GIMP Practice 3 Drawing Using GIMP Tools

Refer to Chapter 4 in your textbook, Beginning GIMP: From Novice to Professional. Refer to the DrawingInGIMP.ppt for additional help with these concepts. This tutorial was adapted from : http://www.koudys.com/gimp_tutorial/Cartoon%20Drawing%20Tutorial.html If you want to view a screencast of your instructor you can use these six links. You will need a Flash plug-in for these screencasts. http://yoda.tc.uvu.edu/barthoki/ScreenCasts/GIMPPractice3/GIMPPractice3PartA.swf http://yoda.tc.uvu.edu/barthoki/ScreenCasts/GIMPPractice3/GIMPPractice3PartB.swf http://yoda.tc.uvu.edu/barthoki/ScreenCasts/GIMPPractice3/GIMPPractice3PartC.swf http://yoda.tc.uvu.edu/barthoki/ScreenCasts/GIMPPractice3/GIMPPractice3PartD.swf http://yoda.tc.uvu.edu/barthoki/ScreenCasts/GIMPPractice3/GIMPPractice3PartE.swf http://yoda.tc.uvu.edu/barthoki/ScreenCasts/GIMPPractice3/GIMPPractice3PartF.swf There are no files to copy for this practice. You will be creating your own image.

Step 1. Creating a guideline base image Begin with a new image, white background, 500x500 pixel size. Create a new layer "Guidelines". Create a circular selection using the ellipse select and holding shift. Drag and drop the black forecolor swatch into selection.

Select->Shrink. Choose 2 pixel. Use Edit->Clear to clear the region. Unselect with Select->None. Using the "Paths" tool, create each curve as shown by first clicking on the top then the bottom of the circle. Holding down Ctrl, drag the like to create the curved center line. Then stroke the path by clicking on the Stroke Path button in the Paths Options area. This image serves as guidelines: the circle is the shape of the head, while the curves guide the drawing of the face, where the intersection is the nose location

Step 2. Sketch the image

Create a new layer "Sketch". Using the guidelines, draw out your cartoon using the pencil. Do not worry if it is messy, you will perfect the curves in the next step.

Step 3. Paths Tool Outline

Create a new layer "Outline". Hide the Guidelines layer. Using the Paths Tool in design mode, draw on the Outline layer using the Sketch as a guide by clicking around the sketch edges. Holding CTRL, click on a line segment and pull it out to form a curved path with the handles between points. While doing this step it can be useful to zoom in and out. You may need to show or hide the Sketch layer to make sure you are happy with your path. Create the clean looking curves by using the "stroke path" option. Make sure to turn off antialiasing at this point by clicking on the +Lines, and make sure the lines are the width you'd like them to be in the final drawing. Using the zoom tool and the pencil/eraser, fill in any breaks in the outline and erase any lines which extend too long.

Step 4. Coloring your cartoon Using the "Fuzzy Select" tool (aka magic wand), select a region inside the outline which you would like to color Create a new layer with the name of the region you've selected. In this picture, the layers: Mouth, Hair, Eyes, Iris, and Nose were made. With the new layer selected, making sure that the area you selected in the Outline layer is still selected, drag the color you would like to use into that selection. Set the Select->None to stop the selection. Select the Outline layer again, and repeat this step until you have a color layer for each area you want colored.

Step 5. Light effects on mouth,

Select the color layer you would like to add some shading to. In this example, the Mouth layer has been chosen. Using the Filters -> Light and Shadow -> Lighting Effects filter, place the blue point source light around the nose area and adjust the lighting options to your liking. Apply.

Step 6. Add a glowing nose

Create a new layer "gNose" (short for glow nose) above the Nose layer. Using a white pencil, draw some white over the nose where you would like it to shine the most. In this example, the white has been drawn in the center of the nose. Using Filters -> Blur -> Gaussian Blur, blur this white area by 6 or 7 pixels. Go back to the Nose layer, and select the region outside the nose with the Fuzzy Select tool. From the gNose layer, Edit->Clear to clear the selection outside the nose area. Select->None to turn off the selection.

Step 7. Add shiny hair

From the Hair layer, select the entire colored hair region using the Fuzzy Select tool. Select -> Shrink by around 12 pixels. Create a new layer "gHair". Drag a slightly lighter shade of the color used for Hair into this selection in the gHair layer. Apply a 40 pixel Gaussian blur. Go to the Hair layer and using the Fuzzy Select tool, select the area outside the color. Go back to the gHair layer and use the Edit->Clear to clear this area. Select->None to turn off the selection.

Step 8. Add pink inner ear

From the Outline layer, draw a tiny line to close off the gap in the inner ear with the color you want to use for the inner ear. Use the Fuzzy Select tool to select the region for the inner ear which you just closed off. Create a new layer "Ear". Drag your inner ear color into the selection in the Ear. Using the "Dodge or Burn Strokes" tool, select burn in the options to darken the areas which you would like shaded. Use the Smudge tool and the Blur tool to soften the shading. Go back to the Outline layer, and use the Eraser tool to erase the line you added at the beginning of this stage.

Step 9. Drop shadow shading

Choose the Outline layer. Use Filters -> Light and Shadow -> Drop Shadow. Play with the default settings to get the shadow looking how you want it. The shadow can be moved after it has been made by selecting all in the newly made drop shadow layer and moving the shadow by hand until it lines up to give a good illusion of depth. Using the Fuzzy Select tool, select the region outside the outline in the Outline layer. Go back to the drop shadow layer and Edit->Clear to clear this region.

The shading on the eyes is added using a similar method to shading the nose, where there is a little light gray added to the top right of the pupils on another layer, which is blurred.

Step 10. Adding vector graphics using the GFig filter

While GIMP does not support vector graphics, it does contain a tool that you may use to draw temporary vector graphics like lines, arcs, rectangles, start, spirals, etc. Once the tool is closed, the vector graphics are placed on their own layer as bitmapped graphics. We will add some wild looking stars to the background of our cat cartoon. Choose the Background layer. Click on Filters-> Render->Gfig. Notice the cat cartoon is carried onto this tool so we can see where we want to place our vector graphics. Click the star shape. Set it to 13 sides, the Stroke color to be royal blue and the Fill to be a shape gradient. Click on the gradient to bring up the gradient dialog. Choose the Full Saturated Spectrum CW gradient. Now click and drag a star on the background. Do one in the upper corner off the edge. Create as many of these wild stars as you would like. You can delete items or undo until you are happy with your stars. Click the Close button to bring these vector images into their own layer. Notice these stars are no longer vector graphics, just pixels on the GFig layer.

Step 10.Saving your cartoon

Save your cartoon as FatCat.xcf. This will preserve the layers. To save the cartoon for use on the web, save it as a PNG, JPG or GIF. Now you are ready to apply for a job at Disney or Pixar.

Conclusion: Drawing in GIMP is not easy and needs some practice. The tools available for drawing include pencil, paintbrush, paths, fuzzy select and others. Setting the stroke or fill can be used to color your drawings. Use the Gfig filter to create simple vector graphics if needed. Have fun and use lots of layers in your drawings!