Introduction to Scalable Vector Graphics... or "how to draw cool things"

Lets say you want to make a snazzy logo for your site, or perhaps you want to make a quick graphic for a help guide or manual. Most of us are not naturally gifted artists, but the tools out there are very powerful.

And most importantly, some of the best tools are free. The one you want to watch out for first is called Inkscape. It lets you draw all sorts of amazing graphics using geometric shapes, lines, curves, etc, and do so very quickly once you get the hang of it.

You dont have to start from scratch either. You have a wide variety of stock graphics available from OpenClipArt.Org. Download their full pack. It has both SVG (scalable graphics), and PNG (Raster Graphics).

The difference between the two is this. The SVG files can be manipulated by inkscape to an incredible degree, and often taken apart into their component parts for customization for your own logos and graphics. Before using on your web page, you can export those files back to PNG form for posting on the web directly from Inkscape.

If you have any questions on inkscape's use, feel free to comment here and i'll try to help you out. The graphic below was done in inkscape, and is used on one of my sites, a jeep forum called OrlandoJeepChat