Colored Halftone Effect In Inkscape

I just got acquianted with Inkscape and the beginner in me clamored to learn how to create a colored halftone effect in inkscape. Inkscape is an open-source vector graphics editor that works like Adobe Illustrator. One notable difference between Illustrator and Inkscape is that Illustrator costs about $600 bucks while Inkscape is $0.00; in other words, free.

I found a cool tutorial about creating halftone effects in inkscape here. It describes the process of creating a black halftone effect. After learning it, I soon hankered to create a halftone effect in a color other than black. Perhaps I just didn’t search long enough, but I didn’t find any on google. So, I tweaked and experimented on what I have learned so far and found that one could make a colored halftone effect in inkscape using the following procedures (same as istarlome’s but just slightly revised):

1. Create a 300px X 300px light gray box (no stroke)
2. Within the light gray box, draw (a) black or black-and-white object(s) (no stroke)
3. Draw an8px X 8px dot on the uppermost-left corner of the light gray box with, say, green (or whatever color you want for your halftone) fill (no stroke)
4. Group the black (or black-and-white) object(s) and the light gray box together.
5. Make sure the group is selected. Blur to +/-11.
6. Unselect any selected objects
7. Select the green-filled dot
8. In the Menu, click Edit>Clone>Create Tiled Tones> click on the Trace tab
9. In the Trace Tab window:
   • In ’1. Pick from the drawings:’ choose ‘Color’
   • In ’3. Apply the value to the clones’:’ choose ‘Size’
   • Select ‘Width, height:’ and input 300 x 300 px
   • Click the ‘Create’ button.
10. Delete the green dot
11. Delete the light gray box
12. Voila! A green halftone effect!

The now messed up pic of Kiera below is evidence of what can happen to a good picture when I decide to do havoc with it.

Well, the halftones here are not as impressive as I want them to be. But, charge that to my amateur talent at manipulating digital graphics. Perhaps, a few more weeks of experimenting will help.

The free Inkscape application can be downloaded here: inkscape.org.

Tagged with: colored halftones • halftones using inkscape • Photo Light Box

Filed under: Photo Fun

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