Either watch the tutorial above OR follow along step by step as shown below. This tutorial will introduce you to the GIMP interface and some of the basics you'll need to know when using the GIMP. This is a 2 step tutorial.
1) Open the GIMP, if it isn't already (Double click on the GIMP icon on your desktop).
2) Click on File > New
3) In the properties box, pick the size of the canvas you want to work with.
For our example, we'll use 320 x 320. Change the next blue down arrow to pixels as shown.
Then click on + Advanced Options and change the resolution to 72 x 72. The 300 x 300 is used more for print media than for web media. 72 x 72 is the standard for web graphics and results in similar quality and much smaller file size.
4) Click OK.
5) This brings up a new canvas window. You can now choose a tool from the menu and start drawing or designing or editing images.
6) Please note all the tools available to you. For example, if you wanted to use the paint brush tool, simply left click on the paint brush icon.
Doing so will also create a properties box for the specific tool at the bottom of the GIMP window.
These properties will allow you to change the brush size, the opacity, the mode, the pressure sensitivity (if using a graphics tablet), also properties for Fade out, Incremental and Use color from gradient.
7) Now look at other options in the GIMP main window. Below the tools are the a couple important items.
Where the yellow arrow is pointing, you can click on selecting a pattern, or selecting a brush (black dot with white square) or you can choose to select a gradient. These all currently show the active selections.
7) Ok, let's pick a color to paint with.
In this example, the foreground color is black and the background color is white.
The foreground color is the color you would paint with if you started painting on the canvas.
If you click the two white arrows, you'll automatically switch the foreground and background color.
If you want to paint with a different color simply click anywhere inside the big black box (foreground color).
You can then pick and choose any color you'd like. Play around with where to click your mouse and you get lot of different colors to choose from.
Once you've found a good color, then click OK.
8) Now take your mouse over to the canvas and start having some fun drawing on the canvas with your new color.
This tutorial is continued in Running the GIMP - Part 2
