Hi all, how’s your day?. It’s a few days before Christmas and I hope you enjoying your time with family and friends. In this last minute, I tried to make a Christmas card, not too fancy, it’s just a simple letter say “Xmas” that have a hatch and sketch effect on it. Basically, it’s a vector illustration that I create using Inkscape and later add some element to convert it to a simple animation.

But, in this post I only want to show you how to add hatch & sketch effect on path, alright?. So, let’s get started, shall we?.

Hatch Effect:

1. Create a new inkscape document or you can choose a default A3 template.

2. Choose text tool and type Xmas or any word you like. Set the object to center of the page. Also create a background with blue sky color.

3. Duplicate the text object and move it to side.

The original object is for hatch effect and the duplicate is for sketch effect.

4. Choose the original text and remove only the fill color. Set both of original & duplicate object stroke style to 3 px.

5. Convert your text object to path by click Path -→ Object to Path. This will make each of the letter of Xmas become a path object. Now, it’s time to add a hatch effect. Let’s try with the X letter first. Active Edit Path by Nodes icon and select X letter.

6. Next go to Path -→ Path Effects. You will see its panel on right sidebar. Click + sign and choose Hatch (rough) for the list.

7. You will see the hatch effect apply, but it’s not the right size and direction we want. Zoom in and look for 2 green points that act as scale & direction handler. You can move them until you have a perfect hatch effect.

Repeat the same process to other letters. You also can change the stroke color like mine below.

Sketch Effect:

And what about the sketch effect?. The process is exactly the same from number 4 – 6. Only you will apply it to duplicate text object, and on path effect list you choose sketch. Don’t forget you can change all the value on sketch parameter.

Move it to where the original text is. Here’s the final look.

It’s too simple for a Christmas card, right?. Like I mention above, I add and change some elements to make it more attractive.

Hope you all like it though. Anyway Merry Xmas and happy holiday!.