When working with GIMP to create a design like poster, logo, or flyer, you might want to add a gradient effect to one of the texts on your design. GIMP has made it easier for you to create a gradient effect to text, especially since the version 2.10. You can find a tool called “Gradient Tool” on GIMP 2.10 and the newer versions. This tool replaces Blend Tool which is removed by the GIMP developer team.
In this tutorial, we will demonstrate how to create a gradient text on GIMP by taking advantage of the Gradient Tool. In addition to Gradient Tool, you will also use Select by Color Tool to select the text you want to apply the gradient to.
Follow the steps below to create a gradient text on GIMP.
- Launch GIMP and create a new image by going to File -> New. You can use any image size. In this tutorial, we use 640×400.
- Click the Text Tool icon on the Toolbox to activate it. Or, you can also use the shortcut by pressing the T key on keyboard.
- Click an area within your image where you want to write the text to and type the text. Before doing so, you can set the color, font style and size. See the screencast below.
- Set the position of your text. You can use the Alignment Tool if needed. This tool can help you to get the precise position, on the center for instance.
- With the text layer selected, activate the Select by Color Tool (Shift+O) by clicking its icon on the Toolbox and click a spot on the text to make the selection.
- Activate the Gradient Tool by clicking its icon on the Toolbox (G).
- On this demo, we will use two colors as the gradient effect. Red and the softer red (pink). So, we change the foreground to red and the background to pink.
- To change the gradient type, you can click the gradient selector.
- Click a spot and drag to any direction. You can create whether a horizontal gradient or vertical gradient. We create a horizontal gradient on this example. You can press the enter key on keyboard to apply the gradient.
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