First, you need to create a new image in GIMP. For this example, I’m going to use the standard banner size.
Now you need to give it a transparent Background, you can find out how to do this in my other tutorial, which you can find by typing ‘HJ006’ into YouTube.
Now you’ll need to add some text. You can do this by using the Text tool, surprisingly enough!
Once you’ve set it to the size and colour you want, you need to merge it down to the background layer. You can do this by going to the layers window, right clicking the text layer, and clicking ‘Merge Down’. If you don’t have the Layers window open, it can be easily opened by pressing Ctrl+L.
Now you need to duplicate the layer. Just right-click on the background layer and click ‘Duplicate Layer’. Another layer, probably called ‘Background copy’ will now exist.
Next, we need to hide the background copy layer, by clicking the little eye icon next to it.
Then make sure ‘background’ is selected by clicking it.
Now select a foreground colour by clicking here and selecting the colour you want. Then click the Bucket Fill tool, and change the colours of the letters to whatever you want the glow to be.
Now go to the filters menu, then select Blur>Gaussian Blur. This window will now pop up, showing a preview of the blur. Change the numbers according to how much glow you want, and then click OK. I’m going for 10.0 in this tutorial.
Now go back to the layers window, and make the duplicated layer visible again. And there you have your glowing text!
Just save this as a .png or .gif image, and you’ll be able to use it…pretty much anywhere you want!
Henry
Henry Cole (Henco) | www.hencogroup.co.uk | henco@hencogroup.co.uk
