How to get a Powder Paint Effect in the GIMP

This week I decided to explore how to get a powder paint effect in the GIMP.

I was introduced to the effect by a blog that I follow: Brashley Photography. She has a few posts about it with links to videos about doing it in Photoshop. As you may know, I opted out of the cloudy subscription model of photo processing a few years ago. And now I primarily use the GIMP (Gnu Image Manipulation Program) which is open-source (free!). Typically anything you can do in Photoshop you can also do in the GIMP. But sometimes figuring it out requires a bit of experimentation.

Brushes

In order to do this effect you need powder brushes. In one of Bren’s posts she gave a link to Brusheezy, a source for free PhotoShop brushes, which work just fine in the GIMP.

You simply download the zip file containing the brushes, then expand the file and place the resulting .abr file into this directory: C:>Users>yourusername>AppData>Roaming>GIMP>2.10>brushes. (The italics on “yourusername” indicate that you should replace that with your own username).

I made this short YouTube video that goes through the steps. I try to describe the steps accurately, but sometimes it is easier to watch the process.

Steps

First, Create your composition

File>New, then type in the size you want.

This technique is a composite. So, select the photo you want to work with and how much of it you want to use, then create a new canvas that is larger all around. This gives you room for your brush work.

Second, Open your image as a layer

File>Open as layers

You can use any type of file. A .png with a transparent background is an easy choice (Search on-line for some to play with). But it isn’t necessary, I’ve just been using photos I’ve taken recently then masking out the part I don’t want to use.

Third, Create a layer mask for your image

In this step you choose the part of the image to use in your composition and mask out the rest. If you are using a .png with a clear background you don’t need this step. If not, there is more than one way to do this.

One very simple way is to use the selection tools to select the part of the photo you want in your composition then right click on the name of the layer and select “add layer mask” and click on “from selection”. (Alternatively, you can use the drop down menus: Layer>Mask>Add layer mask.) Don’t stress over this too much: you can modify the composition by painting on the mask with black to remove things or white to add them.

Fourth, Make your powder paint strokes.

Select the background layer. Then create a new layer filled with transparency. Either use the little icon at the bottom of the layers panel or the drop down menu: Layer>New layer. Select the paintbrush tool (the short key is “p”). Choose one of your powder brushes, resize it to be appropriate for your composition, you can also use the angle slider in the tool panel to change the orientation of the brush. Select the color you want to use by clicking on the foreground color. You can use the little eyedropper tool to select a color from the image.

I make the powder “strokes” (perhaps “puffs” would be more accurate😉) by tapping the brush, basically using the brush like a stamp. If you hold down the brush and stroke you can lose the powder-y look. You can undo any puff you don’t like with control z. The powder brushes are partly transparent, so experimenting is essential.

Make more layers and use different colors. Trying to do all the puffs of color on one layer gets messy. Also,you can reorder the layers to change which colors are on top of others, just make sure to keep your image on the top of the stack (or be careful of what you put over it).

Complicating matters-a few more ideas

The steps above are pretty straightforward and you can get an almost infinite number of amazing results with them. However, you can also click thing up a notch by adding some other details.

Puff your main image

Another possibility, in lieu of selecting the portion of your image add a totally black mask. Then you can use one of your powder brushes to make a powdered splotch of the image. Which can look really cool!

Gradient puffs

You can make your powder paint puffs with a gradient. Create a new paint puff layer. Select the gradient tool, “g” is the short key. Create your gradient. Documentation for the gradient tool is here. Add a black layer mask then puff on it with white paint.

Put a line around it

Create a new layer at the top of the stack (over the main image). Use either the rectangle (r) or elliptical (e) selection tool to frame around the part you want to frame. Hit enter to make the selection. Then open the paths panel. Choose “Path to selection”. Then choose “Stroke to path”. Make sure that your foreground color is the color you want the stroke to be and designate stroke width, then click on “stroke”.

Go back to the layers panel. If you have a narrow stroke width you have to Select>None (Cntl-Shft-A) to see the stroke.

So that is how you can get a powder paint effect in the GIMP.

If you make something cool I’d love to see it. Why not share it in the One to Three Photo Processing Challenge? If you don’t have a blog you can post on Instagram with hashtag: #tsc_1to3.

For more ideas about using the GIMP check out my Nuts & Bolts & Tools page.

Take care.