Inkscape v1.3 About Screen Contest

Voting is now open

The new version of Inkscape is right around the corner. As well as celebrating 20 years of Inkscape the v1.3 is offering some awesome additions [including a shape builder tool], more bugfixes, and better performance.

As usual, there is a competition among Inkscape artists to design the new About Screen and the look of the new version. Over 50 submissions entered and voting is now open until the 26th of March! Cast your vote now!

Here’s the contest page on Inkscape.org:
https://inkscape.org/gallery/=about-screen-contest/contest-for-13/

I tried to showcase what can be done in Inkscape with simple shapes and without fancy drawing skills. Using only a limited set of tools to create a consistent yet rich look. The piece relies heavily on gradients, tapered, and power stroke path effects on simple lines and basic shapes [circles and rectangles were the starting point for most elements].
Organizing a design of this complexity was key. The improved layers and objects panel was a huge help in keeping the 2500+ objects that make this scene under control.
These are my two entries this year:

A long journey
20 years of Inkscape is not the end of the journey but a huge milestone. The new version is built on the foundations of the previous versions and is becoming better with each iteration. It’s a shining example of what is possible in open source software when a great team of dedicated developers gets together and works their magic.

Creative Growth – 20 years of Inkscape
Enabling creatives to grow their imagination, go wild, and be creative.

I played around a lot with layer blend modes, path effects [taper and powerstroke], blurs, the spiro effects on the pen tool, clones, and Boolean operations. What started as a quick test [while stuck on another idea] grew wild and I went a bit overboard… but it’s just too much fun to work in Inkscape.