Create A Repeated Background Pattern with Inkscape

• September 7, 2018
• Nick Saporito
• 3 comments

In today’s tutorial I’ll be demonstrating how you can create the repeated background pattern depicted above. The finished design will be a tileable square, meaning you can create duplicate copies and stack them next to each other infinitely.

The following is a brief overview of the process. Skip to the end of the post for the video tutorial which has step-by-step instructions and voice narration that even a first-time user of Inkscape could follow along with.

Creating A Repeated Background

The first thing we’re going to do is create a series of 5 circles, each having a black stroke with a stroke size of 100 pixels. The size of the circles should be as follows: 300 px, 700 px, 1,100 px, 1,500 px, and 1,900 px. Make sure to center all of the circles on the vertical and horizontal axis.

Next, convert all of the strokes to paths and unify them together. Use the Bezier Pen to slice out a quadrant of the circle design, as depicted below.

Create 4 copies and snap them next to each other, as depicted below…

Now create a 5th copy and arrange it as depicted below. I would recommend making it a different color so that you can easily differentiate it from the other objects.

Use the intersecting black object as a reference point to slice the red object…

We can now take the red object and the [previously] intersecting black object and unify them together, then discard the other 3 shapes.

The remaining shape is your tileable background! It should be equal in both width and height, and you should be able to stack copies of it next to each other, creating a seamless pattern.

Add your own stylistic touch and you’re done! Our vector repeated background pattern is complete!

Video Tutorial

For complete step-by-step instructions with voice narration, watch the following video tutorial. If you have any questions please do not hesitate to leave a comment below. As always, thanks for watching!

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