Adding text to an image can significantly enhance its appeal and convey a message more effectively. GIMP is a popular image editing software that comes with a powerful text tool. In this tutorial, we will learn how to add text to an image in GIMP.
Firstly, open the image you want to add text to in GIMP. Click on the text tool in the toolbox. The tool options will open, and you can start by enlarging the size of the text to 100. Click in the image where the text should start. There will appear a small work window above it. Start typing the text. In the layer box, a text layer that is active will appear. Click enter to make a new line. The size of the text area adjusts itself automatically.
To choose a font, place your cursor above the AA icon and turn the mouse wheel without clicking. The font of your text changes. If you already know what font you want to use, you can fill in the first letters, and the font name will show up. To make the text bigger, select by click and drag the whole text. The text enlarges with every click of the triangle, so you can exactly see what you are doing. Deselect the selection.
To change the position of the text, click the move tool in the toolbox. Click exactly in one of the letters, so you can see the cursor changing in the move tool. Then by click and drag, move the entire text. You can change the text to bold, italic, underline it or strike it through. You can also select the options left justified, right justified, centered or filled. Here you can adjust the line spacing and letter spacing.
To change the color of the text, double click on the first word, go to the work window, and click the color option. Choose your color, and click okay. We can do this with any color that is selected in the foreground-background option. To add a drop shadow, click filters in the menu bar, light and shadow, and drop shadow. The values that you fill in here will be applied to the whole text. You can choose the color of the shadow and its opacity.
Lastly, make the background layer invisible by clicking the eye. Right-click on the top layer and select merge visible layers. Now the text has become one layer, and you can edit it as if it was an image. But you can no longer edit it as a text layer, though. Make the background visible again and select the perspective tool. Click in the image and drag to make a dynamic perspective. Click transform.
And there you have it, the basics of the text tool with a little extra. GIMP is a very powerful image editing software, and its text tool is no exception. The ability to add text to an image and customize it extensively provides a lot of creative freedom. We hope this tutorial has been helpful to you.