Inkscape Path and Fill Issues

[~Master~ Button Mash 2,307]

Installed Inkscape and did my first vector trace of Derpy, as The Paper Bag Wizard!

 

 

Now the question (and answer to why it's not colored, and might not be). When I first traced this I had no idea how much of a pain in the flank coloring was going to be with this program, and as such I wasn't really thinking about paths and their respective colors as I created them. As such, different regions that should be different colors were created in the same path in the same run (for example, parts of the bag and Derpy's legs and ears).

 

Is there any way to completely disassociate a path into two respective paths? For example, if the outline of Derpy's ear and the paper bag were originally part of the same path, can I completely seperate them so that the color choices of one do not effect the other? Break apart and cut path only seem to separate the path physically, but both sections are still grouped together.

 

Also, when it comes to fill bucket - how can I just fill empty space between paths? The fill bucket on the program seems to need to be associated with a respective layer or path to function. When I tried to fill Derpy's body, only the middle 3/4 filled. The top and bottom 1/8s remained white with a line separating the three sections. Is there any way to use the fill bucket in the picture as a whole, regardless of layer or how a space is associated?

 

Another note: I'm using an OSX Mountain Lion-equipped Macbook Pro, and I'm using XQuartz as my X11 to run a copy of Inkscape for Snow Leopard. Could this be why some of the node problems exist? Some sort of incompatibility?

[Shadow Chaser 633]

First of all, that looks pretty good.  A couple rough edges here and there but with a little practice you'll be rocking.  As for your question of how to fill, I'm going to post a few pictures that may help.

 

First, this is Cherish.  Everyone say hello.  Now Cherish is sitting on the blank slate that you see every time you open Inkscape.  The best way to handle being able to color things differently, and you're going to hate me for saying this, is to put each respective part on a different layer.  (That pretty much means you're going to have to redo that outline.)

 

 

 

The best way to do that is to first turn on two very important features.  The "Layers" feature, and the "Fill and Stroke" feature.  

 

 

With those on, you can fine tune your drawing a lot easier.  The Layers are a key part here because they are going to make your life a lot easier than just doing that outline and trying to color it correctly.

 

To use them, look at your drawing.  Figure out what need to be on top of what.  With Derpy, the bag on her head would need to go over the hair layer but under the outline of her ear to make the ear appear smoother.  And don't be afraid to put her ear on a new layer from the rest of her outline.  They're going to be the same color so you'll be able to hide it when they overlap.

 

 

And the best way to fill the picture after you outline it is to add another layer underneath the outline and then trace the outline of the drawing so when you go to fill it in with the Fill and Stroke tool, the edge of the filler is underneath the overall outline of the picture and it'll look fine.

 

I know this is all a lot to take in at once so I'll be happy to stick around and answer more questions until you're confident.

[~Master~ Button Mash 2,307]

Thank you sir, you earned that brohoof.

 

Yeah, I understand if it is a bit jaggy at points. I didn't even begin to utilize curved lines between nodes yet, only straight lines. Gonna go back later tonight, or maybe another Derpy scene (I'm at a party at the moment, can't draw obviously ). Gotta keep track of my layers this time.

[Shadow Chaser 633]

Probably the first brohoof I actually earned.  haha

 

The best way to deal with curving the lines is to click wherever your start point is, generally a pointed end, and then click and hold another point along the curve, or sometimes the end point, and then you can adjust the line to match the curve of the drawing.  It's gonna feel a little weird at first but that's how I do it and things work well.  Just play around with it a bit.  I know you said you're on a Mac so it might be a bit different but I can't imagine it's too far off from the Windows version.