Inkscape Tutorial for Absolute Beginners – Part 1: Getting Started and Creating Your First Design

If you’ve never used design software before, Inkscape(Click here to visit the Official Website) is the perfect place to start. In this tutorial, we’ll walk through how to install Inkscape, explore its interface, and create your very first design. The documentation on inkscape can be found on the inkscape wiki. Click here to visit the website. 

What You’ll Learn

In this first tutorial, you will:

1. Understand what Inkscape is and how vector graphics work.
2. Download and install Inkscape.
3. Explore every part of the interface step-by-step.
4. Learn how to set up a new document.
5. Draw your first simple design using shapes and colors.
6. Save and export your artwork for sharing.

No prior design experience needed, just follow along.

What Is Inkscape?

Inkscape is a free and open-source vector graphics editor used to create illustrations, icons, logos, diagrams, and any artwork that can be scaled to any size without losing quality.

It’s similar to Adobe Illustrator, but completely free.

Feature	Raster(ex: JPEG,PNG Etc)	Vector(EPS,SVG Etc.)
Composition	Made of tiny pixels	Made of Mathematical Paths
Image when zoomed	Becomes blurry	Stays sharp even when zoomed
Best for	Photos and Digital Images	Logos, Icons and Drawings
File Size	Normally Large	Smaller and scalable.

A photo you take with a phone = Raster image.

A company logo that must look sharp on a billboard or a business card = Vector image.

Trust you know how to download and install Inkscape. Assuming that you have installed inkscape, we will proceed with the first section about knowing the interface.

Before understanding about the interface, let's understand about canvas.

What's a Canvas?

Think of canvas like your drawing sheet, it is the area where you are going to draw.

Basic Functionalities

Ctrl + Mouse wheel (or + and – keys) to zoom in and out

Hold Spacebar and drag with your mouse to move the canvas around.

a) The Toolbar or the Left Side bar

The toolbar can be found on the left side, with the appearance of the icons having the option to be customized. The toolbar window can be resized as shown above.

Tool	Icon	Function
Selection Tool (S)	Black arrow	Select and move objects
Edit Paths (N)	Node tool	Adjust vector nodes (advanced)
Rectangle Tool (R)	Square	Draw rectangles and squares
Circle/Ellipse Tool (E)	Circle	Draw circles and ellipses
Star/Polygon Tool (*)	Star	Create stars and polygons
Bezier Tool (B)	Pen	Draw lines and custom paths
Text Tool (T)	“A”	Add and edit text
Zoom Tool (Z)	Magnifying glass	Zoom in and out manually

Inkscape displays the name of the tool on hovering on it.

b) The Control Bar (Top)

Control bar displays the option for the tool you use. For instance, you use the text tool, you can customize the text properties under the control bar or modify the shape properties etc..

c) The Color Palette (Bottom)

The color paletter contains a row of color boxes. Selecting any of those color boxes will result in the same being filled to the selected shape.

To change the stroke color (outline): Hold Shift while clicking a color.

d) The status bar(Just below the color Palette)

Shows useful information about what object is selected, Fill/stroke details, Layer name, Zoom percentage etc.,

e) The Layers Panel(on the right hand side)

The layers panel contains the list of layers on which the artwork is organized. Similar to photoshops, the layers are stacked on one top of the other.

To know which layer has been selected, you can either check in the layers panel or can check in the status bar below.

Understanding the document properties.

Let’s configure the page before we draw.

1. Go to File → Document Properties or press Shift + Ctrl + D.

2. A window will appear on the right or in a popup.

Change these settings:

• Display Units: set to px (pixels) for digital artwork.

• Page Size: choose A4 (for print) or custom like 1080×1080 px for Instagram-style squares.

• Background: white (by default).

• Close the panel after changes , they apply instantly.

Pro Tip:  Always design in pixels if your art is meant for screens.

Step 1:  Drawing your first shape

Draw a Rectangle

Click the Rectangle Tool (R)> Click and drag anywhere on the canvas, a rectangle appears> Change its color by clicking a color at the bottom.

Hold Ctrl while dragging to make a perfect square.

Draw a Circle

Click the Circle Tool (E) > Click and drag — a circle appears > Hold Ctrl + Shift to draw from the center and maintain perfect proportion > Change its color.

You will find the ways the circle can be modified in the control bar on the top.

Move and Resize Shapes

Switch to the Selection Tool (S) > Click your rectangle or circle > Drag to move them around > Grab the corners to resize. Hold Ctrl to maintain proportion.

Saving Your Work

To save your project as an editable file > Go to File > Save As > Choose Inkscape SVG (.svg) >Name it as you desire and click Save.

SVG files can be reopened and edited anytime.

If you want to export your design as an Image

Go to File > Export PNG Image or press Shift + Ctrl + E. 

On the right, choose> Export Area: Page Image Size: default is fine

Click Export As... and choose a location.

Then click Export. 

The detailed export options will be covered in the future tutorials.

Practice: 

Create some basic shapes like rectangle, square, circle, star, pentagon etc., try playing with the properties of the shapes to understand how if affects the shape.

How did you find the tutorial. If you found the tutorial helpful, do let us know in the comments. Further, we request you to suggest ways of improving it, so that the same can be incorporated in the next tutorial wherever practical.

PS: I am also learning along the process, so you might find some tutorials dealing it in a different manner, like approaching the shapes in a different way. Like, there are plenty of ways in achieving a shapes, but each in a different manner.

Thank you.