Tutorial for GIMP Art

Learning how to make GIMP art allows you to express yourself artistically in ways that painting with physical media can't duplicate. For example, if you're painting an image of a house and don't like the landscape you've painted for it, in GIMP you need only delete and repaint the painting layer that holds the landscape, leaving the house intact.



Using layers in this way isn't essential for creating GIMP art, but the program's "Paintbrush" tool is. You can even change the characteristics of GIMP brushes, including shaping their tips and how they apply paint to the canvas.

Instructions

1. Click the tool palette item shaped like a paintbrush to enter painting mode, and then click the upper color swatch at the bottom of the tool palette. GIMP will display a window where you can choose a color with which to paint.

2. Click a color from the color palette, and then click "OK" to commit to your color choice. Click on the canvas, and then drag to paint something you like. Release the mouse when you want to raise the brush off the canvas.

3. Click the eraser icon on the tool palette to enter erasing mode, and then drag over a portion of what you've painted to change the foreground color to the background color. This is the equivalent of erasing.

4. Click the magnifying glass icon on the tool palette to enter magnification mode and drag around a portion of your picture that you want to appear larger. Release the mouse to tell GIMP to zoom into the portion you selected.

5. Click a point on your picture where you want to start a straight line; then press and hold the "Shift" key. Move the mouse cursor to where you want the line to end. Then click the mouse again to tell GIMP to draw a straight line.

6. Click the page icon at the bottom of the "Layers" window to make a new drawing layer, which is like a transparency laid atop the existing layers in your picture. Drag to paint on the new layer, and then click the eye icon on the layer's icon in the "Layers" window to make what you've painted on this layer invisible. This task shows you a way of adding new images to an existing artwork without changing that artwork. This process allows you to experiment with different images.

7. Right-click an item in the "Layers" window; then click "Merge visible layers" to combine all images on each layer with those on the other layers. This may complete your GIMP art, or you may want to keep experimenting with these techniques to develop it further.

References

• "The Gimp User Manual"; Gimp documentation team; 2009