ESPN-like Game Promo Graphic

ESPN-like Game Promo Graphic

Building a Spy Movie Banner

In this GIMP project, you will learn the basics of creating a movie banner in a style that might be used for a spy movie. You will use layer blending modes, text layers, and color manipulations, as well as other skills.

Source images you can download or use your own similar images:
Kremlin (Original photo by Yaroslav Ushakov)
Man in Suit  (Original photo by Rubén B. Todos)
Bull’s Eye

• Part 1. The Kremlin

Apply a dark, monochromatic red, slightly blurry effect to the Kremlin image.

Open the Kremlin source image. Convert it to grayscale, Colors -Desaturate..., Choose Shade of gray based on: Luminosity.



Duplicate the layer, Layer - Duplicate Layer. Set the blending Mode of the copy layer to Multiply and slide the opacity down to 70%.



Merge these layers into one, Layer - Merge Down. Name the new layer, Kremlin.

Apply a slight Gaussian blur with a radius of 5 for both Horizontal and Vertical, Filters - Blur - Gaussian Blur... .

Now, for the dark red hue. From the Colors menu, click Colorize... . Set the Hue slider to 360, Saturation 50, Lightness -15.



You can now set this image aside for a bit.

• Part 2. The Man in the Suit

Open the Man in Suit image. With the Crop Tool, remove most of the background area. Now add transparency (an alpha channel) to the image, Layer - Transparency - Add Alpha Channel.

You need to remove the remaining white background. The Select by Color Tool will do the heavy lifting here. Click and drag in the background until all that remains is to clean up the detail around the edges of the man. Toggle on Quick Mask mode, zoom in and, with the Paintbrush Tool, clean up any remaining bits of the background, especially in the hair and inside the man's right elbow. Grow the selection by 1 px, Select - Grow. Then clear the contents of the selection, Edit - Clear. Save the image and close.



You can now reopen the Kremlin background image. Open the Man in Suit image you just worked on as a new layer, File - Open as Layers... . Be sure that in the Layers pallet it is above the Kremlin layer and name it Man.Use the Move Tool to position the Man layer to the left side of the picture and down just a bit.

• Part 3. The Text

Add the movie title and some other bits of text to the banner. Select the Text Tool. For the title choose an appropriate font and size.  I used HeadlineA, 240 pt, Color white. Click in the picture and type the desired text. Position the text in a good place.



Create a selection around the text with the Select by Color Tool. Click anywhere on the white text and it will all be selected. Create a new transparent layer on top of all the others, Stroke. Reset the color swatches to the default. Apply a 4 pixel black stroke to the selection on the Stroke layer Edit - Stroke Selection... . Merge the Stroke layer down onto the text layer.



Similarly add additional text elements to the picture.

• Part 4. The Bull’s Eye

Open the Bull's Eye image as a new layer under the Spy Movie text layer. Set the blending Mode to Lighten Only. Reduce the Opacity to about 85%. Position the bull's eye where you like with the Move Tool.



You've now brought all the components together. Use this lesson as a starting point for your creative expression. Modify and experiment to your heart's delight!

In the Spotlight

In this brief lesson, you will learn a method to use GIMP to highlight a target in a photo by shining a simulated spotlight on it.

Some of the things you will do in this tutorial:

• Make a selection using the Path Tool
• Feather a selection
• Apply a Gaussian blur
• Add a Layer Mask
• Use the Blend Tool to apply a gradient

Open the image to which you want to add the spotlight effect. Create a new layer named Dark, Layer > New Layer... . Use the Bucket Fill Tool to paint the Dark layer black. Adjust the opacity to about 80-90%.

With the Ellipse Select Tool, select an oval around the target of the spotlight on the Dark layer. Feather the selection about 40 pixels, Select > Feather... , and clear the selection, Edit > Clear. Deselect.

Now, using the Path Tool, make a polygonal (almost triangular) selection to simulate the beam of the spotlight. Note that you need only draw three sides of the path. When you click on the Selection from Path button in the Tool Options the final side will be drawn automatically.

See this in a video.

 

Create a new layer, Beam, and fill the selection on the Beam layer with white using the Bucket Fill Tool. Deselect. Apply a  Gaussian blur with a radius of 25, Filters > Blur > Gaussian... .

Add a mask to the Beam layer, Layer > Mask > Add Layer Mask... .

Apply a FG to BG (black-to-white) gradient to the mask with the Blend Tool from the target to the light source.

See how to do this in a video.

 

Slide the layer's opacity down to about 80%.

There you have it!

Silver Spoon

Although GIMP has a good filter for easy drop shadow creation, it is good to know how to build your own shadows when you want something just a bit better. Plus, some of the techniques in this lesson have a number of other applications.

Things you will do in this exercise:

• Add an alpha channel (transparency) to a JPG image
• Make a selection by color and refine that selection
• Add and move layers
• Use the Apply Canvas and Coffee Stain filters

You can get the image of the spoon that I used here or use one of your own.

The initial task is to replace the background with transparency. Because this picture has a simple white background, that will be fairly easy. First, however, you need to add an alpha channel to the jpg image. In the Layers pallet, right-click the background layer and select Add Alpha Channel.

From the Toolbox choose the Select by Color tool and click anywhere in the white area, drag the cursor to get the best selection. You may need to use the Quick Mask to make a few touch ups to the selection.

See how to do this in a short video

Grow the selection by about 2 pixels, Select > Grow... , and feather it by about 2 pixels to soften the edge, Select > Feather... . Now remove the white background, Edit > Clear.

Add a new layer named Shadow and invert the selection, Select > Invert. Fill the selection on the Shadow layer with the foreground color (black), Edit > Fill with FG Color. Deselect.

Apply a Gaussian blur of about 30 to the Shadow layer, Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur... .

In the Layers pallet, drag the Shadow layer under the Background layer. Use the Move tool to offset the Background and Shadow layers. Reduce the opacity of the Shadow layer to get a soft shadow effect, about 70-75.

You now have a nice drop shadow for your spoon. Next we're going to put a coffee-stained table cloth under the spoon.

Add a new white layer named Cloth. Be sure it is the bottom layer in the stack. Apply some texture to the Cloth layer, Filters > Artistic > Apply Canvas… and set the direction to match the light source of your shadow, in this exercise, Top Left.

Next, using the Decor filter, we'll add a coffee stain to the table cloth, Filters > Decor > Coffee Stain…, I used the default settings. GIMP will generate each stain on a separate layer.

Move all the stain layers between the Shadow and Cloth layers, and reduce the opacity of each stain layer down to about 20 or less.

The finished project: