic_gallery/albums/userpics/10014/c2.svg) (http://inkscapecommunity.com/ic_gallery/albums/userpics/10014/c2.svg)
Title: Re: draw your favorite candy challenge
Post by: brynn on March 11, 2014, 10:13:50 AM
I like the effect very much!  Yes, very van Gogh-ish.
Title: Re: draw your favorite candy challenge
Post by: brynn on June 09, 2014, 04:20:58 PM
I've made a good start on drawing some holiday candy (ribbon candy and a piece of peppermint candy).  The completed green piece will later be flipped around, and become the far left piece in the line drawing.  (The blue rectangle is just for contrast, since the highlights are so white.  No idea what kind of bg the finished image will have, yet.)
Title: Re: draw your favorite candy challenge
Post by: Lazur on June 09, 2014, 04:39:32 PM
Wow there are so many details in this on the right with the lined texture.
If the shape isn't challenging enough.

Looks like a good start!
Title: Re: draw your favorite candy challenge
Post by: brynn on June 22, 2014, 08:39:00 PM
Ok, I have the next piece of ribbon candy, probably, mostly done.  Although usually I see issues that need fixing, after I post the image.  But anyway, here's the next wip.

Blue bg, just for contrast, due to the light colors of the candy.  No idea about final bg/setting, yet. 

And again, the green piece will be flipped around as indicated by the outline.

Obviously, still need to add cast shadows  :wink1:  That will add a lot more realilty.
Title: Re: draw your favorite candy challenge
Post by: brynn on June 25, 2014, 03:37:38 PM
Ok, now I finished all the candy drawing.  Now I just need to flip the green piece around, add cast shadows, and decide on some kind of setting.  Probably will just be like a  table surface.  I'd like to put them on a saucer, but sort of dread making a realistic saucer....at least without looking around for a saucer to use for a model.....although maybe I cold find a photo....  Well, we'll see what happens....

Questions, comments welcome, as always  :D
Title: Re: draw your favorite candy challenge
Post by: brynn on July 12, 2014, 04:11:54 AM
Now have green piece repositioned, and shadows under candy.  There aren't any cast shadows, because the photos I used for ref are made under special lighting, to reduce the shadows.  So there's just a little bit of shadow under the pieces.

Still don't know about a setting, to finish.

Even using photo references, I still struggled with getting highlights on the peppermint candy.  And also on the yellow piece, because in the photo, it's white.  And the photo is not high enough res that I can see the reflections against the white color of the candy.  So I changed to yellow, and did my best.  So the yellow piece did not come out exactly photorealistic.  But I think is not so bad.   Not as good as the other 2 pieces.  But just ok.

Anyway, comments and questions welcome  :D

PS - Ok maybe I see a way to improve the yellow piece highlights...still working...
Title: Re: draw your favorite candy challenge
Post by: brynn on July 12, 2014, 04:58:05 AM
Now a lot of minor improvements to the yellow piece.

Questions, comments welcome  :D
Title: Re: draw your favorite candy challenge
Post by: Lazur on July 12, 2014, 05:22:41 AM
Sweet!

The blurring doesn't seem consistent though, parts of the green one looks more focused than the yellow one in the same distance.
Using clipping could make it all look sharp, to me it seems now if it was made with airbrush.
Was that intentional?
Title: Re: draw your favorite candy challenge
Post by: brynn on July 12, 2014, 05:51:31 AM
Yeah, the green piece has a very hard shiny surface, while the yellow piece has more of a matte (not so shiny) surface.  (Actually the surface of the yellow one has a tiny diamond shaped pattern sort of etched into it, that can't be seen from this distance.  But it takes away the sharp reflections.) The blur is approximately the same on the green and yellow pieces, but the reflections on the green piece are sharper, because of the shiny surface.  I tried clipping, but I wasn't able to get a realistic look.  Clipping made it look very vectorish, while the blurring give it more realistic appearance.  At least that's how it seems to me.

But maybe I could take down the blurring on the yellow piece a little.  When working with so many different objects, sometimes the blurring gets out of whack (by grouping, ungrouping, etc.)  I'll see if I can take down the blur a little bit.
Title: Re: draw your favorite candy challenge
Post by: brynn on July 12, 2014, 08:44:16 AM
I don't know if this is a bug or not, but I'll go and search Launchpad after I post this.  If you select 1 object out of a group, using Ctrl +click, the blur value is not displayed in the Fill and Stroke dialog!  You have to ungroup, to be able to see the blur value.  So I would blur my objects, then group then, just to keep organized.  Then later, I would select the group and see 0 blur value, and think I had forgotten it, and added blur, without realizing I was adding blur on top of blur.  So almost everything had double the amount of blur that I thought I had!

So I think it's better now:

Title: Re: draw your favorite candy challenge
Post by: brynn on July 14, 2014, 12:05:42 AM
Ok, I drew a little napkin under the candy.  And then when I was looking for a filter that might look like a wood finish for a table, I found one which looks a little like those granite kitchen counters that are so trendy here, these days.  And I tweaked it to look more like a real one.  And I added the edge of a dinner plate in the corner.  I guess I should add something to the other corner.  But I'm not sure what, yet.

The part I'm most concerned about is the napkin.  It doesn't quite look realistic yet, and I'm not sure how to do that.  I've tweaked the edges a bit, to make it look not perfectly flat.  I mean, even a brand new clean paper napkin would not be perfectly flat.  And I put some other shapes to look like some random shading.  But it's not working entirely.  Any comments or suggestions about the naptkin would be so welcome!

Oh, well maybe if I just move the napkin and candy over to the left, I might not need to draw something else in the left corner???
Title: Re: draw your favorite candy challenge
Post by: Lazur on July 14, 2014, 06:19:29 AM
Nice filter!

You can duplicate the candy and serve it on the plate?
Would be cool for the container challenge.

I suggest you to try adding a bit more shadows to make the shapes pop out.
Made a quick modelling with blender and rendering with cycles. 
Title: Re: draw your favorite candy challenge
Post by: brynn on July 16, 2014, 03:54:50 AM
Ok, now I darkened some of the shading, and added new shading on the sides of the yellow piece.  I don't think I can go any darker.

I tweaked the napkin some more.  It still seems too stiff to me, but I'm not sure what to do to make it not so stiff.  The layer with the granite counter filter has really loaded down the file, so it's getting hard to do any more edits.  It's over 2 mb now! 

There's no way to break down the file size by layer, is there?  I'd be curious just how much that filter adds to the file size.

The 1st attachment is the full size image.  But I'm thinking of cutting off the left side, as in the 2nd attachment (where I used scrolling to imitate the smaller version.  That way, I won't have to come up with something for the top left corner, in a file that's dangerously close to crashing Inskcape (on my computer)!  It would make an odd page size -- 800 px wide x 700 px height, compared to the full size 1000 px wide x 700 height. 

But I honestly don't think the file is workable any further, especially in the realistic style.  Maybe I could draw something for the top, left corner, in another file, and just paste it in....but it would be hard to do, because I would need it in the image, to tweak the lighting/shading.  Idk, maybe if I switch to the 64-bit version....  We'll see  :)
Title: Re: draw your favorite candy challenge
Post by: brynn on July 16, 2014, 04:08:12 AM
Darkened shading on green piece.
Title: Re: draw your favorite candy challenge
Post by: Lazur on July 16, 2014, 05:21:51 AM
Looks good!

For the filtered background, you can try to use a raster image instead -the Alt+B option.
Or export it to png and link it when imported back.

Maybe the paper needs a bit grainier texture.
Quick remix with gimp is attached.
Title: Re: draw your favorite candy challenge
Post by: brynn on July 16, 2014, 08:10:58 AM
Oh, that's an idea I hadn't thought of!  Export just the bg rectangle, and import back in.  Then I can draw something in top, left corner.
Title: Re: draw your favorite candy challenge
Post by: brynn on July 18, 2014, 11:35:27 PM
Wow!  I'm not sure how it happened, but somehow during all the tweaking, the yellow got washed right out.  So here, I've beefed the yellow back up.

Btw, it turned out to be the napkin that was weighing down the file.  I saved 0.27 mb by making the napkin an imported PNG.

Well, maybe that's a bit too much yellow.  I'll take back down.  Ok that's better.
Title: Re: draw your favorite candy challenge
Post by: brynn on July 19, 2014, 05:52:31 AM
And now, unless I suddenly see any glaring error, this is the final version.  Final size 2.03 mb.  Here's the PNG below.

And for the first time, I'm sharing the SVG file, in case others might be able to learn from it.

The reason I've never shared an SVG file before, is because I have considered it the only way to protect my copyright.  However, I've been rather shocked at how much can be done using a raster editor on my PNG exports!  So it seems the images will be used, no matter what preventive measures are used.

So I'm releasing this SVG, under the Creative Commons-Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike-International license.  What that means, is that you can use my work, in whole or in part, to create your own work.  However, if you do that, you have to meet a few requirements.

1 - You have to give me credit publically, if you post your work which is derived upon my work, publically.
2 - You cannot claim it all as your work.
3 - You cannot sell your work, if it is derived from my work, period.
4 - You have to apply this same license to your work, which is derived on my work, publically.  That means that you have to allow other people to use your work, just like I have allowed you to use mine.  That also means you have to provide the SVG file (I don't know if that's really part of the CC license, but I'm making it part of my license!)
5 - If you don't want to give people this kind of permission, for others to use your work, you cannot use my work to create your own work.

More details at the link above.

(https://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-nc-sa/4.0/88x31.png)
The attached SVG file is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)
Title: Re: draw your favorite candy challenge
Post by: Lazur on July 19, 2014, 03:32:41 PM
Svg provided?
Now that is a real eye-candy!

Also, that bent gradient made of custom markers is very clever!
Thought such solution would produce rendering issues but surprisingly it works quite well.
Would have never realised that from the png, so yes, it was at least good for me to learn!

Title: Re: draw your favorite candy challenge
Post by: brynn on July 19, 2014, 08:25:34 PM
Well, I'm glad you found it helpful  :)

Yes, very clever!  I cannot claim to have come up with the idea on my own.  I saw a tutorial several years ago, about it, and really forgot about it for a long time.  And I don't know if it's really very effective, as far as illustrating how the red and green stripes are raised.  Probably would be more effective if I had drawn the candy so that 1 piece fills up an A4 size page.  But I think the image looks better with it anyway.

Note that it doesn't work very well, to have any transparency in the gradient.  Possibly if there is a LOT of blurring in the image or object overall, it might work to use a little transparency.  I wrote a tutorial (http://forum.inkscapecommunity.com/index.php?action=articles;sa=view;article=22) on it, a week or 2 ago.
Title: Re: draw your favorite candy challenge
Post by: Lazur on July 20, 2014, 06:11:09 AM
Hmm I can't remember if I saw that before.
You drew a radial gradient there, which doesn't bring out the benefit of the technic in my humble opinion.
Title: Re: draw your favorite candy challenge
Post by: brynn on July 20, 2014, 05:34:51 PM
Where is the radial gradient -- the candy image or the tutorial?  It shouldn't be radial.....although that might be interesting to experiment with....
Title: Re: draw your favorite candy challenge
Post by: Lazur on July 20, 2014, 06:05:00 PM
In the tutorial, it seems.

Just making an svg that will help cover strokes with a chrome fill. 
Title: Re: draw your favorite candy challenge
Post by: brynn on July 20, 2014, 06:19:04 PM
No that's not a radial gradient.  You didn't read the instructions, did you  :no2:  That's the curved path with markers applied.
Title: Re: draw your favorite candy challenge
Post by: Lazur on July 20, 2014, 07:30:02 PM
I have, and seen that it COULD BE done with one single radial gradient, thus made my previous comment that it doesn't bring out the benefits.
Title: Re: draw your favorite candy challenge
Post by: brynn on July 20, 2014, 08:39:20 PM
Hmm I can't remember if I saw that before.
You drew a radial gradient there, which doesn't bring out the benefit of the technic in my humble opinion.

No, I did not draw a radial gradient.  I realize it looks sort of like a radial gradient though.

I'm attaching an SVG showing a different shaped path, if you or anyone wants to examine.  Maybe I'll add it in a comment to the tutorial too.
Title: Re: draw your favorite candy
Post by: Lazur on December 24, 2014, 03:26:42 PM
Photorealism won't make it better on an artistic scale in my opinion.
Nor would a process going on forever would be useful for challenges I guess.

And if I wanted a photo, then I wouldn't autotrace it -the original raster image would be fine for me.

So this time, adding a new flavor to it, with hatching:

(http://inkscapecommunity.com/ic_gallery/albums/userpics/10014/sz12.svg)

Pretty funny how after a year about a year the exact same graphical problem popped up (http://www.inkscapeforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=18161#p67547).
Will definitely need some more variants on it and redrawing. 
Title: Re: draw your favorite candy challenge
Post by: brynn on February 06, 2015, 09:58:40 PM
I made a red Hershey's Kiss candy for Valentine's Day  :D

Actually, I guess that background is a little too dark....
Title: Re: draw your favorite candy challenge
Post by: brynn on February 06, 2015, 10:07:06 PM
Better maybe?
Title: Re: draw your favorite candy challenge
Post by: Janne on February 07, 2015, 06:22:16 AM
Looks good, Brynn :)