InkScape tutorial : Draw an 8-ball in 8 minutes...

 InkScape is a powerful opensource vector editor that gives 'Nitrous' powered wings for your creativity to take shape. Below is a beginner tutorial for drawing an 8-ball easily in InkScape in as less as 8 minutes.

Various basic tools in InkScape need to be used for this tutorial. Refer to the below image when I refer to the names.

1. Select he Circle/Ellipse tool and draw a black circle. If the colour of the circle is not black, you can change it to black by setting it in the Fill and Stroke dialog box (Ctrl+Shift+F)

2. With the Circle tool selected, draw another circle inside the black circle, and colour it white.

 3. Select the Text Box tool and click inside the white circle. Choose your favorite font and write '8' inside the circle.

 4. Choose the Circle/Ellipse tool again, and draw a white ellipse near the top of the black circle.

 5. Select the white ellipse, and go to the Fill and Stroke dialog box (Ctrl+Shift+F). In Fill tab, choose  Linear Gradient from white to transparency, and the direction of the gradient from Top of the ellipse to bottom of the ellipse.

 6. You can select the white circle and '8', and flatten it a little, to give the 8 ball some perspective. Make sure to move '8' a little to the bottom of the white circle to make it look more real.

 7. Lets add some shadow to the 8 ball. Draw a small circle in black colour near the bottom of the 8 ball.

 8. Press Page Down to send the shadow below the 8-ball

9. Go to the Fill and Stroke dialog box (Ctrl+Shift+F), and set add some Blur to the shadow, say 20.0

 10. Position the shadow further up the 8-ball, to correspond with the light reflection almost at the top of the ball.

 11. Go to the Fill and Stroke dialog box (Ctrl+Shift+F), and change the Alpha value to around 225, to give the shadow a realistic look.

12. Finally, click on some empty area to deselect any shape, go to  Document Properties (Ctrl+Shift+D) and select Resize page to content...  and click on the Resize page to drawing or selection button.

Thats it! Congratulations! You now have designed your own 8-ball. I told you it was easy, didn't I?

Comments/Feedback are welcome...