I'd really love to see someone do an icon tutorial in GIMP - both how to make image and text interesting. Do you know of anyone making (pretty) icons in GIMP?
Gimp doesn't have selective color, which is quite popular in modern tutorials, but aside from that feature, the most significant things - curves, layer blending styles, blurring and sharpening, levels, etc - all work the same, so any tutorials based on curves work with it.
I think what the original commenter meant is that there isn't a "selective color" function; that one has to follow a tutorial to do it rather than being able to do it in one step.
Ah - I saw what looked like a photoshop tutorial for the same thing, so I assumed it wasn't a one-click function there, either. I know nothing :o)
See, *points*, I want to learn how to make tiny text readable like in your icon - when I make tiny text in icons, it always looks crap, not pretty like that, *pouts*.
I know nothing I could be wrong, seriously. I don't use Photoshop, myself. I know that there's something in Photoshop, something to do with colour, that one can't do in GIMP, but I can't remember the name.
I want to learn how to make tiny text readable like in your icon - when I make tiny text in icons, it always looks crap, not pretty like that 8-) I have a few rules of thumb I figured out for that, by trial and error: 1. Never put the text in before the icon is shrunk to 100x100; shrinking text always makes it look awful. 2. Some fonts look better than others at tiny sizes. At one point I went through my fonts, trying them out in GIMP at 10-point size and at 14-point size, and made lists of the ones that looked good that small. I should probably do that again; I've gotten more fonts since then.
I wish GIMP had a way of putting fonts into collections or categories, rather than having one huge long list. Oh well.
2. Ooh, that'd be a handy list! Might you consider posting those (even the old list, since those are probably the fonts I/most have, anyways) e.g. at gimp_gate?
I ran a GIMP icons tutorial last year at a con - here's the online version - but it was really, really, basic. "Here's how you crop! Here's how you adjust contrast!" basic. So you're probably beyond that level already.
My basic icon rule is, I do all of the visual adjustment on the large size image first. If I think it is ready, and it is all layers, I export it to png at the same size first.
Then create a blank 100 x 100 75dpi transparent new image. Select either whole or part of the large image I want, copy it and paste into the new 100 x 100 image I'd created. Then in the Layer menu, I choose 'Scale Layer' to re-size my pasted image until it is at the size I want, and the way I want. Always make sure your Interpolation is Sinc Lanczos3.
A lot of steps, but it usually works for me. I'm not very good with text, though. :(
I just remembered - there's also a general graphics comm: graphic_tutorials. They include Gimp in their interests, so perhaps there is a tutorial lurking? Past/future?
I guess what I'm looking for is how to work with existing images - to make icons like this, or this, or this - I just grapped these random off my Network page: I can tell they've been altered, but not how.
I'd love to see someone walk through the step of that kind of icon-making.
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Google, including http://www.gimp.org/tutorials/Selective_Color/, seems to disagree?
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See, *points*, I want to learn how to make tiny text readable like in your icon - when I make tiny text in icons, it always looks crap, not pretty like that, *pouts*.
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I could be wrong, seriously. I don't use Photoshop, myself. I know that there's something in Photoshop, something to do with colour, that one can't do in GIMP, but I can't remember the name.
I want to learn how to make tiny text readable like in your icon - when I make tiny text in icons, it always looks crap, not pretty like that
8-)
I have a few rules of thumb I figured out for that, by trial and error:
1. Never put the text in before the icon is shrunk to 100x100; shrinking text always makes it look awful.
2. Some fonts look better than others at tiny sizes. At one point I went through my fonts, trying them out in GIMP at 10-point size and at 14-point size, and made lists of the ones that looked good that small. I should probably do that again; I've gotten more fonts since then.
I wish GIMP had a way of putting fonts into collections or categories, rather than having one huge long list. Oh well.
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2. Ooh, that'd be a handy list! Might you consider posting those (even the old list, since those are probably the fonts I/most have, anyways) e.g. at
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http://www.katspace.org/graphics/digitart/icon_fonts/
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As for tutorials, I know there are a huge PILE of them over at LJ.
My basic icon rule is, I do all of the visual adjustment on the large size image first. If I think it is ready, and it is all layers, I export it to png at the same size first.
Then create a blank 100 x 100 75dpi transparent new image. Select either whole or part of the large image I want, copy it and paste into the new 100 x 100 image I'd created. Then in the Layer menu, I choose 'Scale Layer' to re-size my pasted image until it is at the size I want, and the way I want. Always make sure your Interpolation is Sinc Lanczos3.
A lot of steps, but it usually works for me. I'm not very good with text, though. :(
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And thanks as well for the LJ tutorial links :o)
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I guess what I'm looking for is how to work with existing images - to make icons like this, or this, or this - I just grapped these random off my Network page: I can tell they've been altered, but not how.
I'd love to see someone walk through the step of that kind of icon-making.
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The
http://icon-style.dreamwidth.org/tag/themes
http://icon-style.livejournal.com/tag/themes
Also the winners in the challenges are encouraged to explain how they made their icons; not exactly tutorials, that, but at least they're tips.
Links to GIMP resources and tips are included in this link collection: http://www.katspace.org/links/graphics/
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