GIMP tutorial - Create a high-contrast grayscale image

This tutorial attempts to create a high-contrast grayscale image. Below are two methods to go about doing it, the first is quick and easy, while the second offers you more control over the distribution of gray values.

Method 1

1. Open an existing image. On the menubar, File>>Open. I’ve chosen an image of the beautiful Kyoko Fukada.
   


2. On the menubar, Layer>>Duplicate layer. Select the new copy of the image.


3. On the menubar, Layer>>Colors>> Layers>>Colors>>Brightness-Contrast. Adjust brightness and contrast until you see desired results. Try and aim for an image with 3 or 4 strong colours.
   


4. On the menubar, Layer>>Colors>> Desaturate.
   

Method 2

1. Open an existing image. On the menubar, File>>Open. I’ve chosen an image of the beautiful Kyoko Fukada.


2. On the menubar, Layer>>Duplicate layer. Select the new copy of the image.


3. On the menubar, Layer>>Colors>>Levels. Extend the dynamic range of colors of the image.


4. On the menubar, Layer>>Colors>>Curves. Once again, try and aim for an image with 3 or 4 strong colours. Experiment til you find the spread of colors you like.


5. On the menubar, Layer>>Colors>> Desaturate.

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That's the end of the tutorial.High-contrast greyscale images are useful for generating images that look like the are cel-shaded or duotone images.

This is created by changing the mode of the top layer to "overlay".

This is created using Layers>>Colors>>Color Balance and setting the Midtones and Shadows to red.Some books on GIMP.

GIMP tutorial - Pencil Sketching II

This tutorial is based on Sweety's clean sketch tutorial for Photoshop. The steps are largely the same for GIMP. Compared to the previous tutorial, this tutorial produces a cleaner pencil sketch.

1. Open an existing image. On the menubar, File>>Open. I’ve chosen an image of the beautiful Kyoko Fukada.
   


2. On the menubar, Layer>>Duplicate layer. Select the new copy of the image.
   


3. On the menubar, Layer>>Colors>> Desaturate.
   


4. On the menubar, Layer>>Duplicate layer. Select the new copy of the image.
   


5. On the menubar, Layer>>Colors>>Invert.
   


6. From the layers dialog, change the mode of the inverted layer to "Dodge".
   


7. From the menubar, Filters>>Blur>Gaussian blur. Set the blur radius to a value from 3 to 5. Apply.
   

And this is the final image!


Some books on GIMP.

GIMP tutorial - Pencil Sketching I

I've been playing around with GIMP these 2 days, and have managed to create a simple pencil sketch which I'm quite satisfied with. This tutorial serves as a reminder of the lessons I've learnt while using the software.

1. Open an existing image. On the menubar, File>>Open. I've chosen an image of the beautiful Kyoko Fukada
   
   


2. On the menubar, Layer>>Duplicate layer. Select a copy of the image.
   


3. On the menubar, Layer>>Colors>>Desaturate
   


4. Adjust the dynamic range of the image. On the menubar, Layer>>Colors>>Threshold
   


5. On the menubar, Filters>>Edge detect>>Difference of Gaussians. Play around with the values until you see something you like in the preview window.
   

And that's the final image!

Some books on GIMP.