(Click to enlarge)
I have upgraded GIMP to version 2.6.10.
Step 1:
Find a photograph (any photograph will do). For this project, I decided to use this image of Wild Horse Island at Flathead Lake:
Feel free to use this image for the tutorial. (Click the photo to enlarge it)
Crop the water area of the bottom of the image like shown:
Step 2:
Use Saul Goode's Mirror script to create a vertical flip of the image (Script-Fu – Transform – Mirror):
Duplicate the mirrored layer. 
Step 3:
Create a new transparent layer named "Ripple".
Using the Ellipse select tool, with the Feathered Edge set at 10, create an ellipse in the center of the layer.
Fill the ellipse with black.
Using the Blend tool, shape set at Radial, create a gradient similar to what is shown below:
Turn off the selection (Select -None).
If you're wondering why fill the ellipse with black and use a white to black gradient in the center, its due to how the wave filter splits the two colors into ripples. You want the outside ripple lines to be black to give them more definition when using the displace map.
Step 4:
Filters – Distorts – Waves with the following settings:
Change the mode of the Ripple layer to Overlay.
Using the Rotate tool 
I rotated the ripple 90°.
Using the Scale tool 
I made the ripple slightly smaller, filling the lower half of the layer, like shown:
Keep in mind that for the Scale tool, you can manipulate the ripples by turning off the aspect ratio (unchain the chain link) 
Step 5:
Right click the "Ripple" layer and select Layer to Image Size. (Displace menu will not show the Ripple layer UNTIL you do this)
Select/highlight the mirror layer copy (the middle layer), and go to Filters – Map – Displace. Apply the following settings:
You may want to make adjustments to your pinch and whirl settings to suit your own ripple.
Turn OFF (click the 
) the Ripple layer to see the final effect.
Step 6: (Optional)
I added an extra to give the viewer an indication of what made the ripple by adding a fishing bobber:
Edit – Paste Image As – New Layer.
Adjust the bobber by scaling it to fit the ripple.
Add a new transparent layer, name it "Fishing line top".
I used the Path tool to make the filament (fishing line) using 1 px, using a bluish gray color (5e6274).
I duplicated the fishing line layer and flipped it vertically, then used the Move tool to align it in a mirrored fashion. Rename the duplicated layer "fishing line flipped". See below:
Right click the fishing line flipped layer, select Layer to Image Size.
Filters – Map – Displace.
Use the same settings and layer as in step 5. Your image should now resemble the following:
That's it, you're done! 
Thank you for stopping by.
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Images rendered in GIMP using Jasc Animation Shop 3.11.
(This animation (above) tends to have problems loading from time to time.)
Images rendered in GIMP and animated using GAP. 4 frames at (250ms)
GAP is (50ms slower than JAS) for those who noticed the speed difference.
Added a colored background.
Why no tutorial? Because the steps are already written in a nice (but older) tutorial, you can find here (this tutorial also includes Paint Shop Pro & JAS instructions).
GIMP.org has a simple GAP tutorial you can follow here.
About the Almathera plug-in: when using the "A Puddle" plug-in for water reflection effects, you may have to tinker with the settings to suit your own image, as I had to do with the above animations. The suggested settings on the tutorial did not work well with my image.
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I was "Googling" seamless vector patterns yesterday and came across some tutorials that explained how to make seamless patterns using Photoshop and Illustrator. Now, I realize many of my own tutorials are fairly long, and I also realize people want to do things in as few steps as possible, (unfortunately not everything can be accomplished so quickly outside of using a script or plug-in) but creating seamless patterns can be accomplished fairly quickly using GIMP.
View the tutorial via video, here.
Step 1:
Open any square size drawing, with a white background (I am using 400 x 400 px @ 300 dpi).
Set up a grid for the drawing: Image – Configure Grid, using the following settings (Note: make the image grid divisible by 4 and make sure the grid is visible – "View – Show Grid"):
The result:
Step 2:
The following steps are dependent on what you want to use as a pattern, which can be a brush shape, a photograph selection, or an image you created in GIMP. I'm using my sun clipart I created in a previous tutorial (you can grab that image file here):
First I am going to add a warm yellow color to my image background using (ffa800) for foreground.
Open the sun clip art into GIMP.
Follow my placement pattern of the larger suns (scaled to 300 x 300) and the smaller suns (scaled to 150 x 150) on the drawing:
The process is started by copying the sun clip art (Edit – Copy), then pasting it into the new drawing as a new layer (Edit – Paste As – New Layer). Scale 
the first sun at 300 x 300:
Copy the new layer (make sure Snap to Grid is active under View). Continue pasting the same copy as a new layer until all 9 suns are situated on the grid like shown above.
Paste the 10th sun, scale 
it to 150 x 150:
Copy that new layer and proceed to Edit - Paste As – New Layer, the remaining smaller suns as shown in the placement pattern image above (should be a total of 4).
Save the image as a pattern by browsing to the .gimp-2.6/pattern folder, and name the file with a .pat extension (sunshine.pat). Give it an obvious description (.sunshine). Placing a period (.) before sunshine, will move the pattern toward the top of the pattern dialog.
Refresh your patterns dialog and you're done!
Thank you for stopping by!
[GIMP Tip: To scale the pattern to be smaller or larger, you can add the scale_pattern.scm script and make those adjustments by right clicking the pattern in the dialog menu and select "Scale Pattern".]
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Before we get started, a few tips for GIMP beginners:
- If you have a wheel on your mouse and its listed as active on your GIMP input controllers preferences, you can use the wheel to select through fonts, font sizes, etc much quicker than you can scroll through the lists. Watch this video to see what I mean. The advantage of using the mouse wheel is particularly handy when wanting to check font types on the fly.
- When starting out with this tutorial for neon lettering, it's best to use a white background first, to allow you to see the text. Once the text is how you want it, then create a darker background for the text.
Let's get started:
Step 1:
Open a new image with a white background layer, any size to your liking. (I'm using 640 x 640 px @ 300 dpi).
Select the Text tool and start out using Cooper Black, font color black, 100 px.
In the Text Toolbox, select Path from Text.
Step 2:
Click the eye 
on the text layer to turn it off.
Add a new transparent layer. Make sure its selected (highlighted).
In the Path Dialog, stroke the text path using the foreground color black and at 6 px. (Thickness of stroke is dependent on you using the settings suggested in Step 1. If you use your own settings, try not to stroke the text path too thick.)
Add a Gaussian blur of 3.
Step 3:
Select Colors – Curves and input similar settings, as shown below: (note the channel is Alpha)
Your text should be similar to the following:
Select Colors – Colorize and input the following settings:
Now you can change the white background layer to black, either add a new black layer above the white layer or just use the Bucket fill tool, using the Fill Whole Selection option while the white background layer is selected.
You should end up with something similar to this:
The green is still a tad too dark, but we can easily fix that by duplicating the stroked text layer a couple of times.
If it's too bright, you can always lower the opacity of the top duplicated layer.
All it's lacking now is a glow behind it.
Step 4:
Create a new transparent layer and name it "Glow". Move the Glow layer beneath the topmost duplicate text layer.
With the Glow layer selected, open the Paths Dialog, using Path to Selection 
.
Go to Select – Grow, at 5 px.
Select – To Path, to save it as a path.
Stroke the new text path using (48ff00) for a foreground color, and the stroke size at 6 px.
Add a Gaussian blur of 25 px. You can lower the opacity of the glow layer to suit.
You're done!
The final result:
My layers for comparison:
I recommend trying different font colors and font types to see how the effects turn out.
Here's an example using "Neon" font, following the tutorial above:
Thanks for stopping by!
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Step 1:
First, we need to create the brush that will be used to help us create 3D like images.
Open a new drawing with white background, add a transparent layer, name it "top". I made my drawing 640 x 640px @ 300 DPI.
On the transparent layer, using the Ellipse tool, draw out an ellipse like shown:
Fill with a metallic gradient using the Blend tool (I used a gradient I created, called blue camo, you can grab that gradient here) Hold the CTRL key down for a perfect horizontal gradient, while dragging out the Blend tool across your ellipse selection:
Step 2:
Do not turn the ellipse selection off.
Create a new transparent layer and drag it under the current transparent layer, name it "band".
On the new layer, increase the size of the selection (Select – Grow) by 3 px.
Select the Move tool, set the move to selection:
Move the ellipse selection like shown:
Using the Blend tool again, reverse the direction of the gradient (remember to use the CTRL key for a perfect horizontal gradient):
Now let's trim the sides on that same layer, using the Rectangle select tool:
Once this is done, merge the top layer down (right click "top" layer in Layers dialog, select Merge down).
Now the fun begins. You can opt to save the new image as a brush shape – or – just use a copy of the shape by selecting Edit – Copy. To minimize the selection area of the new shape, I use the Rectangle select tool to enclose a larger portion of the shape, before copying it:
Step 3:
Open a new drawing with a white background. Add a new transparent layer, name it "base".
If you have decided to just copy the shape from the first drawing, and not save it as a brush, save that drawing as shape.xcf and leave it open to be re-used for copying when needed.
Select the Airbrush tool and make sure your tool option settings are like the following:
With the Airbrush scale at 1.00, click toward the center of your image to set the initial brush image:
Once you Airbrush the initial brush shape image, press and hold the SHIFT key to get the rubber band, then press and hold the CTRL key to line the brush image vertically before filling in the final Airbrush stroke. You end up with this:
Step 4:
Create a new transparent layer, name it "donut hole".
Using the Ellipse tool, center an ellipse and then run a reverse gradient with the Blend tool, like shown:
Create a new transparent layer and name it "grooves front".
Reduce the brush shape size to about 25 and then create 3 grooves, like shown:
Trim the outside grooves up on its own layer, using the Rectangle select tool for the sides (trim by selecting excess and then pressing Delete), like shown:
Use the Ellipse select tool to trim the bottom of the grooves by creating a selection that matches the bottom of the base, then Invert the selection (Select – Invert) and press DELETE.
Select – None.
Now we're going to use the shape brush as an eraser, be sure to set the Eraser scale to 25, same size as the grooves. You will need to erase the bottom portion on two layers (Grooves front and Base) the same exact way. See below:
First the grooves front layer, then repeat on the base layer:
Step 5:
To complete the gear solid, select the Base layer.
Now select the Eraser tool again, with the brush shape as the selection. Reduce the scale to 20 (we need to make the back grooves slightly smaller to account for depth). Trim any grooves that don't line up correctly using the Rectangle select tool (note the front left groove's outer edge):
Create a new transparent layer and name it "grooves back". Move this new transparent layer beneath the base layer.
Using the Rectangle select tool, line up selections for the back grooves and fill them with gradient using the Blend tool, like shown:
Finish the remaining grooves:
You're done!
Have fun decorating or adding to your gear wheel and THANK YOU for stopping by!
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Retro Dots
I found two tutorials on making retro dots. So either, 1) they're not all that popular, or 2) people are just using the circle selection or brushes to create them. Whichever the case, even if its all of the above or something else, the two tutorials I read on making them were just too complicated to follow and use (and done for Photoshop). A RetroDots plug-in found at Philipp's website is geared for Photoshop, requires PSPI to run in GIMP, and at least for me, is not the whole effect I was seeking.
The example found at this Photoshop tutorial is close to what I want to achieve, but alas, jumping through all these render cloud hoops is just not my thing. Instead, I'll simplify it to suit my use and share that here.
Tutorial YouTube video of the following steps can be found here.
Step 1:
Create your own sized drawing with a white background, then add a transparent layer, name it dot1.
On the transparent "dot1" layer, draw out some rectangle selections of various thicknesses, like shown: (TIP: After making the first selection, hold down the Shift key while creating the subsequent bands)
Using the Paintbucket tool, fill with whatever foreground color of your choice. I chose black because I want to convert my dot into a brush.
Step 2:
Select – None
Go to Filters – Distort – Polar Coordinates. Use the following settings and select "OK":
That's the first dot. If you want dots of differing thicknesses, repeat these steps, just draw out your bands thicker or thinner. If the first dot is suitable and you wish to replicate it, no problem.
I believe the brush image size limit in GIMP is 520 x 520 pixels, someone correct me if I am wrong. So if your image drawing size is well over 520 pixels in any direction, we will need to resize the dot layer to fall under 520 in order for it to display correctly
Right click the dot1 layer in the Layers dialog, select Scale Layer. Rescale the image to fall within the 520 x 520 limit. Make sure your pixel ratio chain is linked on the Scale Layer options menu.
Edit – Copy the dot1 layer, if you just want to use this dot for this drawing session only – OR – to make the dot brush permanent, perform the following steps:
Step 3: (permanent brush only – skip this step and go to Step 4 if you just want to make quick, temporary dots)
Right click the dot1 layer and Merge down onto the white background.
Go to Image – Autocrop Image (you should now have an image just the size of the dot):
Go to Image – Mode – Greyscale.
Then on the Layers dialog, right click the layer and select Flatten Image.
File – Save As – (name your file retrodot1.gbr or a name of your choice, just use the .gbr extension).
Make sure to browse to save the brush to your Users .gimp-2.6/brushes folder. You can accept the default spacing of 10, but on the description, in order to get it to show up toward the top of your brushes, add a . (period) before the name in the description (like .dots1)
Refresh your brushes.
Performing these steps allow us to use any foreground color we wish when using the dots brush.
Step 4:
Create a new transparent layer, name it dots2.
If you now look under your brushes menu, you should see the dot1 as the very first image at the top.
The trick for changing colors for the dots is to use "Use color from gradient" and make both the foreground and background colors the same, while using the Pencil tool, Paintbrush tool, or Airbrush tool. Brush away!
Resize the brush scale and change the colors to suit. You can even create multiple layers of dots and change the layer modes or add patterns or adjust opacity levels to get some really sweet effects.
The following is an example of several layers set at different modes (multiply, screen, difference, and overlay). I strongly encourage you to create various layers of different colored dots and set each mode differently just to see the effects it gives.
I thought of making my dots with grunge backgrounds and dot patterns:
Nothing really special here, just 4 layers with a bottom-most layer with grunge pattern background, and 3 multiply mode layers of dots of different sizes. The trick is to use the Color Select tool for each dot layer (selecting the dot), and fill with the Bucket Fill tool, using grunge patterns instead of color.
I hope this helps. Thank you for stopping by.
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My last post was a sort of introduction to the usefulness of the shape path script. If you haven't read that or downloaded the script, you can check that here.
The use of paths really speeds up and enhances your images. Let's get started with the sun clip art:
Step 1:
Open a new drawing 640 x 640 px, with a white background, add a new transparent layer and name it "rays".
Center two guidelines (vertically and horizontally) on your image at 320 px.
Go to Script-Fu/Shapes Path/Star and enter the following settings:
Activate the path selection for the star path by clicking the "Path to selection" icon in the Paths dialog.
Select the Ellipse Select tool and enter the following settings:
Draw out a circle from center (320, 320) like shown:
Save the new selection to a path (Select – To Path).
Step 2:
Next set up your Blend (Gradient) colors of foreground (ffe400) and background (ffa800).
Your Blend tool settings should be like shown:
Drag out the Blend tool from center of the drawing, like shown below:
In the Paths dialog, apply the background yellow/orange to the current path as a 2 px stroke (right click path and select stroke path):
Step 3:
Add a new transparent layer and name it "sun".
Use the Ellipse Select tool, with the same settings as before (except change the mode from Subtract to Replace), and create a center circle inside the rays (save the circle as a path).
Using the Blend tool, draw out your gradient (same settings used with the rays above, only swap the foreground and background colors):
The result after adding a 2 px yellow/orange stroke to the circle:
Step 4:
Add a new transparent layer and name it "face".
Use the Ellipse select tool, to create one eye, fill the selection with a dark brown color. Duplicate the layer, and flip it horizontally:
Use the Path tool to create the mouth and cheeks, using a 4px dark brown stroke:
Step 5:
Add a new transparent layer and name it "Glow".
Using the Ellipse Select tool, create an area over the top section of the sun, like shown:
Set your foreground color to white, and using the Blend tool, with your Gradient set at FG to Transparent, fill the ellipse selection with the white gradient:
With the Blend:
Now we need to add a new transparent layer and name it "sheen".
We're going to add a brassy like sheen to the lower portion of the sun. You want the brass color (d57709) to be slightly darker than the yellow/orange color currently being used in the sun.
Using the Ellipse Select tool, create a larger ellipse selection like shown:
Remove the selection (Select – None).
Add a Gaussian blur of 10 px.
Move the Sheen layer below the face layer.
Lower the opacity of the Sheen layer to 50.
Step 6:
Finally, add a new transparent layer and name it "cheeks". This layer should be top-most.
Set the Airbrush tool brush to Round Middle Soft 40, scale at 90, and foreground color to (ff7e00).
Using the default Airbrush settings, apply the Airbrush to the cheeks, like shown:
That's it, you're done!
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Shape Paths is one of the very first scripts I loaded into GIMP. My goal at the time was to try and make GIMP as comfortable to use as Paint Shop Pro's "shapes" gallery. There is a significant difference between both applications, since GIMP doesn't have its own internal "shapes" library and you are required to save your shapes into a .xcf file in order to retain them.
When I started using paths in GIMP, I was originally thinking along the lines of creating "vectors". Unfortunately, GIMP is a raster based program. So, if vectors are what you're wanting, it's best to build them directly into whichever vector application you decide to use. Inkscape is a free vector program that uses the svg format.
If you have never downloaded scripts or plug-ins into GIMP, read my tutorial on that, here.
Shape-path-0.91.scm is the most current version. Don't make the same mistake I did and attempt to install both the .7 and 0.91 versions. Just stick with 0.91. Once you have it installed and the scripts refreshed, you should find the script under the Script-Fu/Shape Paths menu at the top of your drawing window.
There are 14 path options, a few of which are self-explanatory, but if you feel intimidated by the menu prompts for any of these options, you aren't alone. I'll do my best to break down the menus with screenshots so that they make sense for you to use them.
Advanced Rounded Rectangle:
The menu prompt
If that doesn't intimidate you, that's good, but it's easy to see how it could.
Let's break this menu down further to make it easier to comprehend:
You might be asking yourself, "Is there an easier way to achieve this?" The answer is yes, although you might lose node accuracy. Simply use the Rectangle selection tool, set to rounded at 25 degrees, and save the resulting selection to a path (Select – To Path). However, check the node points (Path dialog – tick the Eye icon) between the two path variations, you'll notice a difference in the number of nodes. If accuracy is important to you, stick with the shape path option (fewer nodes).
Circle and Ellipse
Both are pretty self-explanatory. Select your x and y positions, and input your radius (how wide and tall you want the ellipse to be).
Flowers and Spikes
This totally baffled me when I first used it. After a little tinkering with the inputs it soon became somewhat easier to use. The menu defaults:
Locating center on the drawing (x and y) not a problem. Radius, think in terms of dimensions – or – (radius x 2 = diameter) so a 100 px radius will give you a diameter of 200 px.
Now, I'm not going to even pretend I know what I am talking about in regards to the Factors A and B, and their angular displacements. But what I will tell you is that if you experiment in small increments, and keep the angular displacements symmetrical (90 degrees for both) you'll get more pointed flower petal shapes, depending on how many sides you choose to implement and how high you make the factors of those displacements. Here is an example of a 7 petal flower I made using the following settings on a 640 x 640 px drawing:
If I had kept both factors A and B positive, the curve points would have pushed both sides of the petal/spike in the same direction, much like a tri-fold paper being folded flat. I truly tried to find more information on the mathematics of this path function and came up short (when comparing it to the code within the script). It would be really cool if Jon Stipe or Pucelo (the authors of the script) chimed in and explained this process more definitively and thoroughly.
Easier way to perform this function? Not really, especially if you're wanting symmetry. You could always throw out some path points and work out the bezier curve points on your own (you'll need a grid and guidelines), but if the mere changing of a few numbers on this menu is all that's needed, why bother? I've made some really cool designs using this script. Experimentation is strongly encouraged, but keep in mind, make small changes, gradually. A combination of paths make some pretty interesting designs.
Also, if anyone viewing this post knows what the factors and angular displacements are all about, please chime in via comments, and I'll add it to this post.
Gears
Pretty straight forward to use. The difference between the Outer and Inner radius determines how short or long your gear teeth will be. The greater the number between them, the longer your gear teeth will be. Although there is no actual way to manipulate the nodes using the script's menu options, you can physically edit the path points and make some really interesting designs. Gears, like Flowers and Spikes need a tutorial all their own.
Oval
One thing I want to point out: it's not an oval if all 4 radius sides are the same. To elongate to oval shapes, make L and R sides larger or smaller than the Top and Bottom.
Polygon
One important note for miters, when using Polygon: (360/(numbers of sides x 2) gives you miter degrees. How is this important? Well, say you want to make an 8 sided stop sign, but you're not sure what rotation to use to flatten the top and bottom sides. To get the octagon to lay on its side (flat) rather than its point, you add the miter degree to your rotation. You can also get some really cool designs overlapping and merging rotated polygons. Note the example below:
Rectangle and Rounded Rectangle
Straightforward to use.
Sine Wave
Amplitude is actually half the distance from peak to valley, so if you selected amplitude to be 75 px, the sine wave from peak to valley will equal 150 px (75 pixels times 2).
Wavelength is the distance between the cycles, so if you had 3 cycles and wavelengths were set to 70 px, your sine wave would be 210 px in length. This is good to know if you're using sine wave decoratively.
One other important note: even if you pick the exact center of your image, the wave does not center itself on those x and y points, it starts the wave from center in L to R orientation.
Square Wave
Each setting was done individually, not all at the same time.
Just like Sine Wave, positioning at exact x and y center does not center the wave, it starts from that point in L to R orientation.
Square
Straightforward to use.
Star
Identical to Gears in every way except each star segment comes to a point, not a flat top. I will be using this function for my next tutorial on making raster clip art.
Triangle Wave
Somewhat like Square Wave, minus the convergence and displacement. Instead it has rounding and shearing. Note the image below:
I hope this brief description gives you a better idea of how these shapes can be used via menu options. Should I get more information on Flowers and Spikes, I'll repost it here. Be looking forward to my next tutorial on creating raster clip art using the "Star" shape path script.
Thank you for stopping by!
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Step 1:
Open a new drawing with a white background, add a new transparent layer, name it "wings". Follow similar steps found in my Dragonfly tutorial shown in Step 1. The shape of the wings will be somewhat different, but the concept of how they are made remains the same. Draw out one set of wings using the Path tool:
In the Path dialog, duplicate the path and then using the Flip tool, (make sure to set it to Path) flip it horizontally.
You might have to use the Move tool and Rotate tool to get your flipped wing to line up like you see in the image above. Just remember to select the Path option on both tools.
Follow Steps 2, 3, and 4 in the dragonfly tutorial to complete the wings.
Your result should be similar to the following:
Step 2:
Add a new transparent layer and name it "body". Using the Path tool, click out a path like the following, then round out your nodes to resemble a pear shape with a little stinger at the bottom:
Select Path to Selection and fill it with either yellow or black (your preference). Keep the body selection active throughout the next series of the following steps:
Select the Ellipse tool and set the mode to (Subtract from the current selection). Starting at the top, create an ellipse to subtract a portion of the body, like shown:
Fill the selection with the opposite color (yellow or black). Keep the selection active, create another ellipse, like shown, and repeat this process to the bottom of the body, keeping the stinger black.
In the Path dialog, stroke the body path with yellow at 2 px.
Step 3:
Create a new transparent layer, name it "reflection".
Using the Airbrush tool with color set to white, paint a path on the body, like shown:
Go to Filters – Blur – Gaussian Blur set to 25 px
Step 4:
Create a new layer and name it "head".
Using the Path tool, lay out a path that resembles a heart shape with 3 mounds, instead of 2. Round out your points (nodes) like shown:
Convert the Path to a selection, and using the colors (ffc000) and (bf9000), use the Blend tool to create a radial gradient, from the lowest middle point of the head, like shown:
Create a new transparent layer and name it "eyes".
Using the Path tool, lay out a path that resembles an "alien" eye, like shown:
In the Path dialog, duplicate the eye path. Then with the Flip tool set on "affect" – Path, flip it horizontally:
As you can see the right side needs to be moved over a little more, no problem. With the Path tool and right eye path selected, hold down the ALT key and drag the right eye and even it out.
Use the Blend tool, with radial gradient colors set to black and medium gray, and convert each eye path to selection and fill. Stroke each eye path with yellow at 2px:
Now that we can see the eye placement on the head, we can highlight it to improve the look.
Create a new transparent layer and name it "highlights".
Using the Airbrush tool with foreground color set to white, brush on narrow white lines, as shown:
Filters – Blur – Gaussian Blur at 15 px.
Step 5:
For the antennae and legs, revert back to my Dragonfly tutorial for the specifics in (Step 10) or (Step 7) in the Ladybug tutorial on using the Stroke Tapered Path effect.
The leg paths do not need to be duplicated and flipped since your leg paths require being both in front of the body layer and behind the body layer, which means you need to create two layers, place one layer directly below the body layer, and the other directly above the body layer. You could duplicate and flip the paths if you wanted to, but since its not that complicated, I preferred to just create 4 individual paths. The layers are set up like shown:
For the legs, I used the following settings on the Stroke Tapered Path menu:
Here is how I set the legs up on the image:
Two in front of the body, and two behind the body, plus I set up two additional transparent layers for both sets of legs and used a 1 px white stroke on each leg path for highlighting with a 2 px Gaussian blur (much like we did for the head and the body highlighting):
Finally, the antennae. Create a new transparent layer below the "head" layer and name it "antennae". Create two paths like shown below. Use the same Stroke Tapered path settings from the legs, with the exception of the START taper width (change it to 4, leave the rest the same):
Before the tapered paths.
Now add the little balls at the end. (Just use Airbrush tool, foreground set to black. Add a smaller white highlight afterwards (use the fuzzy circle brush for highlighting).
That completes the steps needed for this tutorial. You can go beyond these steps and add textures and color enhancements to improve the overall appearance.
The final product:
Thank you for stopping by.
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Click image to enlarge
Click image to enlarge
Step 1:
Open an image of any size to suit yourself, with a white background. (I am using 640 x 640 @ 300dpi).
Create a new transparent layer and name it "Wings".
Use the path tool to draw one set of wings, like shown (think maple seeds):
Then the second wing, make it a little wider than the first.
Step 2:
Activate both selections on the "Wings" layer and fill with a turquoise color (26b3b5) and reduce the opacity level to 50%.
Step 3:
Create a new transparent layer and name it "pattern".
Download this mosaic brush I created and add it to your .gimp-2.6/brushes folder, refresh the brushes dialog.
Using the Airbrush tool, set the foreground color to (086263), then select the new mosaic brush.
Make the brush a little larger than the wings and then apply the Airbrush.
Change the "pattern" layer mode to screen. Your image should now look like the following:
Right click the Pattern layer and select "Merge Down".
Duplicate the newly merged layer, then using the Flip tool, set to vertical, flip the wing image. You should now have the following image:
Step 4:
If you want to outline your wings, you could make copies of the paths and then using the Flip tool to flip them vertically as well, but there is an easier way to achieve this. First right click the wing copy layer and "Merge Down" into one wing layer.
Use the Color select tool and tick the "Select transparent areas" in the Tools options, then click a transparent area on the newly merged wing layer.
Invert the selection (Select – Invert), then create a new path of the wings (Select – To Path)
Create a new transparent layer, name it "outline".
In the Paths dialog, select the newly created wing path , right click it and select Stroke Path, and use the following menu options and have a slightly darker turquoise color than the wing fill (11898a):
Lower the opacity of the outline layer to 75%.
Step 5:
Making the body requires duplicating a technique. Each process is done the exact same way, only the body will grow from wide to slim, meaning you'll make large and small body parts to create one body.
Create a new transparent layer and name it "body".
Using the Ellipse tool, create an ellipse like shown:
You have numerous color choices to choose from on body color, but the dragonflies in my area tend to have a bluish green metallic look, so remaining true locality, I'll select those two colors (6dab00 & 0276d9) for my gradient Blend.
Select the Blend tool and use the following settings:
Fill the body with a gradient from left to right in direction, (if you don't like the color order, tick the box next to Gradient in the Toolbox and re-apply). You will be duplicating this same process for the tail of the dragonfly using smaller ellipses.
Step 6:
Now for the tail.
Create a new transparent layer and name it "tail".
Using the Ellipse tool, create a small ellipse and fill it with the same gradient Blend as shown in step 5, as shown below:
With the ellipse still selected, go to (Edit – Copy) then deactivate the selection (Select – None).
Press CTRL + V to paste more copies, using the Move tool to put them in line, as shown below:
Create one slightly larger ellipse for the end of the tail, like shown:
Step 7:
Now to make the reflective surfaces of the body and tail, create a new transparent layer and name it "reflect".
Use the Ellipse tool and create a continuous sequence of ellipse selections (hold the shift key down while performing this task):
(TIP: You can release the shift key to move the ellipse, then press the shift key to start the next ellipse)
Fill the selections with white, using the Paint bucket tool.
Reduce the opacity of the "reflect" layer to 25%.
Turn off the background layer, wing layer, and outline layer (by clicking on the eye on each). 3 layers should be showing: reflect, tail, body.
Right click the body layer and select Merge Visible Layers, accept the default "expand as necessary" prompt that follows.
Step 8:
Now it's time for the head of the dragonfly.
Create a new transparent layer and name it "head".
Use the Ellipse tool to create the head like shown:
Fill the head with a black and gray radial gradient blend.
Add a new transparent layer for the head reflection, and use the same technique as done in step 7.
Step 9:
Final steps in the dragonfly will be the eyes and legs. The legs are done the same way as shown in the ladybug tutorial, using the Stroke Path taper plugin.
Create a new transparent layer and name it "eyes".
For the eyes, I used a red/orange (radial gradient Blend, as shown:
I created one eye, then duplicated the layer, and flipped it vertically with the Flip tool, then merged the two eye layers together (right click the top eye layer and select "Merge Down").
Step 10:
Finally the legs. Create a new transparent layer and name it "legs".
Drag the "legs" layer down underneath the "wings" layer.
Before starting here, read the steps listed here (this link opens in a new window, and read from STEP 7 in the ladybug tutorial).
From photographs and drawings of dragonflies, you'll note how the legs are arranged, as this drawing from scientificillustrator.com indicates:
I'll create the legs for the top half, utilize the Stroke Path Taper as shown in Step 7 of the ladybug tutorial, and then duplicate and vertically flip the duplicated layer. See image below:
Duplicate the "legs" layer, flip the copy layer vertically:
Finalizing and touch up pointers:
You can now go to each layer and right click, choose "Alpha to Selection", convert the selections to paths, and apply some outlines to the body, wings, head, and eyes. I tend to use a slightly darker color for path strokes of 1px, (this means, for each layer choose the darkest color of that layer, and make it slightly darker for any outlines you decide to do, with the exception of the head layer, which I made a lighter gray to contrast against the black color – what's darker than black, right?).
You can also use those same alpha to selections, create a new transparent layer above the original, like in the case of the body. To give it more depth, I selected the body layer, chose alpha to selection, created a new transparent above it, and applied a pattern fill and lowered the opacity to give it a blended look.
For the wings layer, I used a darker gray outline stroke, and added some lines to the wings just using the Airbrush tool and holding the shift key for point to point action.
I'll upload some YouTube videos that shows a few of these techniques, so check back if you want to know more.
YouTube video: Giving the dragonfly body depth
YouTube video: Adding details to the dragonfly wings
YouTube video: Adding legs to your dragonfly
OPTIONAL:
YouTube video: Adding antennae and mouth to your dragonfly
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