We challenge you to:

Draw a Hat with Inkscape

If you are new to Inkscape, feel free to keep it simple.

Multiple entries are welcome, and please do stick around for the chat!

All abilities are invited to get involved. The complexity of your entry is down to you.

Please post your finished artwork below. 

IMPORTANT: If you would like to know what you could do to improve your artwork, add the phrase to your comment: "Brutal Feedback" --- only for those with nerves of steel! (Please include a brief description of your process, difficulties you have experienced and your desired outcome).

Because of limited resources, moderators may not always be able to give feedback. However, other participants may be able to offer advice.

Please spread the word!
#inkscapechallenge

Please see CHALLENGE RULES before submitting your artwork

Instructions/Information

• To submit your artwork, scroll to the bottom of the page and while logged in, click the paperclip (bottom-left) to upload your image, add a description in the text box (optional) and click "Submit Reply".
• If you'd like to post work-in-progress artwork, create a thread in the "Work in Progress" section of the forum, and post your images there, with the title "[Month] [Year] [Challenge Title] WIP - [your artwork title]" (you are welcome to ask for help there if you get stuck). When finished, post the final graphic to this thread.
• There are no winners (HOWEVER, WE MAY SHARE ARTWORK WHICH STANDS OUT WITH THE INKSCAPE COMMUNITY). These challenges are intended to inspire, to encourage you to share your work and to build a supportive community.
• If you post your artwork here, you agree for us to share your artwork and use your artwork to create a banner for social media - to opt out, add "Please don't share" to your post.
• Please don't post artwork containing AI generated graphics or 3rd party images. as it can be hard to see what you (the artist) has produced using Inkscape.
• You're encouraged to discuss and offer feedback/constructive criticism to others, but please be respectful.
• Most importantly, be creative, give your best, and have fun!

We look forward to seeing your entries!

Challenge entries (so far)

top hat

Bottom Hat for Shakespearean actors.

Bowler Hat

Fedora Hat

This is my gardening hat. It's resting now. ;)

Capeline Hat

Cloche Hat

Casablanca Poster 👒

I'm done with the second piece. The flower is a reuse from a previous work.

edit:

I updated the drawing, yesterday I missed an obvious opportunity with the colors.

@razr Fantastic. Have you used Shape Builder for the base of the hat?

@mrks9 Thanks! I tried several ways, e.g. with path effects, boolean operations, but in the end I found that in order to achieve the desired end result, I will have to draw the individual threads by hand, and then make the intersections by hand too. Anyway, I wanted it to be a little imprecise, and the hand drawing was just right for that.

Ascot Cap

Fez

Texas ten gallon Hat or the Taco Topper

Texas ten gallon Hat or the Taco Topper

Sherlock Poster.

Sorry, no inspiration on this theme :/

But wait, I maybe have something interesting about a 'bob' in my oldies.
The trick ? All this is just the same original piece, rotated, scaled, mirrored (except the lipstick text)...

Another one, with mixed media.
Made with a graphic tablet on Inkscape.

Background images :
https://pixabay.com/fr/photos/oc%C3%A9an-mer-vagues-lever-du-soleil-1867285/
https://www.pexels.com/photo/elegant-whiskey-decanter-and-glass-on-warm-background-29436573/

Woman in hat poster.

Not sure how many hours this took me, but I learned a few things in this project:

• How rotate words in path effects
• How to use text to path is very difficult with special fonts
• Having too many nodes, gradients, and blurring can create annoying black artefacts and how increasing the rendering numbers in preferences can help avoid this.

I found the various items from pictures online and cobbled together my plan in Photopea (found online, opensource) and when I was satisfied, I started to put my picture together. Using layers and meticulously labelling each section with the various shapes and placing, I was able to keep track of my progress. Of course too, saving each step of the way. Probably every 5 minutes or when a piece was to my satisfaction. 

I tried to utilise the gear extension to no avail. The python scripting is still a bugger so I used the AppImage version. In doing so, I also remembered having both the AppImage and the program from the repository in Linux makes for a very buggy experience which resulted in multiple crashes (and lots of swear words!) Since having so many nodes (I forgot where to look to find this info out) I resorted to making a separate file for the other half of my project since the first half was laggy from all the nodes and path effects. I managed to put them together in one svg for the final outcome. I wanted to add more flair but didn't want to detract from the original brief, which was drawing a hat. I hope everyone enjoys! Of course, I'm open to Brutal Feedback.

P.S Can anyone spot the special lettering? 😏

Hohoho
Filters and effects:
-For the red part: Filters > Textures > Organic
-For the white part: First used the LPE Roughen and then Filters > Textures > Rough Paper
X-rayed 

@Spwiggles Great effort, great work and beautiful!
What do you mean with "special lettering"? Is one of the fonts your own, e.g.? One thought though, the exclamation mark doesn't really fit with the word "Phinnias'.

@Inkonic - I did notice that the exclamation mark does not fit the rest of the font family and am not yet experienced with creating my own or altering to make something like this stand out. But I was hoping someone would notice that instead of numbers on the clock, I used the phrase INKSCAPE TIME. That was a struggle and a half to work with in lining up properly with the number marks!  Anyway, thanks for the comment. 

Hi @Spwiggles

Great work on highlight and shadows, so much details in this !
The additional informations you give about your process and the struggles you encounter is also precious to better understand how artists use Inkscape to make their work.

Working with many effects on objects (in fact, blur is also an effect) may runInkscape laggy. To ease rendering on complex pieces, I regularly change my display mode (Ctrl + Numpad 5) to no filter. There's also 2 outline modes when it comes difficult to grab objects stuck between overlapping shapes.

I first missed the easter egg 'Inkscape time' in dial, maybe because some of them are hidden by the hands.A possible way to fix that would be to play with hands design, for instance rotate the minutes hand so it's hole and 'K' would be aligned, and enlarge volutes in the hours one to let letters more visible.

The design of the magnifier is very detailed, but I'd say it lacks a little sharpness to make it more present.

About texts, I guess you tried to keep it editable while you performed number alignment on dial. In that kind of implementation I would recommend to convert texts to paths prior, to ease the next steps, such as rotate each letter precisely 30°.
The '!' is something common in many incomplete fonts, where only main letters are traced, often upon a generic previous one. In the hypothesis the 'Phinnias !' don't need to be 100% text-editable, Here's a try to make a custom '!' mixing 'I' and 'P' bars paths :

I also tried to make background/texts colors more contrasted to increase readability.

@Inkonic very cleverhow you managed to texturize it with a credible effect, without making a gas plant ! 👏

@Spwiggles  Oh, yes. Now I see what you ment. It looks really good! I am sure, others noticed this before me.
A great thing about Inkscape is that you can accomplish something in diferent ways. Here's how I should have done it, the way you've put the letters: Click Here
Otherwise, if you want the letters/digits upright: 
1. Set marks (e.g., dots or stripes) where the letters/digits will be placed
2. Distribute the letters/digits regarding your marks manually -by the eye, as I did for this clock: Click Here

Thanks, @m1981 
Rough Paper is a great filter! It also creates nice wall or rock textures.
All it takes is a bit of tweaking here and there with the filter editor. Then you add shadows and highligts, et voila!☺ -Inkscape Magic!

By the way, nice tips, I will have in mind!

Some really nice work in the challenge again.

@Spwiggles Brutal Feedback:
Your hat is lovely. Very well designed, I like the overall composition.
My temptation would be to match the colour tones in the metals (If you want me to show you how I would do it, feel free to upload the SVG).

>> I resorted to making a separate file for the other half of my project since the first half was laggy from all the nodes and path effects.
A method for resolving slowdowns and crashes is to select any part of the graphic, then Edit > Make a Bitmap Copy then hide the offending graphic.

As for the text, a brass effect to match the rest of the metals, would bring it together.

Of course, these are only suggestions as each artist has their own approach.

Thank you for posting. It's a challenging graphic and you did it well.

@Inkonic You nailed both the textures and shadows on that hat. Very well done!

@m1981

Your hat has a beautifully dynamic look. I find using a graphics tablet always yields an organic and authentic result. Thanks for sharing!

I have just shared a post on the Challenger Chat thread. If you have the time, I would appreciate your thoughts.

https://inkscape.org/forums/competitions/challenger-chat-for-off-topic-ramblings-and-chitchat/

@Inkonic @m1981 @mrks9 @pjschleitwilerfcm @razr @Spwiggles

@m1981, @Inkonic and @Pacer; Thanks so much for your suggestions and help. I struggled with the INKSCAPETIME letters mostly because I used text>put on path (a duplicate of the clock circle) and then had to play with the kerning. I was more concerned with keeping the letters aligned as much as possible with the corresponding minute marks and using two different fonts - one for the "I" and the rest another. I'll definitely keep in mind the trace to bitmap trick as well. The best way I tried to keep the colour matching was by using the inkdropper. Crude, I know, but I'm still learning. I've tried to attach the file for anyone to look at and give further feedback. This one was my most time intensive and biggest challenge to date. Thanks again to everyone! Happy New Year! 

Edit: not sure how to get the svg file to upload so anyone can have a look and play. Anyone? 🤷‍♀️

Hi this is my first admission! Visualized a fallen hat so I made a fallen hat.. Thanks