Vector graphics
by Bryan Kilgallin

Window frost
I live in the southern part of the globe. In this hemisphere, June falls during winter. Consequently, for that month, my digital media group selected the theme "frost". On 6 June 2024, I completed this piece artwork. The reference photo was obtained online. I created the artwork by layering tones and shapes.

Vector graphics are made up of scalable, mathematically defined forms. Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) incorporates shapes, paths, text, and styles. Vectors are scalable visual components defined by mathematical shapes. Geometric primitives are points, lines, paths, polygons, rectangles, ellipses, arcs, Bézier curves, and splines. Points, lines and curves are fundamental geometric objects. A polygon is a plane figure made up of line segments. Commands define a primitive, specify coordinates, and set additional properties.

Well-designed vector graphics make clean illustrations. Simple vector images have small file size. This format is ideal for printing.

I use the vector graphics application Inkscape.

Here are some of my artworks. I entered the one above in an exhibition. The images are listed chronologically; the most recent is last.


Cafe interior
Urban Sketchers Canberra visited the Canberra Museum & Gallery.
My digital art gear needs electricity and shade. So I sat in the closed cafe, facing the bar.
I finished the above artwork on 13 September, 2024.
Graffiti on the theme of deadlines
My art club was preparing for an exhibition. So its digital media group set the theme 'Deadlines'.
On 20 September 2024, I finished the above conceptual artwork.
World Naked Bike Ride participant
My art group set the topic 'Exhibition/Exhibitionism'. So my above artwork is a nude. Its subject had been a local helper at the 2009 World Naked Bike Ride. Which event highlighted cyclists' vulnerability.
I finished this artwork on 6 November, 2024.
Scott's Crossing
On 12 January 2025, I participated in an Urban Sketchers Canberra field excursion. The locale was Canberra City, in a mall called Scott's Crossing.
On 15 March 2025, I finished my above artwork. My artistic style looks like a collage of objects.
Technical drawing of a USB dongle and ports
The above diagram explains how to connect a mouse to a smart TV.
I completed it on 5 April 2025.
Schrödinger's cat
For the month of May, my digital media group had the theme 'May...'. Which I interpreted as "maybe".
So by 10 May 2025, I depicted Schrödinger's cat, which is a paradox. My artwork is above.
Traced and filtered fossil leaves
My digital media group chose the theme 'lasting impressions', which made me think of fossils. To illustrate this, I auto-traced my photo of fossil leaves. They were from the late Permian period, about 254 million years old. I then added a sandy backdrop to evoke their natural environment, and applied a filter-effect, to enhance the visual impact.
I finished my above artwork on 8 June, 2025.
Greyscale, RGB & CMYK gradients
I was impressed by a pastel artist's presentation.
So I emulated such hues, layering gradients, both radial and linear. The first, radial, gradient was greyscale. For the later, linear gradients, I used colour models. I applied a red, green, and blue (RGB) gradient vertically. Then I added a cyan, magenta, yellow and black (CMYK) gradient horizontally.
I finished the above artwork on 16 June, 2025.