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Once your dingbat has been converted to a graphic image, the real
power of working with vectors begins.
In the illustration, the image on the left is in text form (Hong's
Dings 2, character "m"). The font was converted to curves
with Break Apart applied. The brush section was severed from the handle
with the knife tool, and a fountain fill added to the handle and the
brush highlight. Each of the stars became a separate object, easy to
fill from the color palette or the Fill Tool in the Toolbar. The highlight
star was removed since the fountain fill provides the illusion of light.
Here the Knife Tool is used to slice the handle from the brush. (The
outline has been filled with yellow temporarily for easy visibility.)
In the second illustration, the brush is filled with blue - it is now
a separate object.
At times, when using the knife tool, or just converting to curves,
lines will not meet perfectly (1). Choose the Shape Tool from the Toolbar
to move nodes or lines. Click and drag on nodes to correct (2). This
method can also be used to customize the shape of any vector object.
Look to this solution when your dingbat is not quite the shape you require
- much faster to edit an image that is close to what you want than to
start from scratch.
This is an extreme close-up of the brush meeting the handle from the
above sample. I removed many nodes along the connecting line on both
the brush and the handle object. For working speed, I do not concentrate
on perfection when I am creating the initial break, cut or construction
line. I have found it much more efficient to approximate what I need,
and use the shape tool to refine. By moving nodes you can get exact
results (3).
That is all you really need to know to start turning dingbats into
your own work. Find an inspiring dingbat font see what you can do with
these simple outlines. Don't forget to let us know what you have done.
Send URLs, files, etc. to wpeck@internet.
com.
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Exported directly to 72 dpi JPG from CorelDraw: 9.62kb
Exported from CorelDraw at 300 dpi in TIFF format. Opened in PhotoShop
to reduce resolution and optimize: 9.63kb
Hong's Dingbat 2 ©Hong
Li. Used with permission.
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CorelDraw Tips for Web Publishing
Occasionally, I find that CorelDraw exports to Web formats are a little
under perfect quality (although the JPG export compression is wonderful).
This is usually for complex drawings, especially with visible outlines
or some fountain fills. Other times, it makes sense to do your color
changes and object scaling, etc., in CorelDraw, but move to a full featured
photo manipulation program to add texture and effects. You will get
much better results with the following method.
Export in a high resolution in TIFF format. Open the export in PhotoShop
or PhotoPaint, apply your changes and then reduce the resolution. You
can often pull off the impossible with this routine.
The illustration here (Hong's Dingbats 2, character "f")
is a tough one to deliver with quality at 72dpi. The top image is directly
through CorelDraw JPG export, and while it has delivered the fountain
fills quite well for an image under 10K, the outline is breaking.
In the bottom example, I exported the image at 300dpi in TIFF format.
It was then opened in PhotoShop, where the resolution was reduced to
72 dpi and optimized. The files are nearly exactly the same size.
Most images will be fine straight from CorelDraw, but this is a great
trick to have in your basket for those tough graphics.
For a complete set of step-by-step tutorials for the most important
features in CorelDraw, see my CorelDraw
9 Basics series.
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