Preparing Your Workspace
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If you've never used the GIMP before, see my Getting Started with the GIMP tutorial. I will assume that you know how to do very basic things like find dialogs and open a file. I'm also assuming that you have a basic working knowledge of a more basic graphics program like MSPaint. If you're using another program like Photoshop or Paint Shop Pro, you should still be able to do anything mentioned here, but the controls might be a bit different. Learning the GIMP (or any comparable program) takes a bit of time and patience. When you first get started, everything seems awkward and you can do most things more quickly if you go back to MSPaint. You'll probably want to start by doing most of your work in Paint and using the GIMP only when you want to do something special. That's okay - it's how you learn without going crazy. ;) |
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1: Pick a base.
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I usually get started in Paint. I pick a base, change the background to something I don't mind looking at, and paste in any palettes I intend to use. (It's easier to bring anything you want in from the start than to copy it into the GIMP later.) I save it as a bitmap file - if you are working from the base file, be sure to save as a 24-bit Bitmap instead of 256 colors or GIF! |
2: Get ready to work in the GIMP.
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Once you have the base you want, open the file in the GIMP. From the Layers, Channels, & Paths dialog window, click Duplicate Layer (the double-file icon). Now you have two layers: Background (the default initial layer) and Background copy. We'll keep "Background" as a back-up (one which I occassionally find myself needing). The trickiest thing about working with layers is that you have to make sure that you have the right layer selected, since you can only work on that one layer. |
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Make sure you have your Background copy layer selected in the Layers window.
You may need to play with the default settings later, but for this step the magic wand is very good as it is (especially if you used a high-contrast background color). Click on a white background region to select it. NIFTY TRICK: If you hold down the shift key on your keyboard while you use the magic wand, you can select multiple regions at once. Use this to select the entire background. (Use the + and - keys if you need to zoom in and out.) Right-click and choose Edit > Cut from the pop-up menu. |
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Now you should have a layer with a transparent background to work on. Yay! You've already done something that you can't do in MSPaint! Go back to the Layers dialog and choose New Layer. Name this layer "background" or "white background" or whatever you like. Set Layer Fill Type to White. You don't need to touch the other settings. |
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Use the arrow buttons to arrange the layers with the original background on the bottom, the new white background in the middle, and your background copy on the top. |
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Rick-click over the image window and go to File > Save As... You don't want to lose your layers, so be sure to save in the GIMP format (XCF). |
Pick the magic wand tool from the toolbox.Now you're ready to go! You can do this at any stage in the process - for example, you might draw a dress in Paint, bring it in as described above, and then shade it using the GIMP. Since you've got a back-up copy of the background, you can play around as much as you like and you've always got a safety net to fall back on. ;)