Louise Brooks in SVG ala Inkscape!

I'm just a novice really when it comes to digital graphics, and really consider myself more of a traditional artist using traditional mediums. Part of the problem in the past for me with vector programs in particular is the steep learning curve and confusing tools, particularly those damn bezier curve tools! Inkscape however seems to be much more "artist friendly" and a less than impossible learning curve, and with SVG every line, fill, object, etc., is editable, and unlike raster images it doesn't pixelate or lose image quality whether you enlarge or reduce the size- whether a 128 x 128 pixel icon or poster or billboard size. Inkscape comes with "potrace" which vectorizes a bitmap image (which I used on my rotoscoped pics) so even raster images can be improved. I screen captured these images to give an idea of the scalableness of SVG...unfortunately I could not save and post in SVG (they are in PNG) -I don't think Gaia or Blogger yet allows for that (I could be wrong) although it is becoming the preferred format of web graphics and I think Wordpress already accepts SVG in its posts. Inkscape is open source (if you know code you could compile your own), free (not $600 like Adobe Illustrator!!!), and updated often. It is a GTK (Gimp Tool Kit) based program, so to run it, you first have to install the latest GTK package (runtimes and libraries) for your OS. It runs on Linux, Windows (I'm running it on Vista), and Mac OS X.

The picture is of the stunningly beautiful, Louise Brooks "Lulu", silent film star in the 1920's, the quintessential flapper girl, with her distinctive bob.