Gimp - how to make frames - and make things like text or frames glow

[Liitha]

Ok of course you can layer up and make amazing glow effects with layering but lets get to the basics and more simple glow stuff

 

this is the stuff when i want to make simpler stuff glow and its either

1. use blur

2. use skreen, addition or similar mode in layers

3. a combination of the two

 

 

ok here i got a black background and i got text i want to make glowing in a layer afront of it

now i am going to make a layer between my name layer and my background

 

 

now it looks like this

aka my text has been selected

 

i head into select menu

 

and in this case set it too 3 pixel, then make my empty layer my active layer

 

 

 

i go to edit and fill it with my selected color

 

now because the color i want to glow is fairly light, you can see it disapears a bit in the light color, so for that reason i go to select menu, shrink 2 and choose a color slightly darker then my text to fill the new selected inner field with

 

 

now i use the cut tool (i am sure there is a better way for this but this the simplest way i found to deactivate a selection) and click utside the frame

 

 

now i go to filters, blur and use gausian blur on this layer

 

to me this not good enough so i duplicate layer and set it to addition and half optimacy

 

now the thiner the line and if its in medium to dark range i find this works a lot better then with light colors most of the time, with them you likely want to layer more and work on shading out and in and all...

 

example

and in this one the bluur layer  only have one color not two like the last one, and there is no layer on top of the text either

 

Framing

now of course you can find beautifull frames in say pixabay you can just put your picture in, there is also an framing tool in the filters and artistic menu or was it decoration

 

but basic gist there is nothing hindering you making your own frames, either by use of cuting tool, shrink and grow feature in the select menu or by use of eraser and different brushes - and combine this of course with any number of other tools and effects

 

will cover a few here

 

ok first and very simple one

i have a picture, i duplicate the layer, i colorize it, i go to select and choose all, then i go back to select and here i shrunk by 25

now i delete the new selection and voila

 

now this same version can be used to fill say one color, shrink some more, fill another color, and shrink again fill another color

 

 

you can of course blur those layer lines

 

you see you can even use another picture, patern or something and do this with

you could play with it and do the different frame colors in different layers and make them more transparent in some layers then others and so on and forth

 

ok now another way to do this is create a new layer on top of your picture and simple use the airbrush tool, the pencil, the paintbrush or the eraser to make a new frame in the edge by creating some of the brushes with form

 

now i figure you see the paintbrush and pencil and all, but eraser? yes simple make a picture the layer above with say a pattern, use a big eraser and remove it completely, then use anti erase to take back parts of it

 

 

[Liitha]

and really the same principles goes if you want to cut hole in a layer and show a picture underneat in a frame, if you use the scisor tools to cut holes by selection you put it underneat the picture and use the same treatment on selection as above

 

however if you want to use a brush you have to use the picture above and antierase, you can then use layer menu ->transparancy -> alpha to selection

 

 

and once you got the selection you can grow it and fill it in a layer underneat that

 

 

here i would remove the stray green dot on the side, and clean it up inside

 

and here i illustrate how i use a layer above my picture, use the select circle tool to make an oval, fill it with color, shrink with one pixel, and delete content

 

and i put it to selection again after, the reason i removed it is the selection was only on one side when i had a full circle, now i want it to mark both inner and outer edge

 

then i grow it by 5 in a new layer underneat this and fill it in and use blur

i think its too stark so i duplicate the dark green and blur the lower of the two

 

better but still not quite so i put the top green layer to dodge

 

ok satisfied its somewhat glowing, if not i could add layers and whatnot, but you get the gist of what tools to play with all of you so go create some neat frames ?

 

Edited October 26, 2020 by Liitha