Brushes and Fonts for GIMP

Sources for GIMP brushes and fonts

GIMP brushes at deviantART



GIMP and PS brushes from BlendFu



Extensive collection of fonts at dafont.com




To install on a Mac: Simply download and extract the brush or font files and put them in the appropriate folder.
~user/library/application support/gimp/brushes
~user/library/application support/gimp/fonts

For Windows users, click here.

Lomographic Effect

Lomography™ emphasizes casual, snapshot photography. Characteristics such as over-saturated colors, off-kilter exposure, blurring, and alternative film processing are often considered part of the Lomographic Technique. Users are encouraged to take a lighthearted approach to their photography, and use these techniques to document everyday life, as the Lomo LC-A's small size, simple controls, and ability to shoot in low light encourages candid photography, photo reportage, and photo vérité. The 35 mm LOMO LC-A Compact Automat camera was originally created and produced by LOMO PLC of St. Petersburg, Russia. (Wikipedia)

There are numerous methods for achieving a lomographic effect through post processing. After exploring several of these, I developed the following relatively simple process using GIMP to create the desired effect.

This lesson includes the following:

• Creating a rectangular selection with rounded corners
• Feathering a selection
• Duplicating and creating layers
• Setting layer modes and opacity
• Using the Curves Tool
• Using the Unsharp Mask filter
• And more

Choose an appropriate image or download this one.

Begin by duplicating the background. I always like to duplicate the background image. In case anything goes horribly wrong, I can easily recover my original layer.

PART 1 Create the lomo trademark dark vignette

1) Create a new layer named vignette

2) Use the Rectangle Select Tool to create a selection several pixels inside the edges of your original photo.

3) Next round the corners of the selection by 10%.

From the image menu, Select > Rounded Rectangle ...

4) Now feather the selection by about 100 pixels.

Again, from the image menu, Select > Feather...

5) The next step is to invert the selection.

Using the image menu, Select > Invert.

6) Now use the Bucket Fill Tool to fill the whole selection with black (FG color).

7) In the Layers palette, set the Opacity of the vignette layer to 60%

8) From the image menu, turn off the selection, Select > None.

This is what you should have at this point ...

PART 2 Create the hard, brassy color effect.

1) Flatten the image to a single layer, Image > Flatten Image.

2) Duplicate that layer and rename it as curves.

3) Using the Curves Tool , Colors > Curves...,

... adjust the color curves to an s-shape as shown here ...

4) Create a New Layer called grain using the Foreground color (black) as the Layer Fill Type.

5) For the grain layer set the Mode to Grain merge and the Opacity to 20%.

This is about where you should be now ...

Part 3 Sharpen the image a bit and finish.

Again, flatten image to a single layer, duplicate the layer and rename it sharpen.

1) From the image menu, Filters > Enhance > Unsharp mask...

2) Use the settings shown below, Radius: 20, Amount: 0.7, and Threshold: 0.

3) Flatten the image once more and Save.

Your finished product should look something like this ...

I hope you acquired at least one new skill or idea from working through this lesson. If you liked it, please share it.

Filling Text With An Image

Filling Text With An Image

In this lesson you will learn how to use GIMP to fill text with an image as in this example ...

Among the skills used in this lesson are ...

• Creating a new image
• Creating and modifying a text layer
• Selecting by Color
• Using the Paste Into command
• Adding a drop shadow to a selection
• Anchoring a layer
• Flattening an image

Though there are a number of ways to accomplish this effect, this method is quick, simple, and flexible.

Step 1 - Create a new image
File > New Use the setting Width 420, Height 300, Fill with : Foreground Color

Step 2 - Create a text layer
Select the Text tool Using a bold, heavy font produces better results. I used Impact Condensed, Size: 85, Color: White, Justify: Centered

Step 3 - Select the text
Choose the Select by Color tool Click anywhere inside the white text and all of the white text is selected.

Step 4 - Delete the text layer
Using the Layers dialog Select the text layer and delete it. The white text will be gone but your selection will remain.

Step 5 - Open the fill image
Open the image you want to fill the text with. I found an image of fireworks to use as my fill. This image should be about the same size as your new image or a bit larger. It may be necessary to scale this image.

Step 6 - Copy the fill image
From the fill image's menu, Edit > Copy

Step 7 - Paste the fill image into the selection
From the new image's menu, Edit > Paste Into This fills the selection with the fireworks image as though the text has been cut out and and the fireworks image is behind it.

Step 8 - Adjust the position of the fill image
You may use the Move tool to slide the pasted layer around to get the best effect.

Step 9 - Add a drop shadow
Filters > Light and Shadow > Drop Shadow ... Adding a bit of a drop shadow will enhance the effect.

Step 10 - Drop Shadow dialog settings
I used Offset X: 2, Offset Y: 2, Blur radius: 8, Color: Red, Opacity: 80 (Offset X controls the horizontal position of the shadow. Offset Y controls the vertical position.)

Step 11 - Anchor the Pasted Layer
Layer > Anchor Layer Cements the pasted layer to the background. After this step you will no longer be able to edit this layer.

Step 12 - Flatten the image, deselect, and save
Image > Flatten Image This will reduce the image to a single layer so you can save it as a jpg file.
Select > None This will remove the selection

The finished product ...

This is a basic example. You may play around with the settings and the way you have the layers stacked, and so on. I went one step further and used Filters > Light and Shadow > Sparkle ... with the default settings to get a little glitter thing.

You can use this method to fill shapes other than text, too. In this example, I filled stars with an American flag. I created the stars with a third-party brush, otherwise the procedure is identical.

I hope you found this lesson useful and that you will share it with others.