Make a snowflake using the Inkscape pen tool

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This post shows some steps in using Inkscape to draw a simple snowflake using the Pen, snapping, duplicating and rotation tools.

  1. Open Inkscape and create a new document.

  2. Click the Snapping icon to ensure that the Toggle Snapping is on.



  3. In the toolbar, click the Pen Tool icon or press B on the keyboard.


  4. On the drawing page, press down CTRL and draw a horizontal line to represent the main snowflake trunk.


  5. If necessary, change the stroke style with the Fill and Stroke pane, e.g. thick blue 10px solid line.




  6. Draw the "branches" of the snowflake. Press down CTRL and click a starting point away from the main branch. Then move the cursor towards the main branch.

    Note: Click the second point when the cursor is snapped to the trunk center line.



  7. Use the Selector tool to select all the branches (not the trunk).



  8. Press CTRL-D to duplicate the selected branches. Then press V to Flip Vertical the duplicated branches. Finally use the Selector tool to select all the branches and trunk.



  9. Press CTRL-g to group all the selected branches and trunk.




  10. Click the selected group again to show the rotation handles.



  11. Press down CTRL and move the rotation pivot point to the base of the trunk, as shown in red above.

  12. Press CTRL-D to duplicate the group. Then press down CTRL and drag rotate the group handle to 45 degrees clockwise.



  13. Repeat the previous step until the snowflake is complete.


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