I've been searching for some Inkscape art to see what type of work can be made in it, but I always see a sort of cartoony type of thing (I'm not saying that that type of stuff looks bad, just not what I'm looking for). What I'm asking is, would it be possible to make something like this in Inkscape:



And if not, what type of programs were used to make a piece of art like that? If yes, then could you tell me some Inkscape artists who can make realistic works like that?

Yes it is possible, although generally speaking this kind of artwork is usually associated with raster graphics, while Inkscape is a vector graphics editor.

There are SVG filters in Inkscape that can help create realistic textures and lighting quickly, but I suspect that recreating such a drawing would be much faster in a raster application such as GIMP.

Check out this realistic Inkscape artwork http://www.flickr.com/photos/35772571@N03/3554078653/ and don't forget to look at all the other in that photoset.

It probably would be possible to do something like that in Inkscape; but I would doubt that it is the best software to use.

Personally I would use something like http://mypaint.intilinux.com/?page_id=9 to produce work like the image above (well I wouldn't as I can't draw...) Also check out http://www.davidrevoy.com/tuto/ for some tutorials on how to use it.

What I'm asking is, would it be possible to make something like this in Inkscape

Possible yes. Probable no. And I have done photorealistic (simple) objects with Inkscape. You can see what the Inkscape stuff looks like here. As you can see, the more intricate, the more time, the less realistic.

And if not, what type of programs were used to make a piece of art like that?

You seem to be under the very large misunderstanding any software "makes" illustrations like that. What it looks like to me, and I have worked in everything from watercolor to oil, is that might have been done with an arcrylic on some type of board or canvas. That would be a sketch, then physical paint ...applied with a brush. ...by hand. ...by an illustrator with artistic talent and training.

I've done something not unlike Norman Rockwell, drawing, scanning, then finishing it in PhotoShop.

You can see that by clicking this link. So could I do something like that? Yes. I would not use Inkscape however.

Would I do that? I think that is best left unexplored, based on what I can just smell as this conversation going. And no, there is no "Draw Like Norman Rockwell" in the dropdowns of PhotoShop.

Hello Yamas 11,

As you have probably seen from other peoples post. it is difficult to give you a difinative answer. For me Inkscape is a great piece of kit, especially considering it is free and yes you can make realistic looking vector.

There is a useful tool that can trace images.

1) Place your image in Inkscape. You can simple drag the image in Inkscape for this.
2) Select "Path" on the menu at the top of the software.
3) Select "Trace Bitmap"
4) Now a popup box will appear. Below the section that says "Multi scans: creates a group of paths" you will have an option to select "Gray" or "Colours"
5) What this tool does is recreate your image but in vector graphics (if you select grays the image will be in black and white and if you select colours, the image will be in colour.
6) You will see it will recreate the image in vector but the vector graphics does not tend to be good quality. Also please note that this tends to slow down the computer alot. But it is only to demonstrate that Inkscape is capable of creating good quality vectors (not just cartoon characters).......but as always it is up to the user to get those results.

Hope this helps

Tinkering with some settings aside, I would strongly recommend against equating Trace Bitmap, as the first and only step, with the creating of art.

While familiar with the camera obscura controversy of Renaissance art, that's not what we're talking about here. What we are talking about with "hit Trace Bitmap and you're an artist on a par with any," in putting that kind of advice into a thread asking about art, well that is an attrocity.

A casual attrocity. A common attrocity. But no less atrocious.

And it is from that kind of mindset the request "...then could you tell me some Inkscape artists who can make realistic works like that?" is best left unanswered. Because I have had the kind of conversations with "all you have to do is hit a button ...so what's the big deal?" people your reply fosters. That kind of conversation is unpleasant, it is frequent, the person asking the question doesn't come away satisfied, and the whole unpleasant exchange is best not inflicted upon others.

While completely predictable on the web, where scraping Wikipedia is called "writing," that Trace Bitmap is -- in any way an answer to the OP -- a mistaken notion. In posting it as an answer in this thread, you perpetuate a myth and miss the point.

The topic of the thread is making or creating art. What trace bitmap does is not to create art. Even a casual understanding of what the word trace must mean should confirm that. An artist had to learn and practice for a long time before your "one button wonders" reading this could consider art as nothing but a single dropdown command in a software program.

If the OP wanted a larger version -- to scale the image by a huge amount, where PhotoShop would not do well -- it would be logical to infer trace bitmap was what they were looking for. Nowhere can this be inferred by what was written.

Inkscape is a fine tool. It is not a hammer. ...And every problem does not look like a nail.