• Introduction
• Manual has moved!
• Why use Inkscape?
• Professional Software
• About this Book
• Installing Inkscape
• Windows
• Mac OS X
• Gnu/Linux
• Getting Around in Inkscape
• Interface
• Managing the Workspace
• Drawing with Geometrical Shapes
• Ways of Drawing with Inkscape
• Shape Tools
• The Selector Tool
• Squares and Rectangles
• Circles, Ellipses and Arcs
• Stars and Polygons
• Spirals
• 3D-Boxes
• Freehand Drawing
• Freehand Drawing
• The Pencil Tool
• The Pen Tool
• The Calligraphy Tool
• Boolean Operations
• About Nodes
• Editing Paths
• Stacking Order
• Align and Distribute
• The Node Tool
• Tracing an Image
• The Tweak Tool
• Color
• Colors
• The Color Palette
• The Fill And Stroke Dialog
• Custom Colors
• Copying a Color
• Creating Gradients
• Creating a Mesh Gradient
• Using Patterns
• Modifying Patterns
• Creating Custom Patterns
• Strokes
• Markers
• Ordering Markers, Stroke and Fill
• Customizing Markers
• Text
• Text
• Writing Text
• Styling Text
• Changing Text Color
• Moving and Rotating Letters
• Putting Text on a Path
• Flowing Text into a Frame
• Creating Custom Fonts
• Advanced Techniques
• Beyond the Basics
• Saving Your Work
• Exporting a PDF File
• Exporting a PNG File
• Exporting to other File Formats
• Importing Pictures into a Document
• Importing other File Formats
• Copying and Duplicating Objects
• Cloning Objects
• Customizing Keyboard Shortcuts
• Clipping and Masking
• Filters
• Extensions
• Live Path Effects
• Where to Go from Here
• Test Chapter (for trying out styling)

The Calligraphy Tool

What was a goose quill in antiquity, is Inkscape's calligraphy tool in the digital world. Ideally, it should be used with a graphics tablet and stylus, with one hand on the graphics tablet and the other one on the keyboard, which moves the canvas, so one can write without interruption.

  [Ctrl]+[F6] or [c]

A varied set of options exists for simulating different brushes, in case the default brushes that come with Inkscape do not suffice.

• Dip pen. Emulates a bevelled pen tip.
• Marker. Emulates a round and regular tip.
• Brush. Emulates a soft, thinning ellipse.
• Wiggly. Emulates a very jumpy round brush.
• Splotchy. Emulates a quill.
• Tracing. This allows you to emulate an engraving, by drawing more or less regular lines over a drawing that serves as a model.

The button to the right, Add or edit calligraphic profile, allows you to save and load the settings made in the following options, under a brush name of your choice.

Every brush is a result of the following parameters:

• Width. Here you can set the width of your brush.
• The Pressure sensitivity icon is only useful when a graphics table is used for drawing.
• The Trace lightness icon needs to be active when you want to use the Engraving feature.
• Thinning. Determines the width of the brush stroke at the start and end of the line.
• Angle. Determines the quill's angle.
• Fixation. Determines how much the angle will change when the draw direction changes.
• Caps. Determines the shape of the brush stroke's ends.
• Tremor. Adds a little random to the brush stroke.
• Wiggle. Adds the unexpected.
• Mass. Simulates the weight of the tool used, which has an impact on the stroke's shape.

The ends of a line drawn with the Dip Pen setting are cusp.

With the Marker setting, the paths look smooth and their ends are rounded.

The setting Brush creates slightly rounded and uneven strokes.

The Wiggly setting allows you to draw very organic shapes.

When set to Splotchy, the result looks a bit like calligraphy.

With the calligraphy tool setting Tracing, drawings that look like an old engraving can be created. The image below serves as a model.