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This post lists some of the best GIMP tutorials we have come across for beginners looking to flex their design muscles and learn something new and useful to apply to their designs and websites.

If you haven’t already got GIMP you should! One of the most popular blog posts we published in 2009 was Ricky’s “5 Great Open Source Graphic and Web Design Alternatives”. The open source alternative to Photoshop Ricky recommended is GIMP which in his words… “GIMP is almost a ‘clone’ of Photoshop. It works in very similar way with its layers, selections, filters and painting tools. It can even read and write in Photoshop format, making it ultra compatible with your Photoshop using colleagues or clients. The software doesn’t feel quite as polished as Photoshop does, and its text manipulation is a little behind Photoshop’s. But, if you’re like the majority of people who use Photoshop to resize their images, reduce the colours, and maybe add the odd special effect to add a little extra to your websites, then the GIMP is definitely something you should try!”

Now you have the software, what can you do with it?

Creating the light text effect in GIMP
http://puteraaladin.blogspot.com/2008/12/creating-light-text-effect-in-gimp.html

Designing iPod Touch in GIMP
http://bulbing.blogspot.com/2009/04/designing-ipod-touch-in-gimp.html

Round Web 2.0 button with a metal ring
http://gtuts.com/web/round-web-20-button-with-a-metal-ring

Gold text effect
http://gimpology.com/submission/view/gold_text_effect/

Transparent glass lettering
http://gimpology.com/submission/view/transparent_glass_lettering

Fancy glow effects
http://gtuts.com/effects/fancy-glow-effects-in-gimp

Making a pencil drawing from a photo
http://www.gimpusers.com/tutorials/making-a-pencil-drawing-from-a-photo.html

Mac style wall paper
http://gimp-tutorials.net/mac-wallpaper-tutorial

Turn a digital photo in to Polaroid
http://howto.nicubunu.ro/gimp_polaroid_photo/

If you are still not quite ready for these tutorials the official GIMP tutorials can be found here and we would recommend going through them to learn the basics http://www.gimp.org/tutorials/

Name:Stuart Gilbert

About:One of the key members of the Heart Internet Developer team, Stu joined the company in 2008 and has various responsibilities including the development of customer tools, HostPay, and the maintenance of the blog.

Posts by Stu (8)

Tags: GIMP, Web Design