Argument for using layers gallery

**Ron Duke** · 30 March 2006, 07:52 PM

Here's an example of what I do with some cars when I draw them. Using layers, I can at my discretion make a car a hard top, convertible with the top up, or with the top down. Using linked, shade of, or tint of color options makes the drawing even more versatile.
I LOVE XARA!
ron

**ZEBtoonz** · 30 March 2006, 08:40 PM

Great pics and great idea! I used to try to do my simple cartoons on one layer until I finally got the revelation of using layers. Now I have individual layers for linework, color, background, text, and anything else I need to work on separately. It is one of the best options available in Xtreme.

Also, just the fact that the entire illustration is in vector and every single line, shape and color is individually editable, you can easily change it however you like. I have sometimes been sent corrections on something I did in Xtreme and the person requesting the changes was all apologetic, thinking it would take me hours to redo, etc. But the reality was that I could make the changes and send back the final in no time at all.

**parahandy** · 30 March 2006, 09:08 PM

I did not realise you did all this with Xara Ron, here's me thinking you had some hideously expensive program to do what you do so well and of course the talent to do so. What a wonderful advert for Xara and Xtreme .
Admiration upon Admiration . I bow deeply and withdraw from your presence but will peep in from time to time.
.........Norman.

**Ron Duke** · 30 March 2006, 09:48 PM

Norman,
Thanks for the wonderful complitment, but my ability in drawing these cars is not an artists skill, but that of a copyist. These cars I draw are TRACED, then I fill in the tracings with the various tools that Xara provides. So, I guess my point is, even if you have no artistic ability, Xara allows someone like me to produce a drawing like this. Thanks again.
ron

**Scotty** · 30 March 2006, 10:12 PM

The cars and ability make me envious...I am similar a am a reproducer..i have no imagination to concieve any worth while iamges so I try and reproduce what someone else has concieved using my own limited abilities.
But my work doesn't come close to your end product FANTASTIC work.
Jim

**Mickie** · 30 March 2006, 10:29 PM

Ron, you shouldn't be so modest. There is a great deal of artistic skill in being able to "see" where the shading should go and what type of effect will produce it.

Besides being a beautiful rendering, it's a very effective way of showing the possibilites of both layers and named colors.

Mickie

**Bob Hahn** · 30 March 2006, 10:30 PM

Ron, you may see it as merely “copying” and just simply using the tools of Xara to recreate these cars. But what you do is an art, and you are an artist at what you do. Not everyone can recreate these cars - nor would have the patience.

It is a developed skill you have in recreating the detail in these cars and a knowledge of Xara in how to get what you want to achieve.

You are an artist at what you do – even if it's creating computer generated images of cars, working from actual photos. Xara can’t do it on it’s own – it takes an artist.

You do amazing work.

-Bob.

**stygg2003** · 05 April 2006, 02:59 PM

Originally Posted by knightedduke

Norman,
Thanks for the wonderful complitment, but my ability in drawing these cars is not an artists skill, but that of a copyist. These cars I draw are TRACED, then I fill in the tracings with the various tools that Xara provides. So, I guess my point is, even if you have no artistic ability, Xara allows someone like me to produce a drawing like this. Thanks again.
ron

Fantastic art and art is what it is! Being a complete novice to Xara, what do you mean by traced, do you make a bitmap trace of a photograph? as I would surely love to attempt such art, but have no idea how to go about it, unless I have missed a tutorial on the subject. When you see such art it makes you want to attempt it, be it not very good but at least knowing how to do it would be the first steps. Thanks for submitting those great pictures.
Stygg.

**Albacore** · 06 April 2006, 10:03 PM

Hi All,
Glad you liked the Mini which was fairly easy to do but it is when I have to mix content i struggle. Everyone knows what happen last year in Lodon on the 7th July when bombers struck London transport on both the buses and the underground. In Gray's transport artist show I tried to combine mixed images to give a feeling how i felt and i hoped how other people felt and the image herei s my interpretation of it however Gary did not think it suitable for that collection of drawings and I think he was right but I thought but I thought it was to do it at the time for the show.

Many bits of the drawing are not right but it conveyed my emotions at the time. The arm and hand of the burned lady at at the front is not right. The use of blue is not right, but i would still struggle today to change the colour, the background does not suit the figures at the front. Maybe if the background and the foreground were shades of the same colour it may have worked better but i do not think I will change them at the moment. The drawing was just done to give support or express my emotions at the time and was only done for this forum I did not think to post it anywhere else.

To get back onto to the theme of this topic the bus was traced from a picture from the net as was the tube train, the people was my interpretation of the picture that was shown in every newspaper in the UK of a bystander taking care of a woman that was brought out from the explosions in the underground andd was giving a helping hand. Each part of the picture was done on a layer and as some went over the drawing area "ClipView" was applied which destoys the layers. I know this comment should go into the Xara forum but I wish when applying "ClipView" that it did not destroy layers that you have taken time over. Well it is only a wish!