I’ve been testing my Silhouette Cameo‘s sketch function. I got a set of sketch pens to use with it, and I made some little digital sketches to use with them. It’s a little bit of a learning curve from my usual drawing style – they have to be simplified, because each line has to be a path, which means no line weights or shading. It does look really nice as a loose sketch though! I made an SVG file to share -
Sparrow, Twig, Acorn, Pinecone SVG (220)
Nature themed, of course. I drew them out in different colors to show them off. These ones are open license – you can use them for whatever you like and sell the things you make. I’d like to be credited if you make something, however.
I do have one request though – these are file types I’m testing, so I’d like some feedback. Drop me a line in comments and let me know how they turned out for you – if they worked great or gave you trouble, ect. Also, I’d love to see pics, which you can post on Make Me’s Facebook wall. 
These are amazing! Honestly thank you so very much, I have a huge soft spot for birds so that one is my favorite. I’ll hopefully play this weekend and let you know how they worked for me
Thank you!!!
I love birds too!
Have fun!
Hello! I was wondering if you could help me with sketching. I have looked all over and haven’t found an answer yet. I cannot figure out how to get solid lines like you’ve got in your picture when sketching text (I have not tried sketching anything else yet). I can only seem to get an outline of each letter that is hollow inside, which is very noticable in large font sizes. I am using Silhouette Studio Designer Edition. Thanks!
Hi there, Shannon! Unfortunately, when you are drawing text, it will always turn out that way, unless your text is a handwritten style that is 0.1 pixel wide. The machine can only “read” a 0.1 line, or “path” to cut or draw. The cut or sketch files for a Cameo consist of a path of 0.1 pixels that is the outline around any shape. When you are doing text, each letter in the font is a shape – the machine can cut or draw the outside edge. These sketches I’ve designed are created from drawing in Adobe Illustrator with a 0.1 pixel brush, so the machine can read each line I’ve made. I’m not sure if that made sense or not? It’s kind of hard to describe!
Rachel,
Thanks for responding so quickly! Yes, that does make sense. I recently got a CAMEO, and had an SD before that, but never tried out the pens. I realized this would be a great way to get Christmas cards done, and it was so frustrating trying to figure out how to get the text done. My plan was to use a font of my handwriting. The info you provided is extremely helpful! I have a couple ideas on how to proceed with the experiment. Thanks!
Shannon, some times good old print & cut can be much easier when using text
There are some single line fonts available on the web too though I believe you need MTC to use them, and there are some that are so thin that they look single line. Google the blog clever someday (I think that’s it) and she has some listed and examples posted.
Candi, in this case, print and cut would be annoying and cumbersome on a greeting card, even at a small size. Not to mention the application of an entire paragraph of text cleanly, without getting adhesive all up in there. If I were simply doing a title (such as some scrappers use) or a couple words, print and cut would make for an interesting change, but it is definitely not convenient to print and cut hundreds of individual letters and glue them onto cards…then repeat another 30-ish times.
I ran into cleversomeday a little earlier…I’ll do some more hunting around. Thanks!
http://amychomas.blogspot.com/2012/06/2012-card-using-chomas-creations.html — this is the result I’m trying to achieve — all the text on the inside of the card.
Amy used a single line font and Make The Cut, to get that perfect of a result I believe that would be your only option, though I thought I remembered someone saying there was at least one single line font available through Studio.
Candi, I just purchased the Designer Edition of Silhouette Studio (before I had this project idea), so I’d prefer to find another way to do it that doesn’t require purchasing a piece of software for $58 (even when it’s got features I’m very much interested in). I’m still on the hunt. I have seen single-line fonts for sale, but I’m still set on having my own handwriting. If you’re interested, I’ll post my results if I ever get it working.
I have read that MTC actually has a menu item specifically for this task…if I get desperate (yes, crafty desperation…don’t judge), I might give in and purchase MTC,
I know where you’re coming from, Shannon – I hesitate to spend extra money on MTC too. I think you could do it in Gimp, which is free, and save it as an SVG file. Anywhoo, I would love to see your results!
Please let us know what you come up with, I’m on a mac only so no MTC for me either. I keep hoping SSDE will allow single line fonts so we could use all the great ones from letting delights.
FYI, I’m still working on this and will check back in once I get it working!
No worries! Thank you!