I'm a newbie trying to learn some basic tikz usage. I'm getting along pretty well with the manual, but it seems I'm overlooking something as this question seems basic to me and still I can't find an answer to it.
Essentially I want to create one node out of two smaller ones. The object I want is a matchstick, which at the moment looks like this:
\usetikzlibrary{shapes}
\definecolor{brun}{HTML}{974806}
\definecolor{gul}{cmyk}{0,0.11,0.93,0}
\begin{tikzpicture}
[scale=1,
head/.style={draw, very thin, inner sep = 0, minimum height=0.35cm, minimum width=0.5cm, ellipse, ball color=brun, fill},
stick/.style={rectangle, draw, very thin, brown, anchor=north west, fill=gul!70, inner sep =0, minimum height=0.22cm, minimum width=2.6cm}]
\node [head, rotate=0] (ex) at (0,0) {};
\node [stick, rotate=0] (ex1) at (ex.30){};
\end{tikzpicture}
(I have to read up on how to include graphics in these questions, sorry)
The overall objective is to create matchstick patterns, so I'd like to have the match defined as a single object (node, I suppose) which then can easily be placed relative to each other and rotated. At the moment I have to rotate and scale each part (head and stick) individually, which obviously is less than ideal. Also, positioning is now tricky since the object stems from the head, so in order to place a match I have to figure out where the head should be, which can be quite cumbersome.
Any ideas on how to improve my code or general tips are much appreciated! Also, is there a place to go for tikz exercises? With example images to try and create yourself, and then with different solutions to compare your own to? Or other tips on how to best learn Tikz as I'm currently just playing around with it and the manual.
