If you’re interested in creating logos using Gimp, let me first introduce you to this program. Gimp is a free image editing software that runs on almost any computer and operating system. This software can be used to retouch photos. It can be used to crop, re-size or optimize images for use on the web. Best of all it can be used to create custom text or graphic art.

I’ve used it for a number of edits on my own and client projects and find it very effective in providing the features now considered standard for Graphic Software. If you don’t want to pay an outside person or company to do your logo, you will find this software very useful for creating professional looking artwork.

What kind of logo can I create

In this guide I will show you how to create simple text logos using Gimp. You’ll learn how to use the text feature, change font type and size, change color and save your image in the file type you want (gif, jpg, png etc).

After practicing these techniques for a few projects, you should be able to create logos and other artwork very easily and rapidly. This will save you thousands of dollars, time and headache when it comes to graphic design.

What you will not learn is how to create custom (non-text) art from scratch. In other words; I can’t teach you how to draw in this software. But if you are good at the creating custom logos, eventually you might be able to create unique artwork without using any pre-designed elements.

How to create a logo

First grab Gimp and install it on your computer. Open the program and drag the two floating toolbars to the right and left. This will provide an organized layout to work with.

Click the file option at the top left and select “new”. Then click on the Template dropdown and select 640×480. A new window will open within the program with a blank white box. This is where you will be doing most of the designing.

On the left toolbar click on the big “A”. Move your mouse to the white box and click. A small box will appear called Text Editor. Use this to enter the text of your logo. After entering your text, go ahead and hit close.

Your text will be outlined with a border and four little boxes on each end. Hover over the bottom right one, click and drag the box open to the bottom right of the bigger white box. This will give you some room to enlarge the text.

Now go to the left toolbar and on the bottom portion ( it will be divided in two parts) there will some text editing features. You can change the font type and size from this area. Clicking on the black rectangular box will pop open an new window. Here you can choose the color of your logo.

At this point if you like what you have created, go ahead and export it. To do this, go back to the File option (top left) and select “Save As”. A window will pop up. Here you can name your image and select a folder to place it in.

The last option on this box is “Select File Type”. Click the little plus sign and slide down to gif, jpg or png and hit save. Another box will popup asking you if you would like to “Merge Visible Layers”. Just hit export and if any other boxes appear, ignore it because you are still learning the program. So go ahead and hit save.

You should now have a new image appear in the folder (or desktop) where you saved it. At this point you might want to just save the Gimp file for future editing. Save it again like above. You don’t need to select file type this time.

In future guides I will show you how to had gradient, effects, use layers, import images, and manipulate dimensions.

If you find this guide useful, please tell how this has helped you create professional text logos in the comments.

How to use Gimp for Creating Logos is a post from: WebDevStar.com | © WebDevStar.com

Images on the web are not implemented like your favorite magazines. There are a number of things you must know in order to properly add and optimize images using HTML (and maybe Photoshop). These are:

1. Editing images
2. Creating custom art
3. Integrating images
4. Understanding Copyrights.

Let me discuss these briefly;

Editing Images

It’s said…by who? I don’t know, that you can tell how experienced a person is in managing a website by how they use images. Worried? If you are, then the terms bellow might be helpful.

• Pixels – how images are usually measured.
• Canvas – the space an image can occupy.
• Width – length (in pixels) from left to right.
• Height – length (in pixels) from top to bottom.
• Image Size – Width and Height of actual picture, not the canvas.
• Canvas Size – Width and Height of Canvas, not the actual picture.
• Distorted – A negative visual interpretation.
• Crop – reduce length of Width and Height of the Canvas
• Re-size – reduce or enlarge actual picture, not Canvas.
• .png, .gif, .jpg, .bmp – common file formats for web images.

Creating Custom Art

Of course we all know graphic art can be done by hand. With the invent of the scanner, this old form of expression is not lost. Now I’m no graphic expert, but I do have strong pencil art skills. These (hand) abilities did not transfer easily to the personal computer. In fact, unless I have a digital pen, I can’t draw crap on the computer.

For the creativity that exists in so many of us, there are bountiful amounts of software that can assist. Adobe Photoshop is one such tool. Oh, and what a powerful application it is, allowing professional grade image editing.

Integrating Images

Integrate, install, program, upload, style are all terms associated with the publishing of images to the Internet.

Adding an image to a web page is as simple as <img src=” ” alt=” ” />, with the value of src being the URL to the image. Of course the image must reside online and accessible via a web browser. The alt is optional but recommended as an alternative text if the URL is missing, incorrect or the image is unavailable on the server.

To upload an image, use an FTP program to access the server or a control panel provided by the host.

Understanding Copyrights

If an image did not originate with you, where it came from is unknown, no one gave permission to use it either in writing or verbally, then don’t publish it on your website or anywhere for that matter. There are serious financial consequences for using Copyrighted Materials without permission.

The same for images originating with you. If they are copyrighted or a date of creation can be verified then your rights may be protected. Now this is certainly not a substitute for legal advise, but protecting your assets is very important.

Conclusion

Images online can be tricky. It’s also very important website owners understand the significance it has in web presentations. With the ability to easily negatively or positively impact the bottom line, images should be used wisely.

Using HTML to Insert an Image is a post from: WebDevStar.com | © WebDevStar.com