GIMP icon tutorial with gradients
There aren't a whole lot of tutorials out there for GIMP, so I thought I'd try to make one. It's for this icon:
The original image is of a Skeksie from "The Dark Crystal," cropped and sharpened twice. I'm just going to show my "layers" dialogue, where I've labeled each one with what I did to it.
The percentages at the end of each of the layer descriptions refers to its transparency level. The layer labelled "Background Desaturated" is actually set to "overlay" at 48% transparency. I had a brain cramp and forgot to add that on the image.
The red/yellow gradient layer is created by double-clicking on the gradient tool, and then selecting "radial" from the list. It is applied from the upper left corner to about the center of the layer.
The blue gradient layers are created by setting a navy blue as the foreground color and then setting the gradient tool to "FG to transparent." The first one is applied from the upper left corner to approximately one-third of the diagonal distance to the center of the layer. The second is applied from about three-quarters of the way down the bottom edge of the layer, from the left side, in a very short, slightly left-of-center line.
I didn't show the text layers because I can ruin a perfectly good icon with text. But for this icon, the text is in "Repent" font from DaFont.com, done in white and set to "value," each line on its own layer. On a new layer underneath each line, I did Script-Fu>Shadow>Drop Shadow in black, set to 80%. The texture layer is created with a default pattern supplied in GIMP called "amethyst," applied with the largest round brush. To paint with a pattern, you select your brush size, and then what pattern you want to use by clicking one time on the picture of the pattern next to the brush selector, and then choosing a pattern from the list. Double-click on the "paint using patterns or image regions" tool. Select "pattern source" on that dialogue, and then start painting.
I know how to do a lot of stuff in GIMP, but I don't have the best eye for making a pretty icon. Maybe some other GIMP users who do would be interested in making some tutorials :) If more explanation is needed on something, let me know.
The original image is of a Skeksie from "The Dark Crystal," cropped and sharpened twice. I'm just going to show my "layers" dialogue, where I've labeled each one with what I did to it.
The percentages at the end of each of the layer descriptions refers to its transparency level. The layer labelled "Background Desaturated" is actually set to "overlay" at 48% transparency. I had a brain cramp and forgot to add that on the image.
The red/yellow gradient layer is created by double-clicking on the gradient tool, and then selecting "radial" from the list. It is applied from the upper left corner to about the center of the layer.
The blue gradient layers are created by setting a navy blue as the foreground color and then setting the gradient tool to "FG to transparent." The first one is applied from the upper left corner to approximately one-third of the diagonal distance to the center of the layer. The second is applied from about three-quarters of the way down the bottom edge of the layer, from the left side, in a very short, slightly left-of-center line.
I didn't show the text layers because I can ruin a perfectly good icon with text. But for this icon, the text is in "Repent" font from DaFont.com, done in white and set to "value," each line on its own layer. On a new layer underneath each line, I did Script-Fu>Shadow>Drop Shadow in black, set to 80%. The texture layer is created with a default pattern supplied in GIMP called "amethyst," applied with the largest round brush. To paint with a pattern, you select your brush size, and then what pattern you want to use by clicking one time on the picture of the pattern next to the brush selector, and then choosing a pattern from the list. Double-click on the "paint using patterns or image regions" tool. Select "pattern source" on that dialogue, and then start painting.
I know how to do a lot of stuff in GIMP, but I don't have the best eye for making a pretty icon. Maybe some other GIMP users who do would be interested in making some tutorials :) If more explanation is needed on something, let me know.