Paint and Colors

Color Display Box
In GIMP, the color box displays what colors are currently selected to be the foreground and background colors. The color on top is the foreground color (the one usually used for painting), and the one on bottom is background color (the color usually used for erasing). The color that is "depressed" is the one your paintbrush will be painting with. In the example on the left, black is selected as the paint color.

Picking Colors
To change the colors, click which color you would like to change on the color display box(foreground or background). A color-selection window like the one on the right will appear. Use the color gradiant bar to choose a general color. For this example, we have selected a blue color. Next, select the exact shade desired by clicking in the large color field on the left. If you hold the mouse button down while moving the pointer around the color field your selection will be displayed in the left bar on top of the menu section. When finished, click the "Close" button and your color will be selected.

If you prefer an alternative method of choosing your color, you may select some of the different color selection options by clicking the tabs at the top. The "Watercolor" works by right- and left-clicking color areas to build up the desired color, kind of like mixing paints. The "Triangle" is very useful for selecting a triad of complementary colors, and the "GTK" is just another way of picking colors. Any of these options will work, it's just a matter of finding one you like.

For exact color matches, use the color picker tool on the GIMP toolbar. This tool copies the color underneath it and makes it your active color selection. Place the color picker over the color you want and click the mouse. A box will pop up showing you which color you have selected, then you are ready to start painting with that color.

Picking a Paintbrush
The menu box on the left shows three different features: the paintbrush shape (currently a large, round dot), the background fill pattern (currently a grainy wood pattern) and the gradient pattern (currently a dark-red to yellow gradient). Clicking any of these features will allow you to change the current selection.

Since the paintbrush is set to a very large round dot it will need to be changed before doing any fine, detail work. Clicking the paintbrush shape will open the "paintbrush shape selection" box pictured at the right. There are lots of different paintbrush shapes in GIMP, some more useful than others. Clicking a brush shape will display that brush's details, including how large the brush is. The brush size is displayed at the top, right of the box. The example here shows that the selected circle is (19x19), which is may be way too large for your work.

The shape of the paintbrush effects all the painting tools. The eraser, airbrush, smudge an other tools all use the shape chosen as the "paintbrush shape". So if you want to do detailed work with any paint tool, be sure to select an appropriate brush.

Painting Buttons
Airbrush sprays a light layer of color on the area where you are painting.

Paint with a paintbrush.

Erase. Actually, unless you are working on layers this will replace the area with the background color selected, so it will "erase" to red if that is the chosen background color. Restricted access