xcftuts

Pop art, vintage, and grunge are some of my favorite types of styles. They're back and you see them everywhere. Well, today I'm going to teach you how to create a worn vintage pop art design in Gimp based on a tutorial by Alvaro Guzman at PSDTuts.

Remember you can click the images to view them full size. Oh, and here's a tip, be sure to save every so often, preferably after every step. Gimp has a tendency to crash a lot... 1) Alright, first we are going to start with the background. Create a new document that is 960x1280 in size. Why so big? Well, it's good to be able to work with a lot of space. If you need to later on, you can scale it down a bit, but keep it in proportion. We need to use this image for the background. Open the image in Gimp and copy/paste into your document. Rotate, resize, and adjust it like I have done.

2) Now we are going to add a dirty style to the paper. Create a layer named "clouds" above the "paper" layer. Reset the foreground and background colors by pressing (D) and go to Filters > Render > Clouds > Solid Noise. Use these settings: Random Seed: 0 Detail: 6 X Size: 3 Y Size: 4 Leave everything unchecked an click ok. Now get out a huge, soft, eraser tool and erase big parts of the clouds. When done, set the layer mode to Burn and the opacity to 75%.

3) Now we are going to add different design elements to our design. We need in image of a person. I am going to use this image of a businessman here. Render him and copy/paste him onto a new layer named "man." For a guide on rendering in Gimp, you can visit this site.

4) Pop art can be bizarre sometimes. Don't know what I'm talking about? You can check out some bizarre pop art here. Because I like originality and, well, bizarre things, we are going to use a dog's head. Yeah, I know the original tutorial used a dog head, but, oh well. Dogs are man's best friend, right? You can go ahead and use something else if ya like. Same goes for the rest of the tutorial, as in, if you want to use something else, go ahead. It only shows how creative you can be. Open up the image of the dog's head in Gimp and render it. Copy/paste onto a new layer in Gimp named "dog." Use a soft eraser tool and erase the man's head, leaving a nice, soft, rounded area around the neck, like in my example below. Place your dog head over it. Do your best with the eraser tool, paths tool, etc. to make the head blend in.

5) Merge your "man" layer with your "dog" layer. Name the layer "dog man" or something like that. Duplicate the "dog man" layer. On the "dog man layer copy" layer, set the mode to Burn. Lower the opacity to about 25%. Set the "dog man" layer mode to Hard Light.

Filters > Render > Clouds > Solid Noise. Keep the same settings and click ok. Erase parts of the cloud like we did before. Move the new clouds layer to the top of the layers palette. Set the mode to Burn and lower the opacity to about 45%.

6) For this next part, I would normally use custom shapes, but because we are in Gimp and not Photoshop, and because I'm to lazy to teach you how to make a sunburst in Gimp, we will download this sunburst shape I made in Photoshop. After you have downloaded it, in Gimp, click File > Open as Layers. Select the sunburst shape. Get out the magic wand tool and select the light blue area. Select > Grow. Grow by 1px and click ok. Delete. Select > Deselect. Colors > Hue/Saturation. Slide all 3 bars to the left and click ok. Rotate the layer and scale to where the center of the sunburst is focused around the dogman's head, somewhat like mine. Change the layer mode to Overlay. Raise the sunburst layer to the top of the layers palette.

7) Now, we want the sunburst to be under the dogman layer, but we can't simply move the layer order because the dogman is set to a certain blending mode affected by the paper. To solve this issue, right click the dogman layer, and click Alpha to Selection. Select the sunburst layer and press delete. The sunburst over the dog should be deleted. Now we want to add a little bit of grungyness to the sunburst. Right click on the sunburst layer and select Add Layer Mask. In the dialog that pops up, select "White (Full Opacity)." Get out some splatter brushes, and select black as the color. Lower the opacity of the brushes to about 80%. Now add a few splatters to the layer mask.

8) Alright let's add the drop shadow. Select the "dogman" layer. Filters > Light and Shadow > Drop Shadow. Use these settings: Offset X: -8 Offset Y: -10 Color: #444444 Opacity: 80% Do not allow resizing. Click ok. Now right click on your "dogman" layer and select alpha to selection. Click on the drop shadow layer and press delete. This should get rid of the shadow not visible under the dogman. Lower the drop shadow layer to about 30%.

9) Now we'll add some patterns to the design. Download the pattern of your choice from here. Open up the image in Gimp. File > Save As. Save it in your Gimp patterns folder. Restart the Gimp to load the pattern. Be sure to save your work. Open up your piece we have been working on. Create a new layer above the rest and name it "Texture 1." Get out the rectangular select tool and select an area that covers about 1/3 of the image from the bottom. Select the Bucket Fill tool. Select pattern as the fill type. Select your pattern shape in the patterns dialog that we saved earlier. Fill the selection. Add a layer mask to the "texture 1" layer. Select the "White (Full Opacity)" option in the dialog that pops up. Use a black, hard round brush and erase parts of the mask where you don't want it to show. It's ok if some of it covers the dogman, because we'll fix that next.

Right click on the Dogman layer and select the Alpha to Selection option. Click the "texture 1" layer and press delete. Do the same with the drop shadow layer. Set the texture 1's layer mode to Multiply. Lower the opacity to what suits you.

10) Now let's make another pattern. Go to this website and pick a pattern of your choice. Open the pattern in Gimp and save it as a pattern like we did before. Go to the patterns dialog and click the refresh button at the bottom to refresh your patterns. Create a new layer above the rest and name it "texture 2." Fill it with your pattern. Right click, add layer mask. Select "Black (Full Transparency)." Get out the eraser tool and start erasing parts of the mask to what suits you. Right click your dogman and click Alpha to Selection. Select the texture 2 layer and press delete. Do the same with the drop shadow layer. Set the texture 2 blending mode to Multiply and lower the opacity a bit.

11) Now if you notice, there is an awful effect where our two patterns overlay. To fix it, Right click on texture 2, and select Mask to Selection. Click the texture 1 layer and press delete.

12) The hard work is almost done! Now we are going to add some magazing clippings. Download this image and open it in Gimp. Cut out whichever words you like and paste them onto their own layers in our piece. Use different tools on them (ie. perspective, distort, scale, rotate, etc) to arrange them however you like. Give them drop shadows.

13) We'll be adding text shortly. For now, download these three sheets of paper: Paper 1, Paper 2, and Paper 3. Open up Paper 2 in Gimp. Delete the white part around the paper and add the paper onto a new layer named "Paper 1" in our piece. You can use the burn tool to make the paper look a little more stressed. Go ahead and put the other 2 sheets in as well. Add drop shadows to them, too.

14) Now we'll add some text to on the pieces of paper. Get out the text tool and add a letter or whatever you like to each piece. Be sure to set the layer mode of each letter to Multiply and lower the opacity. Use different fonts for each.

15) Now we'll add some text over the background. Use any text you like. Set the layer mode to Overlay, and you're done!

After being away for so long, I've finally decided to make another tutorial for you guys. You may have seen some of my vectors I've made on myDeviantART. If you haven't, well, go check 'em out. Today I'm going to show you how to make a vector like my Car Vector piece.

We are going to need quite a few things for this piece. First, let's use this car stock from Stock.xchng, or you can use your own. We are also going to need a couple of skyscrapers as well. Click the images to view them full size.

Car- a schweet 1956 Chevy Bel Air Convertible. (Courtesy Google)

Skyscraper 1. (Courtesty Stock.xchng)

Skyscraper 2.(Courtesty Stock.xchng)

Skyscraper 3.(Courtesty Stock.xchng)

Seattle Space Needle. (Because it's just awesome and has to be in the piece; courtesy Google) We will also need some brushes.

Here's a nice set of 378 abstract vector brushes courtesy PAULW at DeviantART. Yes they are Photoshop brushes, but remember Gimp can read Photoshop brushes. Just place them in your brushes folder. 

Here are some splatter brushes by ka05 that we will also be using.

Some vector foliage brushes by ObsidianDawn that we will be using as well.

Here are some galaxies brushes by Sunira that we will be using.

Here are some abstract brushes by r0man-de that we will be using. 1) Create a new image on a white background in Gimp. I'm going to make mine 1000x800, which is within the 4:3 ratio. Fill the background with #5f420b, or a dark brown. 2) For the background, we have to create a sun ray effect. In Photoshop, this is fairly easy seeing as one of the preset custom shape tools includes a sun ray shape. Gimp does not have this, so we'll do it manually. Get out the path tool. To make sure we will get the lines even, we will want to use the grid. Go to View > Show Grid. We will also want the snap to grid feature, so be sure to click "Snap to Grid" as well.

3) Now, in the tool box, make sure you have the same settings as I do, and then draw your first path, like in my example below.

4) In the paths tool box, click the Selection from Path" button. Create a new layer and name it "Ray 1." Get out the gradient tool and use these settings. Use #b7c14d for the foreground color.

5) Fill your selection like below. Start inward and make your way outward.

6) Select > Deselect. Now select the layer the ray is on and duplicate it. Layer > Transform> Rotate 90 Clockwise. Now get the Move tool and position the point of the ray along with the other one so that they meet at a 90 degree angle.

7) Now do the same with the layer we just created. Keep going until yours looks like mine. You may have to manually rotate the layers yourself. Here's a handy little guide as to what degree you should make each ray. The red lines are what you start out with, and the blue are what you should get. When you are done, now would be a great time to save.

8) Now we can turn off our grid and the snap to grid function, so do that. Let's get our car out. Open up your car as a layer and render with the path tool using the same settings as last time.

9) After you've fully outlined your car with the path tool, press enter and you should get a selection. CTRL-I. Delete. Select > Deselect. Now you should have a nice pretty car all rendered out. Don't crop out what may be in the windshield or other windows. Just leave that there. Resize your car and place it like mine.

10) Duplicate the car layer 3 times. Arrange the layers like so:

11) On each layer, perform the following: Threshold Car Layer: Colors > Threshold (The settings don't have to be exact- just whatever helps define the car)

Purple Layer: Colors > Hue/Saturation

Again, the settings don't have to be the same. Just use a purple hue, lower the lightness, and raise the saturation. Green Layer: Colors > Hue/Saturation

Again, the settings don't have to be the same. Just use a purple hue, lower the lightness, and raise the saturation. Blue Layer: Colors > Hue/Saturation

Again, the settings don't have to be the same. Just use a purple hue, lower the lightness, and raise the saturation. 11) Now make all the layers visible. Lower the opacity for each one except for the original car layer. Make it somewhat like mine. The numbers in red are the opacities for each layer. Merge the car layers when done.

12) Next we will add in the buildings, coloring them like we did with the car. Rendering, duplicating, applying a threshold, using three different color layers like before, and changing the opacities of each layer. Place each building behind the car rotated in a different position.

13) Now it's time to take out the brush tool. Pick your splatter brushes and lay a couple of them on there using the settings I have. Don't go overboard with them though.

*Note: You can use any size for the scale. Just don't make it too big.*

14) Create a new layer named "foliage" above the splatter layer. Select the foliage swirls brushes. Use a purple color and full opacity.

15) Create a new layer named "arrows" underneath the foliage layer, but above the splatter layer. Use the arrow brushes from the vector brush pack we downloaded with a golden yellow color. Be creative with the opacities.

16) Find the brushes in the vector brush pack that have a bit of writing on them. Use a light blue writing brush and add a few of those in there. You can also add some larger ones in there that have an orange color.

17) Create a new layer under the worded brushes layer and above the foliage layer and name it "vector splatter." Use your splatter brushes once more underneath the car, using a tan color. Afterward, use the circular vector brushes and an off-yellow/brown color and put in some other designs, kinda like mine.

18) I also added a few more purple arrows in on the existing arrows layer.

19) Now we will add some finishing touches. Create a new layer below everything but the rays. Use your galaxy brushes on it as a light indigo type color. Set the layer mode to Screen.

20) Last but not least, we will now add some abstract brushes. Create a new layer above the galaxies layer. Use your abstract brushes we downloaded, in a golden color. Set the layer mode to Screen and lower the opacity a bit.

And you're done!!

I love making vector-grunge based styles that can be used for design in Photoshop. So today, I'm going to show you how to make them in Gimp. We are going to attempt something I made in Photoshop:

First, you going to need a few things. Urban Designs Brushes. Snowboarder stock. Mountain Stock. Vector Foliage Brushes. Splatter Brushes. Grunge Brushes. Hair PSD. Scribble PSD. Sun Rays. To install the brushes, refer to my guide here. Remember, you can click on the images below to view them full size. 1) Open your mountains in Gimp. Duplicate the layer. Delete the original layer. We do this so the mountains are not on the background. 2) Get out the paths tool and render the mountains.

3) File > Open as Layers. Select the Sun Rays image you downloaded. I actually had to create this in Photoshop seeing as it is difficult to make in Gimp. Drag the Sun Rays layer to the background. 4) File > Open as Layers. Select the snowboarder. Render the snowboarder. Resize and place as desired.

6) Go to the layers dialog and lock every layer by clicking the chain symbol. Image > Scale Image. Type 800 in the width and 533 in the length. Click ok. Everything should be resized. 5) Open up the hair PSD as a separate document in Gimp. Pick the magic wand tool and select one of the designs. Get the gradient tool. Pick a bright color, such as bright red, for the foreground color. Make white the background color. Use the gradient tool on the selection. Select > Deselect. Get the lasso tool and make a selection around the design. Copy it and paste it into a new layer in your snowboarder image. Rotate and reposition it behind your snowboarder as desired. Continue doing this with other hair image. Experiment with layer order, size, rotation, colors, etc.

6) Open up the scribbles PSD and do the same.

7) Merge the scribbles and hair designs to one layer. Create a new layer and name it "under splatter." Drag this layer under neath the hair & scribbles layer. Get out the paint brush tool. Select white as your foreground color. Pick one of the splatter brushes and try to achieve something similar to mine.

8) Still using the paint brush, pick one of the fuzzy brushes. Add little white fuzzy dots within the colorful tail. Don't go overboard.

9) Create a new layer, name it "Grunge." Drag it down between the background and the mountain layer. Get out your grunge brushes. Make your foreground color black. Achieve something like mine. Experiment with opacities and sizes.

10) Create a new layer between the grunge layer and the mountains layer. Get out the urban designs brushes. Play around with them behind the mountain.

11) Create a new layer named "black splatter top." Leave the layer on top. Using a mixture of your urban designs brushes and your splatter brushes, achieve something like mine below. Experiment with sizes, placement, etc.

12) Create a new layer on top of the others. Name it "black splatter front." Again, use your urban designs brushes, splatter brushes, and vector foliage brushes to achieve something like mine.

Save it and you're done!!

Today I will show you how to create a cool music logo on a grunge background, based on a tutorial for Photoshop by Kyle Pero at PSDTuts.com. Here is what we will be making:

1) Create a new 1000x500 pixel image on a white background. Get out the text tool and type in something that you would like for your text. The font I used was size 70 black Kremlin font.

2) Create a new transparent layer and name it "outline" Drag it underneath your text layer. Right click on the text layer > Alpha to Selection. Go to Select > Grow. Grow by 3 pixels. Click Ok. Click on the Outline layer. Click the fill tool. Use color #a0a0a0 and fill the selection.

3) Merge the text layer and the outline layer. Name the layer "Text." Now, duplicate the layer. Using the move tool, move the duplicated layer 1 pixel down and 1 pixel to the left. Move the duplicated layer behind the original. Repeat this until you get something like mine:

4) Create a new transparent layer named "circle." Drag the circle layer underneath the text layer. Get out the ellipse tool. Create a selection that is 185x185 pixels in size near the right above your text. Fill it with the same gray we used on the words. Select > Shrink. Shrink by 20 pixels. Click ok. Now press delete.

5) Create a new transparent layer and name it "x." Move it between the circle layer and the text layer. Get out the rectangular selection and make a selection that is 282x41 pixels. Fill it with #e06900. Rotate it and position it like in mine below. Duplicate the layer and go to Layer > Transform > Flip Horizontally. Position it again like in mine below. Merge the two x layers.

6) Click on the circle layer. Fill the inside of it with white. Now select the magic wand tool and select the inside of the circle. Select > Shrink. Shrink it by 3 pixels. Go to Select > Invert. Click on the X layer and press delete.

7) Click on the background layer. Filters > Render > Clouds > Difference Clouds. Detail: 2 X Size: 2 Y Size: 2 Click ok. The clouds are kinda dark, so go to Colors > Brightness/Contrast. Raise the brightness and contrast a bit, but not too much.

8) Get out the gradient tool. Make white your foreground color. From the bottom right corner, click and drag to somewhere in the middle of your text. Get to something like mine:

9) For this step you will need some super-amazing grunge and splatter brushes. Go to DeviantArt.com and search for some there. It doesn't matter if they are for Gimp or Photoshop because Gimp can read both. Create a new layer and name it "grunge." Use your grunge brushes and splatter brushes like I did below. Remember to play around with the sizes and opacities. When you are done, merge the grunge layer and the background layer. Name it "Background."

10) Click on the background layer. Go to Colors > Colorize. Give the layer a blue hue and brighten the saturation and lightness. Get to something somewhat like mine.

11) Duplicate the layer with your text enlarge it with the scale tool. Drag the layer to just above the background layer. Right click > Alpha to Selection. Fill it with white. Lower the opacity to 29.5. Do the same with the X layer. Position the two layers like mine and you are done. Now go play with it.

Alright today I am going to teach you how to create one of those colorful photo montages usually used in advertising. The original tutorial was written by Ian Keltie, a Newcastle-based commercial artist, for Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator. We are going to try to achieve something similar to this:

You will need a couple of stocks. You will need something for the main aspect, whereas the boy in the above example. I have decided to theme mine as music instead of money like in the original. I used one of Daron Malakian, guitarist for System of a Down. I will tell you about other stocks we will need as we get to them in the tutorial. You are going to need some textures as well. Here is the link to the ones used in the original tutorial. I will be using them as well.

1) Open up your main image in Gimp. Render it.

2) Duplicate it. Colors > Threshold. Play around with the slider until you get something you like. Get out the magic wand tool. Select the white parts of the face and the neck and delete them. Create a new layer. Make a selection with the ellipse tool that is covering the face and fill it with a bright color. I used orange. Select > None. Now move the layer with the circle below the black and white layer

3) If the shirt of your person is white, it would be a good idea to add a design. In the original tutorial, it has some info about that. Download the original tutorial here (PDF; free) and read about that on step 7. Mine has a darker shirt, so there is no need for a design. 4) Open up the circle_texture image as a layer in Gimp that was in the pack you downloaded at the beginning. Move the texture's layer down just above the circle's layer. Right click on the circle layer > Alpha to Selection. Click on the texture's layer. Select > Invert. Delete. Select > None. Lower the opacity of the texture's layer to about 20%. Merge the texture and the circle layers.

5) Now get something to use as a pattern in the background. I actually did something a bit different and used two kinds of web dings music themed fonts to get a music themed pattern. I don't remember where I got them, though. Also be sure to mess around with the shapes, using the perspective tool, the rotation tool, etc. Make sure that whatever you used is black and white like your main person. Use the threshold tool to do that. Make sure the pattern is all in one layer. I also decided to make the canvas bigger so I can add more to it.

6) Now add some circular patterns in different bright colors to the background. I used some grunge brushes found on DeviantArt, however, I can't remember the name. After you've applied your brush on it's own separate layer, go to Filters > Artistic > Cubism. Tile Size: 0.9 Tile Saturation: 2.5 Use this filter on each brush you apply. This filter gives it that "vintage" look. When you are done, put all the circles on one layer. Give the background a color. Black is good because it helps the other colors to pop out.

7) Now we will add some text. Get creative with it. You can also apply the cubism filter to it if you like. Also add other little ammentities to go along with it, like images that you have used the threshold effect on. Make it colorful so everything in black shows up. If you want, take a look at the original tutorial and it can give you a few pointers. I can't really help you with this part very much because it really comes down to your creative imagination for this part. When you are done, save it. There you have it, a neat little photo montage.

Today I will be showing you how to create an urban-style piece of artwork in Gimp based off of the tutorial by Markus at PSDTuts.com. This is personally one of my favorite styles that I have been wanting to learn how to make, so I figured why not try a Photoshop one in Gimp? It gives it that creative and challenging aspect to it. Here's what we will be making:

Now, as the original tutorial says, this tutorial is very stock heavy. I wanted my image to be based around music like the original, so I have gathered stock images based around that genre. You can get stock images at GettyImages, Corbis, etc. Here are what I used:

1) Create a 600x450 image with a white background. Filters > Render > Clouds > Solid Noise. X Size: 11 Y Size: 7 Leave everything else default and click Ok. 2) Filters > Noise > Spread Horizontal: 20 Vertical: 20 Click Ok.

3) Filters > Artistic > Oilify Mask Size: 24 Exponent: 16 Click Ok 4) Filters > Artistic > Apply Canvas; Click Ok

(This is about as close as I could get to the original.) 5) Filters > Noise > Slur; Leave the settings like last time and apply. Save it. Keep that texture for later. 6) Open up your image of your person. Crop the background of the picture out to where it is just your person.

Colors > Desaturate and click Ok. Duplicate the layer. Colors > Threshold. Play around with the slider until you get something you like. Click Ok. Now lower the opacity of the layer you changed the threshold on.

7) Add in your other stock images, desaturate them, and arrange them to form a nice image.

8) Now we need a crinkled paper texture. You can download the one I usedhere. Merge all the layers of your image. Open the paper texture in with your image, behind all the other layers. Create a selection with the paths tool around your person and objects like mine below:

9) Copy the selection (provided everything is in one layer) and paste it onto the texture we made earlier. Lower the opacity of the texture and give the background a color of your choosing. Position the image of the person and the speakers toward the bottom left, and give it a drop shadow by going to Filters > Light and Shadow > Drop Shadow. Play around with the settings until you find something you like. I also added some notes by drawing them with a brush and adding the paper and drop shadow to it like before.

10) Now add some halftone effects, brushes, etc. Just kinda play around with it. For the halftone effect, I used the brushes found here and here. For the other brushes, go to DeviantArt and search "vector brushes." For the amazing urban vector brushes, go here. Remember to change sizes, opacities, etc. to get a neat effect. In the end, you should have a totally amazing urban style piece of artwork. Enjoy.

Here is the Quick Grungy Poster tutorial that was originally written for Photoshop by Fabio at PSDTuts. I remade it for the Gimp. For this tutorial you will need some grunge brushes. Go to DeviantART.com and search "Gimp Grunge Brushes." You can also use grunge Photoshop brushes if you want due to Gimp supporting Photoshop brushes. 

1) Create a new image. Give it a background color of #6d5608. Now set the foreground color to white and the background color to black. 2) Go to Filters > Artistic > Clothify. Blur X: 8 Blur Y:8 Azimuth: 176.1 Elevation: 53.7 Depth: 1 Click Ok.

3) Click the Text tool. Instead of typing PSD like in the original tutorial, type GIMP. Font: Arial Bold Size: 140 Position it in the center.

4) Create a new transparent layer. Click the Rectangular Selection tool. Create a selection as shown and fill it with white.

Do the same for the other letters on the same layer. It should look like mine:

5) Duplicate the text layer, then merge the lined layer with the other text layer. Now rotate the lined layer keep note of the angle value. Do the same with the separate text layer, using the same angle value. Drag the text layer on top of the lined layer. Scale the lined layer and the text layer by 135%. Align both. If they appear blurry from scaling, run the Sharpen tool over them. It should look like mine:

6) Create a new layer and name it "Yellow." Using the lasso tool, create a selection as shown:

Fill the selection with yellow. Drag the yellow layer underneath the striped layer. It should look like mine:

Do the same for the next colors. Make sure to use a light blue, a darker red, and a darker orange. It should look like mine:

7) Now select the yellow layer. Apply the cloth filter to it like you did the background. Leave the settings the same. Do the same with the rest of the color layers.

8) Select the lined layer. Click the paths tool. Trace the lines on the lined layer, but just the lines only (look at the picture below to get an idea of what I'm talking about..I know it's confusing...) Press enter to get a selection. Filters > Light and Shadow. X & Y Offsets: 0 Blur Radius: 8 Opacity: 90 Do not allow resizing. Click Ok.

9) Apply a drop shadow to the alone text layer. Erase part of the drop shadow as shown in the image below. Also be sure your layers look like mine:

10) Create a new transparent layer. Filters > Render > Clouds > Solid Noise. Click Ok. Lower the opacity of the new cloud layer to about 20% 11) Merge the striped layer and the text layer. Alpha to selection on that layer. Create a new layer. Filters > Artistic > Cloth. Apply that filter. Now go to Filters > Render > Clouds > Solid Noise. Apply that filter. Now go to Colors > Brightness/Contrast. Brightness: 98 Contrast: 43 Click Ok.

12) Select > None. On the new layer, go to Colors > Colorize. Adjust the hue till you get a light brown hue. Brighten the layer and desaturate it a bit. Click Ok. Lower the opacity of the layer to about 35.5. 13) Merge all the layers. Go to Colors > Brightness/Contrast. Brightness: -39 Contrast: 72 Click Ok. 14) Go to Image > Canvas Size. Resize the canvas to 520x520 pixels. Move the only layer to the center. Create a new layer with a white background. Move it to the bottom on the layers stack. 15) Click the grunge tool. Now go crazy with your brushes. Be sure to change them by scaling them, changing opacity, etc. You can even use the Dodge/Burn tool to create a neat effect. In the end, you should have something similar to mine. There you go. A neat little grunge-style poster. (Click on the image to make it full size. Makes for better viewing, too.)

Alright, so here is a CD case tutorial inspired by my Software Box Tutorial. This one is actually a bit easier to make. 1) Create a 550x550 image with a white background. Create a new layer and make a rectangular selection that is a about 400x400 pixels. 2) Give the selection a background color, so we can see the base of the case. Right click on the layer, Alpha to Selection. Copy and paste. Press the new layer button so the rectangle is on it's own layer that is equal to it's size. You can delete the other copied layer. 3) Now decorate the newest layer to your liking so it looks like a CD case cover. Here's mine:

4) Now, we will add some rotation to it. Rotate it to your liking with the Rotate tool. I rotated mine to appear tilted upward. Now duplicate the layer. Right click, alpha to selection on the duplicated layer. Fill the duplicated layer with a dark color that matches your color scheme. Put the dark layer behind the designed layer and move it to where it appears to "shadow" the designed layer, or gives it depth.

5) Now we will make the CD that goes inside it. Create a new layer. Use the ellipse tool and make selection of a bout 390x390 pixels. Fill it with a light gray. Duplicate the layer and right click, alpha to selection. Fill the selection with a dark gray. Make the darker layer shadow the lighter layer like we did with the box. 6) With the lighter layer on the CD selected, go to Filters -> Light and Shadow -> Lighting Effects. Play around with the light until you get something like mine.

7) Merge the two CD layers. Move the CD layer between the front designed part of the case and the back part. Position it like mine. Merge the layers.

8) Now we will create the reflection. Duplicate the CD case. On the duplicated layer, go to Layer -> Transform -> Flip Vertical. It should now be upside down. Move that layer below the original, making it reflect it. Then, right click on the upside down layer and alpha to selection. Use the FG to Transparent gradient, with white as the foreground color. Apply the gradient to where the bottom layer appears to fade out. It should look somewhat like mine.

9) Now we will make the grid. Create a new layer. Choose a light gray for your foreground color, and a darker, but not too dark, gray for the background color. Go to Filters -> Render -> Pattern -> Checkerboard. Raise the pixel size to about 40. Click Ok. 10) Now we will position the layer to look like a 3D rendered grid. Use the perspective tool and position it like mine. You may need to zoom out a bit.

11) Click Ok. Move and resize all layers as you may need to. When you are done you should have something like mine.

A video remake of my userbar tutorial.

I didn't realize how popular my iPod Dancer Tutorial would get, so I decided to make a video tutorial of it. Here:

Today I will be teaching you how to make Web 2.0 badges in Gimp. Pretty simple to catch on I must say. 1) Create a new image that is 300x300, white background.

2) Add a new layer. Select the ellipse select tool. Select an area that nearly fills up the canvas.

3) Now we want our border color. Select color 0159d2 and fill the circle with it using the paint bucket tool. Do not deselect yet. You should have something like this:

4) With the circle still selected, create a new layer. Go to Select -> Shrink. Shrink the selection by two pixels. Press D to reset your foreground and background colors. Press X to switch them. White should be in front. 5) Click the gradient tool. In the gradients menu, select FG to Transparent. Fill the selection with the gradient by dragging it from top to bottom. Hold the CTRL button while you do it to keep the line straight. You should have something like this:

6) Now we will add some text. Add the text toward the center with white font. Position it somewhere in the center. Merge the text layer down with the rest of the badge. 7) Now we will create a reflection on the badge. Click the ellipse select tool. Select somewhere toward the top left corner of the badge. Then, click the magic wand tool. Put it in subtract mode, and, with the badges layer selected, select the empty space. This should leave just part of the badge selected:

8) Now, create a new layer. Fill the selection with white. Lower the opacity to about 33. Merge the layers. 9) Select the layer the badge is on. Go to Filters -> Light and Shadow -> Drop Shadow. Set the offsets to zero, the blur radius to 10. Uncheck allow resizing. Raise opacity to about 85. 10) Select the layer that the badge is on. In the layers dialog, click the duplicate layers button. You should now have two badges. Select the duplicated layer. Go to Layer -> Transform -> Flip Vertically. Move the flipped layer under the original layer. Now you can merge the original badge layer with the drop shadow layer. 11) Right click on the flipped badge's layer in the layers dialog and select Alpha to Selection. Select the gradient tool. Choose FG to Transparent. Make sure white is in the foreground. Drag the gradient tool from bottom to top. There you have it! A basic web 2.0 badge.

Here's that tutorial I promised on how to make a software box. 1) Open Gimp. Create a new image with a white background, that is 400px by 550px.

2) First, we need to make the boxes face that will be in the front for all to see. Create a new transparent layer. Name it front base. Select the Rectangle Selection tool and create a box that is about 260 by 340 pixels. Using the Paintbucket tool, fill your selection with whatever the base color of your box will be. I am making a Firefox software box so my base color will be blue. You should have something like this:

3) Now, using the perspective tool, we will change the perspective of the front of the box so it appears as if we are viewing it from an angle. Just mess around with the box until you find something similar to mine:

4) Now we need to make the side of the box. Create a new layer, name it side base. Pick the Rectangle Selection tool again. Make another rectangle whose length is equal the side of the box we have already made. Fill it with your base color, then get your perspective tool again, and shape it to where it looks like the two pieces form a box. It will take a bit of work to get it just right. Leave a tiny bit of white space between the two pieces to make it look more like a box. It should look somewhat like mine:

5) Now we will add the graphics that you see on boxes. Graphics differ from box to box so yours may not turn out like mine. For the Gimp one I made, I simply took a screenshot of Gimp, put that on the front, and took the Gimp logo and the splattered Wilber images from the Gimp website. Theres no limit to what your box can look like. Use your imagination. But here's the catch: everything you put on your box has to be in perspective. So, when you add your logo or screenshot or whatever, make it in perspective using the perspective tool. Here's what mine looks like:

6) Merge all the layers together except for the background layer. We will now add a drop shadow. Go to Filters -> Light and Shadow -> Drop Shadow. Set the X offset to -5, the Y offset to 5, the blur radius to 15, opacity to 80, and do not allow resizing. You should have something like this:

You know those iPod commercials where the people are black and the earbuds are white and they are dancing and such? Well, I had this crazy idea, literally two seconds ago. I decided, hey, why not make a tut for all to see about how to make the little dancers with white earbuds in Gimp? So I did. EDIT: Video iPod Dancer Follow-Up 1) Get a picture of someone dancing. It doesn't matter who. Anyone. I got mine from GettyImages:

2) Open your image in Gimp. If you want, you can clear out that logo if you got it from a stock website. Also do some housekeeping, such as making the background one color, cleaning up anything fuzzy, etc.

3) Create a new transparent layer. Name it "Black." Click the paths tool. Make sure in the toolbox, the paths tool is in Design Mode and polygonal is unchecked. Now, start outlining your dancer with the paths tool. When you get to the end, hold down CTRL and click on the beginning dot. It should look somewhat like mine:

3) Now click on the "Selection from Path" button. You should now have a selection around your dancer. Click on the Paintbucket Tool, and, with black as your foreground color, fill the selection. It should fill your dancer completely black. Now you can go around a clean up the edges a little if they're not smooth or some of the original picture is showing. It should look like mine:

So now it looks like we're getting somewhere. Now we'll make the background, so the earbuds will show up. You can delete the original image now.

4) Create a new white background layer. Drag it under your black layer. Pick a color for your background. I'm using a green one that I've seen in the commercials. Apply it to the white background layer.

Now we will add the earbuds...yay!

5) Select the paths tool. Zoom in on the ear and draw the shape of an earbud. Fill it with white.

6) Now, using the paths tool, draw an iPod in his hand. Here's mine (yes, I know my iPod is smaller than it should be):

If you want, you can draw fingers and thumbs to the hand to make it look like he is holding the iPod. 7) Use the paths tool again to draw the cord. Instead of clicking selection from path, this time you will click stroke path. Experiment with the boldness of the line.

And now for some final touches:

Alright, so I was browsing the forums at Gimper.net and Gimper asked in a post to convert the rest of these Photoshop Layer styles to Gimp gradients...all 130 of them. So I said I would and I did. These are the original layer styles by dezinerfolio:

These are the 30 Gimper converted:

So now, here's a tutorial on how to convert gradients. Here are the layer styles I downloaded, scroll down a bit to find the download link: http://www.dezinerfolio.com/2007/05/06/ultimate-web-20-layer-styles/ You will also need Photoshop (I used CS3 but it doesn't really matter what version you use..) and you will also need Gimp. First, I will show you how to make the regular, two colored gradients, like this:

Open Photoshop. Make a new image. Any size will do. I used 300x300 pixels, but it doesn't really matter. Select the Custom Shape Tool. Now select the black rectangle shape and click and drag it to a reasonable size on your canvas. Now select one of your layer styles by going to the style dropdown and pick one similar to the one we are working with. Your shape should take on the layer style you selected:

Now you can easily view your layer style. Now open Gimp. Don't start a new image. Instead, go to File -> Dialogs -> Gradients. Click on the new gradient button. You are represented with this screen:

Name the gradient whatever you like. For the purposes of this tutorial, I will name mine Gradient 1. Now go back to Photoshop. Select the eyedropper tool. With the eyedropper tool, select a color furthermost to the top of the image, circled in red, for the foreground. Then select a color furthermost to the bottom of the image, circled in blue, for the background. Try not to select part of the stroke on your gradient. It'll mess you up.

Click on the foreground color box. A Foreground Color Picker should pop up. Copy the 6 numbers (HTML notation) in the # box. Go back to Gimp. Right click on the bottom bar (section) and select Left Endpoints Color. Paste the HTML notation in the HTML notation box. Press Ok. The left color on your gradient should be your foreground color from Photoshop.

You should now have something like this (although your left color may not be the same):

Now for the right color. Go back to Photoshop and open up the Background Color Picker by clicking on the background color box. Copy the HTML notation once again. Go back into Gimp and right click on the bottom bar again. Then click on Right Endpoints Color. Paste the HTML notation into the HTML Notation box. Press Ok. You should now have something like this:

Now we're done with this type of gradient. Save it. The other two types that come with the layer style pack are glossy and flat. The flats consist of one color so we don't really need to go over those. I will now show you the glossy kind, like this:

Go back to Photoshop. Click on the Custom Shape Tool, and then select a new layer style here: and pick one similar to the one we are working with. Now, these gradients are a bit different. Selecting the colors are different here. First, select a color near the top for our foreground color. Then, select one near the middle, which would be just above the black in my gradient.

Go back to the Gradients dialog in Gimp. Click the new gradient button. First thing we have to do is right click on the bottom bar then click on Replicate Segment..

In the Replicate Segment dialog, slide the slider to 2, and press Ok. Your gradient should now look like this:

Go back to Photoshop and click on the foreground color box. It should be the color of the top of your layer style. Copy the HTML Notation. Now, back in Gimp in the Gradient Editor, left click on the left bar, between the two black triangles. The left bar should now be grey, with the right bar as white.

Now right click on the left bar. Then click on Left Endpoint's Color button. Paste the HTML notation in the HTML notation box. Press Ok. The very left color should now be like mine or similar:

Go back to Photoshop, and click on the background color box. Copy the HTML notation. Go back to Gimp, right click on the left bar again, and select the Right Endpoint's Color option. Paste the HTML notation. Click Ok. It should be similar to mine:

Now, left click on the right bar. The left bar should be white now and the right bar should now be grey. Go back to Photoshop. For your foreground color, select a color near the top of the middle, which would be in the black, not in the grey of my image, circled in red, and for the background, select a color near the bottom, circled in blue.

Now click on the foreground color box. Copy the HTML notation. Go back to Gimp. Right click on the right bar, and select the Left Endpoint's Color option. Paste the HTML. Click Ok. Go back to Photoshop, click on the background color box. Copy the HTML. Go back to Gimp. Right click on the right bar, and select the Right Endpoint's Color option. Paste the HTML. Click Ok. It should now be similar to mine:

I have finally decided to show you how to make userbars today. I make a lot of them which you can see at my dA...you'll have too look for them in my gallery.  Getting Ready 1) Before we make a userbar, we have to get together a few things first. What you need to make the userbar font is the Visitor TT1 BRK font fromhere. Install the font on your computer. 2) We also need to make the scanlines pattern. To do that open GIMP and make a new image with these settings:

3) Now zoom in 1600% so you can see it. If you can see it without zooming in, then you must have super mega ultra sight. Select the pencil tool and pick the Circle 01 brush, 100% opaque. Now draw an image exactly like mine. If it isn't, then you screwed up. It has to be like this or your userbar will turn out weird.

4) Save the image as scanlines.pat in Program Files -> Gimp-2.0 -> share -> gimp -> 2.0-> patterns 5) Exit GIMP. You have to do this so your pattern and Visitor TT1 BRK font are loaded into GIMP. Making the Userbar 1) Create a new image with these settings.

2) Select a gradient that matches the colors of what you want your userbar to be about. Mine is about my blog so I chose a light blue (0090ff)and white (FFFFFF). Hold down the CTRL key and drag the gradient from left to right or right to left. It should be somewhat like this:

3) Create a new layer, and make it transparent. Name it "scanlines." Now we need to add the scanlines. Select the paintbucket tool and in the tool options pick pattern source as the fill type. These are the settings:

4) In the scanlines layer, apply the paintbucket tool. Decrease the layer's opacity to about 50%. It should look like this:

5)Now create another layer. Name it "logo." Add your picture to this layer and position it on the right. Mine came out like this: (My logo came out horrible...I'll fix it later..)

6) Now we'll add some text. Select the text tool and pick the Visitor TT1 BRK font. Font size needs to be 10 and the color needs to be white:

Click on the right side of your userbar and type in something. I put "SGlider12's Blog Reader." Position the text to the right side on the center. Make sure your layers look like mine.

9) Now we'll add the text outline. Select the text layer, right click it, select "Alpha to Selection." Now create a new transparent layer. Name it "outline". Go to Select -> Grow. Grow selection by 1px. Press Ok. Now select the paintbucket tool. Choose foreground color as fill type. Set the foreground color to black. Fill in the outline layer with it still selected. If you fill the whole layer with black, then you once again screwed up. Move the outline layer underneath the text layer. It should look like this:

10) Now we'll add the shiny part. Create a new transparent layer and name it "eclipse." Select the circle select tool and select the upper part of the userbar like this:

Fill the selection with white using the paintbucket tool. Now change the layer's opacity to about 50% and deselect it.

11) Last, we'll add the border. Create a new transparent layer and name it "border." Put the border layer on top of the other layers. Put black as your foreground color. Select -> All. Go to Edit -> Stroke Selection. Put a value of 1. Press Ok.

Final result: