Welcome back to Doodle Week. Doodle Flowers are today’s theme. Here’s about the only flowers I’ve doodled in a long time. I was thinking about diving when I drew these. They’re actually crinoids but as my meeting wore on, they evolved into some sort of sea tulip complete with leaves - a new species perhaps?.

This was a rather small doddle and after scanning, the felt tip pen I was using created a very interesting image texture. Like all the doodles featured here in doodle week, I scanned the doodle from notes I have taken during work. I use Linux Zenwalk as my operating system (no MS or Apple ware here).

I scan using Kooka opensource scan software. I then import the scan into Inkscape SVG Vector Illustrator. Inkscape is similar to Adobe illustrator except it’s free. In Inkscape I quickly trace the path of the drawing converting it to a vector image. This smooths the lines as well as allow me to scale it up without losing lots of detail.

I then export the vectored image as a png file and open it using the GIMP image manipulation program. Gimp is similiar to photoshop, and again, it’s free (I have a couple of GIMP tutorials on the site if you’re interested).

With the GIMP I add the color and/or remove some of the text from my notes that crept in close to the image. This sounds like a lot of work but it’s actually very quick to scan, vector and process.

I hope you’re enjoying Doodle Week, if you get the hanking to participate, be sure to upload your doodle and check out the others on the flickr doodle group.