Making Sheer Curtains in GIMP
I read this tutorial and after playing around a bit ('cause I couldn't get the fold the way I wanted them) I ended up with sheers! I thought that was so cool! I added a window and scene.
I liked how this looked, but thought it needed two separate curtains, so I duplicated this layer. I resized: one to the left and one to the right. I was going to have them meet, but I liked them open.
You can see the folds got closer just like real curtain folds would. So I made another one.
The actual sheerness of any of these is made by the opacity. These could have been solid draperies. Different modes at 100% opacity can create sheerness, but the colors react with the other levels, so some don't look right.
The layers in this picture are:
- white background layer
- beach_by_JVMediaDesign.com set at normal, 100%. (It was about 50% in the pictures above.)
- 4 layers, one for each silhouette - drop shadow for each person on the beach. I did a lot of maneuvering to get these placed. They are still not right. If I get them figured out, I'll explain, but I will say that you have to make them so they are not behind the figure, if you need to move them around. And I also moved these from above the figures to below them. normal, 70%
- silhouette brushes by Obsidian Dawn. I erased the bottom of the girl in the water so that she was in it, not on it. normal, 100%
- This is a window I drew and filled with a wood pattern. normal, 100%
- 2 layers - right and left curtains. normal, 60%
- supernova - x:616, y:60, color:ffff59, radius:29, spokes:1, random hue:47, addition, 73.2%
For the curtains I basically followed fence-post's tutorial. To make the sheer whites I think the only thing I did different was to do a plain vertical blend at the very end. In the patterned curtains I did a single, short horizontal blend on linear & triangular wave, so I'd get nice vertical folds. At the colorize step, I added a layer and filled it with a pattern and displaced it with the folds. Then I put the curtain folds above it at a lower opacity (sorry, I don't remember what %) and merged it down to the patterns. I didn't write it as I did it, so I'm only about 90% sure that I have this right. I do remember that after blending the folds with the pattern, the color was dull. I played around to brighten it up. Of that, I remember no details.
Textile Application
Not sure what it is, other than it's creating them in gimp! I can see using this technique to create any fabric (clothes, tablecloths, and anything fabric/textile) in pictures that might be printed in a textile art project.
That displacement filter is great. I imagine I'll be playing with it for a while.
If only I could get my real curtains done as quickly!
1 comment

This is just so interesting and yet another facet of this wonderful programme. There is so much to learn. You are very good at applying the methods.