GIMP TUTORIALS (UNDER CONSTRUCTION)

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[merrmaid]

( CLICK HERE FOR COMMENT BOX )

[merrmaid]

( TABLE OF CONTENTS )

Tutorial 1 - Base graphic

Tutorial 2 - Blending

Tutorial 3 - Gif Incorporation

Tutorial 4 - Editing gifs

Tutorial 5 - Preserving quality of graphics when working with gifs

Tutorial 6 - L-shaped graphic

Tutorial 7 - A More Efficient method of Gif Incorporation

Tutorial 8 - Motion blur gif

Tutorial 9 - Gif Textures

Resources - Brushes, fonts, etc.

[merrmaid]

( ABOUT ME )
Hi, I like to make graphics. A lot of the methods I stumbled upon accidentally and now I'm sharing them. Might not be the most efficient, but they work!

I'd love it if you leave something in the comment box just so I know someone's read it. If you have any questions,
please ask. Also feel free to suggest future tutorials I should write! I have no idea what you guys want to see
and I'll happily add anything within in my capabilities.

[merrmaid]

( TUTORIAL 1 : INTRODUCTION )

I'll be attempting to show you easy steps on how to make something like what is shown in the picture below. Please note this is the first time I've written a tutorial and I actually have no idea how to explain things. I also may have made assumptions of things you may not already know or skipped a few steps. If you don't get something, please ask me.

[merrmaid]

( TUTORIAL 1 : STEP NUMBER ONE )

Open GIMP, go under File > New. A box should pop up. It doesn't matter if you're canvas isn't the same as mine, I'm just using the default size. Keep in mind, too big is better than too small because you can always just crop the picture later. You will also have to click on advanced options. The default fill will be the background color, usually white. We don't want that. Click on it and change it to transparent, like where I underlined red.

[merrmaid]

( TUTORIAL 1 : STEP NUMBER TWO )

If you did it right, a blank, transparent canvas should be opened. You will know it is transparent if it has a checkered pattern like below. Don't worry, when you save your picture, the checkered background will disappear.

Make sure you also have these other windows that go along with GIMP by default open, such as the toolbox and Layers. They are important, you will need them. If you don't have them, go under the Windows > Dockable Dialogs and add them in. You can't see any of the windows it in this screenshot because I have crop them out so you could only see the canvas/main window.

*On GIMP 2.8, I like a single window mode rather than having several dialogs floating around. You can choose this by going under Windows > Single Window Mode.

[merrmaid]

( TUTORIAL 1 : STEP NUMBER THREE )

Next, go to your tool box window. Select the paintbrush tool. These have to be downloaded. In your tool options, you can use the slider under "size" to adjust the size of the brush. To go to the ideal maximum size of the brush, click the yellow circular arrow thing next to it. If you go any size larger than that, it will be blurry.

Then select the brush you want to use. There are a few basic default ones, but you likely need to download better ones. Here is a guide on installing brushes.

When you have the brush you want, draw what you want your graphic to look like on the canvas. I selected by brush color to be white, but any color should be fine. This was white because of an issue I had in the original tutorial, but I have solved it since.

[merrmaid]

( TUTORIAL 1 : STEP NUMBER FOUR )

Now it's time to make the picture the shape of what you created on the canvas. Go under the Layers dialog. It should look like this. Click the little button on the bottom right hand corner that I have circled in red. A window should pop up and the default options should have transparency selected. Press Ok.

In the Layers dialog, select the layer you drew on. You can identify a selected layer by seeing if it's highlighted blue. Now go to the top bar and go under Layers > Transparency > Alpha to Selection. If you did it properly, then a moving dotted line will form.

[merrmaid]

( TUTORIAL 1 : STEP NUMBER FIVE )

Look at your layers window again and select the blank transparent layer instead. Copy the image you want to paste in (right click, copy image). Go under Edit > Paste Into.

If you look at your layers window, the picture will be a 'floating layer'. And it should show up somewhat like this on your canvas.






Use the move tool (toolbox window, looks like a blue plus sign with arrows at each end) to adjust it the way you want. If you need resizing, go to the layers window, right click the floating layer and click scale image. Another box/window should appear and enter the size you want. When you have it exactly where you like it, go back to your toolbox window and select the magic wand tool (top row, fourth tool - grey stick with round yellow light at the end). Click anywhere outside of the canvas (outside the checkered pattern, in the grey area) to merge it. Click again to remove the dotted selection.

.

[merrmaid]

( TUTORIAL 1 : STEP NUMBER SIX )

In case you want to make edits on it later, go under File > Save As and save the file as a .xcf. As a xcf file, you will be open it again later with all the different layers.

To use the picture on a site like Gaia, go under File > Export. Save the image as .png to keep the transparency or as a .jpg for the transparent parent to fill in as white. The default options should be fine. Upload to a hosting site like Photobucket or Tinypic and then you could use the img code to use on Gaia.

[merrmaid]

( TUTORIAL 1 : ALTERNATIVE )

I prefer the method I have above, but this also works. Open your image in GIMP and resize it to the size you want. Select the eraser tool and the brush you want and just erase away the edges to create desired effect.

You can also open a white canvas and draw on the base in black. Paste the image you're using as a new layer (Edit > Paste as > New Layer). Change the Layer mode to "Lighten Only". Adjust and resize as necessary. You will not be able to save this method as transparent.

[merrmaid]