Go to the Path menu and select Trace Bitmap. Next, open your image inside Inkscape and select it using the Selection tool. However, if your image needs to have its contrast improved or needs to be cropped, simply open the photo in GIMP or Photoshop to adjust its levels and contrast (in Photoshop, go to Image > Adjustments > Levels), crop your writing, and save the image as a PNG or JPG file.

If your image has good contrast and your writing is the only thing in the photo, you’re ready to then import it into Inkscape. We’ll make sure there are no shadows in the photo and that we have adequate lighting for the best results. Next, we’ll scan the writing or simply take a photo of it with our smartphone. This is important for contrast as we want to make sure the background and our writing stand out from each other. We’ve sketched out the word “hello” with this black marker on a sheet of white paper. Once you know how to do it, you can easily create your own lettering styles to use in Inkscape. Today we’re going to be learning how to take handwriting and convert it into vector art in Inkscape quickly and easily.

If you’re an Adobe Illustrator user, please see How to Convert Handwriting to Vector Art in Illustrator.

Vectorize in inkscape