Turn Photos Into Logos with GIMP

Summary

In this tutorial, Nick demonstrates the process of transforming a hand photo into a logo using Inkscape. He starts by desaturating and enhancing the shadows of the photo for better tracing. Nick then traces the hand outline and shadows, fills in the shaded areas, and converts the traced image into a black vector with a transparent background. Finally, he shows how to create a circular logo with the hand design, adding a white outline for emphasis, resulting in a unique logo suitable for various applications.

Takeaways

• 📸 Takeaway 1: The tutorial demonstrates the process of creating a logo from a photo by tracing it, which was originally done for a client depicting zombie hands emerging from the ground.
• 🖌️ Takeaway 2: The first step is to take a photo with good lighting and then convert it to grayscale to simplify the tracing process.
• 🔍 Takeaway 3: Adjusting the photo's curves can help accentuate shadows, which is important for tracing the shaded areas of the subject.
• 🎨 Takeaway 4: A new layer is created for tracing with a reduced opacity and a solid fill brush, using red as the foreground color for visibility against the photo.
• 👐 Takeaway 5: Tracing should follow the outline and shadows of the hand, but does not need to be perfectly precise due to the whimsical, hand-drawn style of the design.
• 🖼️ Takeaway 6: After tracing, the image is filled in using the bucket fill tool, and any missed areas are manually filled with a brush.
• 🔴 Takeaway 7: The traced image is then converted to black with a transparent background using the threshold function in the colors menu.
• 📐 Takeaway 8: A new document is created for the logo with a specific size and filled with transparency, and guides are added to help with alignment.
• ⭕ Takeaway 9: A circle is drawn in the center of the new document, and the traced hand is pasted and positioned over it, with parts of the hand sticking out of the circle for effect.
• ✂️ Takeaway 10: The portion of the hand that protrudes from the bottom of the circle is removed using selection tools, and the inside of the hand is erased to create the logo's negative space.

Q & A

What is the main topic of the tutorial presented by Nick?

The main topic of the tutorial is demonstrating how to trace a photo into a logo using Inkscape, specifically creating a design depicting a zombie's hand coming up from the ground.

What was the original client's request that inspired this tutorial?

The original client requested a design that depicted a zombie's hands coming up from the ground, which inspired the tutorial.

What is the first step in the tutorial for preparing the photo?

The first step is to strip away all color information by reducing the saturation to zero, turning the photo into grayscale.

Why is it important to accentuate the shadows in the photo during the tutorial?

Accentuating the shadows helps to make the shaded areas more visible, which are the parts that will be traced over, ensuring that the tracing process is more effective.

What tool does Nick recommend using to trace over the photo in Inkscape?

Nick recommends using the solid fill brush with a hardness of two and adjusting the size as needed for tracing over the photo.

How should the tracing style be approached according to the tutorial?

The tracing style should be whimsical and hand-drawn, not needing to be perfectly precise to achieve the desired design effect.

What is the purpose of adding a new layer with reduced opacity during the tracing process?

Adding a new layer with reduced opacity allows the user to see the original photo while tracing, helping to create the lines without being overwhelmed by the intensity of the base image.

How does Nick suggest filling in the traced shadow areas in the design?

Nick suggests using the bucket fill tool to quickly fill in the traced shadow areas, rather than manually painting them in with a brush.

What is the reason for adding a white layer beneath the traced image before filling it in?

Adding a white layer beneath the traced image helps to see what is being filled in more clearly, providing a better visual guide against the original hand photo.

How does the tutorial describe converting the traced image to a logo?

The tutorial describes creating a new document with guides to position and size the traced image within a circle, then using various editing techniques to refine the logo, including adding a white outline and erasing unnecessary parts.

What is the final step in the tutorial for preparing the logo for use?

The final step is to export the logo as a .PNG file with a transparent background, making it ready for various applications.

Outlines

00:00

🎨 Photo to Logo Tracing Tutorial

In this tutorial, Nick demonstrates the process of tracing a photo to create a logo using Inkscape. He starts by explaining a client's request to depict a zombie's hand emerging from the ground. To achieve this, he photographs his hand under suitable lighting conditions, converts the image to grayscale to strip color information, and accentuates the shadows to prepare for tracing. He then creates a new layer and begins tracing the hand's outline using a red brush, emphasizing a whimsical, hand-drawn style rather than precision. Nick also provides tips on navigating the canvas and using keyboard shortcuts for efficiency.

05:00

🖌️ Filling and Refining the Logo Trace

After completing the outline tracing, Nick proceeds to fill in the shadow areas of the hand. He discusses alternative methods but opts for the bucket fill tool for efficiency, using a white layer beneath for better visibility. Nick then refines the filled areas by manually touching up any missed spots with a brush. Once satisfied, he turns off the visibility of the reference photo and white layer, converts the traced image to black with a transparent background, and prepares to create a logo by opening a new document with guides for alignment.

10:00

📐 Creating the Logo Design with Circles

Nick continues by adding a circular guide to the new document and pasting the traced hand image onto it, positioning the fingers to slightly protrude from the circle. He then uses the selection tools to remove the unwanted portion of the hand below the circle, creating a clean logo design. To add a design touch, he erases the internal circle area within the hand and adjusts the opacity for a layered effect. The tutorial also covers how to add a white outline to the logo for a more defined look, using the circle tool to create an outer circle and refining the selection to match the logo's design.

15:02

🔄 Finalizing the Logo and Exporting

In the final steps, Nick finalizes the logo by adjusting the layer opacity and removing unnecessary parts of the white outline using a layer mask. He emphasizes the importance of precision in painting only the desired areas with white to maintain the logo's clean look. Once the logo is complete, he guides viewers on how to export the design as a PNG file with a transparent background for versatile use. Nick concludes the tutorial by inviting viewers to ask questions and thanking them for watching.

Keywords

💡Photo Tracing

Photo tracing is the process of creating a line drawing based on a photograph. In the video, the host demonstrates how to trace a hand's photo to create a logo design, emphasizing the importance of capturing the shadows and contours accurately to depict the subject's form.

💡Inkscape

Inkscape is a free and open-source vector graphics editor used for creating and editing vector images, such as logos. The script mentions using Inkscape to convert the traced hand into vectors, which is a crucial step in the logo creation process as it allows for scalability without loss of quality.

💡Saturation

Saturation in the context of image editing refers to the intensity of the colors in an image. The video script describes reducing saturation to create a grayscale image, which simplifies the tracing process by removing color distractions and focusing on the shapes and shadows.

💡Curves Adjustment

Curves adjustment is a tool in photo editing software that allows for the manipulation of the tonal range of an image. In the tutorial, the host uses curves to accentuate the shadows in the hand photo, making it easier to trace the detailed areas that will be important in the final logo design.

💡Layering

Layering is a fundamental concept in graphic design where multiple images or elements are stacked on top of each other. The script describes creating a new layer for tracing to keep the original photo intact and to allow for adjustments and edits without affecting the base image.

💡Opacity

Opacity refers to the transparency level of a layer in graphic design. The host lowers the opacity of the tracing layer to see the original hand photo beneath, which helps in accurately tracing the lines over the reference image.

💡Brush Tool

A brush tool in digital art and design is used to create strokes with various properties like size, hardness, and color. The script mentions using a solid fill brush with specific settings to trace the hand, illustrating the importance of brush selection in achieving the desired line style.

💡Vectorization

Vectorization is the process of converting a raster image into a vector format. The host converts the traced hand into vectors in Inkscape, which allows for the logo to be scaled to any size without losing sharpness, a key feature for logo usage.

💡Bucket Fill Tool

The bucket fill tool is used to fill a selected area with a specific color or pattern. In the script, the host uses this tool to quickly fill in the traced shadow areas of the hand with black, streamlining the logo creation process.

💡Threshold

Threshold in image editing is a technique used to convert an image to black and white based on a certain level of lightness. The host uses the threshold function to turn the traced hand red lines into a black silhouette with a transparent background, which is essential for creating the final logo design.

💡Logo Design

Logo design is the process of creating a symbol or graphic to represent a brand or company. The video's main theme revolves around logo design, specifically demonstrating how to transform a hand photo into a vector-based logo, which can be used for branding purposes.

Highlights

Nick demonstrates the process of turning a photo into a logo using Inkscape.

The tutorial was originally created for a client depicting zombie hands emerging from the ground.

A photo of one's own hand under appropriate lighting is used as the base for tracing.

The color information in the photo is stripped away to create a grayscale image.

Shadows are accentuated using the curves tool to enhance definition for tracing.

A new layer is added for tracing with the opacity adjusted for visibility.

Tracing is done with a solid fill brush, starting with a larger size and reducing as needed.

The tracing does not need to be perfect, allowing for a whimsical hand-drawn style.

Navigation and zooming techniques are shared for ease of use on the canvas.

The bucket fill tool is used to fill in shadow areas for efficiency.

A white layer is added beneath the tracing to aid in visibility during the filling process.

The traced image is converted to black with a transparent background using the threshold function.

A new document is created for the logo with guides to align the design.

The traced hand is pasted and positioned over a circle in the center of the canvas.

Portions of the hand outside the circle are removed using selection and deletion.

An eraser tool is used to clean up the inner circle area within the hand.

A white outline is added to the logo for a more defined look.

Layer masks are used to refine the white outline around the fingers.

The final logo is completed and can be exported as a PNG with a transparent background.

Transcripts

[Music]

this is Nick with logos by Nick comm and

in today's tutorial I'll be

demonstrating how you can take a photo

and trace it into a logo using and

this is something I originally did for a

client of mine who wanted me to depict a

zombies hands coming up from the ground

and my approach to to creating that

design was to simply take a photo of my

own hand under appropriate lighting and

then trace over with and then

convert it to vectors in Inkscape and to

show you what I mean here here's the

photo I took right here if you'd like to

follow along with this tutorial I'll put

a link to this photo in the description

of the video otherwise what you could do

is just grab your phone take a picture

of your own hand or take a picture of

whatever you'd like really just make

sure there's decent lighting and and

then get it onto your computer and open

it up with like you see here so

let's go ahead and get started here the

first thing I want to do is just strip

away all of the color information so

I'll go to colors saturation and I'm

gonna bring that all the way down to

zero to make that greyscale and go ahead

and click OK and since I'm going to be

tracing over the the shaded areas what I

want to do is I want to accentuate those

shadows a little more I want to bring

them out a little more so what I'm gonna

do is I'm gonna go to view I know

actually colors curves and I'm gonna

take this note over here in the bottom

left and just slide that to the right a

little bit and you're gonna notice the

photo is shadows darkening a little bit

now you don't want to go too much

because you don't want to lose the

definition between the hand and the wall

there the shadow on the wall you want to

be able to see the edges of the entire

subject that you'll be tracing so it's

important to keep that in mind I'm gonna

keep that right about there

and I'm gonna go ahead and click OK and

what I'm gonna do now is I'm going to

add a new layer on top of this and then

we're gonna start tracing so I'm gonna

click this button down here that says

create a new layer and add it to the

image it's going to leave all of the

default settings here just to

double-check make sure we have

transparency go ahead and click OK and

I'm going to take the opacity of that

layer and bring that down to like 30

somewhere in the 30s like that and I'm

gonna take the foreground color and I'm

gonna change that to red

and I'm going to grab a brush over here

I'm gonna use this solid fill brush

right here hardness number two 100 and

I'm gonna bring the size of this brush

down and I'm gonna zoom in over the

bottom left hand area over here I'm

gonna hold control and roll the mouse

wheel and if you notice the size of the

brush here you can use the bracket keys

left and right to increase the size and

decrease decide I'm gonna make this a

little bit bigger like that I'm using

the right bracket key to do that and I'm

just gonna go ahead and start tracing

over it I'm gonna bring the opacity of

that layer down a little more I don't

like I like to be able to see more of a

subject to the line that I'm creating

I'm gonna go ahead and create so trace

over the edge there if you uh if you

don't like how one of the lines came out

you could hit ctrl Z to undo it instead

of going to edit and undo I just noted

it's it's a lot easier to use the

keyboard shortcuts I'm gonna go through

and trace it don't worry about it being

too perfect it doesn't have to be like

well like fitting to every single crease

and edge if you notice here the style

that I'm using for this design is like a

very whimsical hand-drawn sort of style

so don't worry too much about it being

exactly precise so what I'm gonna do is

I'm just gonna trace over the rest of

this here and then I will catch up with

you when I'm done

okay so as you can see I finished

tracing the outline of the hand one

thing I forgot to point out is that if

you'd like to navigate around the canvas

if you don't already know you just press

down the mouse-wheel and move the mouse

and that helps you navigate around a lot

and the easiest way to zoom in zoom in

and out it should just hold control and

roll up and down the mouse wheel like

that so the next step is I'm gonna make

this brush a little smaller actually a

lot smaller I'm gonna use the left

bracket keys I'm gonna bring that down a

lot like that and I'm gonna start

tracing over the shadows here roughly

and this is a little tricky to do

because you're never gonna get it

exactly precise but that's okay but it's

because it doesn't have to be precise in

order for it to rocket for it to look

well so we're gonna go ahead and trace

over this area right here do something

like that and you may have to add your

own lines in there let me bring the

opacity of that up a little bit so I can

see that better you may have to add your

own areas in there where you think it

should be it's very intuitive what to do

here you should be able to just you know

get a good sense of where these lines

should go like this one here around the

fingernail add some more shading over

here

and again it doesn't look like much just

yet but once we do this to the entire

image and then fill it in you'll notice

it starts to all come together in it it

really does look like a like a zombie

and so what I'm gonna do is I'm just

gonna go through and fill this all in

real quick and then I'll catch up with

you and I'm done

you

okay so I finished tracing over the

shadow areas of the hands so the next

step would be to actually fill in those

areas and there's what is this several

different ways you can do that for one

what you would where you would naturally

think to do is should just start

painting it in with the brush like that

but that takes a while to do that so

what I like to do is use the bucket fill

tool but before I do that I just want to

do something real quick I want to add a

new layer here and I want to fill it

with white go ahead and click OK

and I want to bring that down beneath

the top layer there and I want to click

on that top layer and bring the opacity

up a little bit it just helps us to it

just helps to see what we're filling in

a little better as opposed to when we

have it up against the hand photo so

what I'm gonna do is I'm going to grab

the the bucket fill tool and I'm gonna

zoom in on this area right here I'm just

gonna click in there to fill that in and

if you notice when I clicked it leaves a

little bit of these it leaves some

pixels around the edges on fills so I'm

just gonna click it again and that

should fill it in even more and I'm just

gonna go through and fill in the rest of

these areas here if it leaves out little

areas like that don't worry about it

we're gonna go back with the brush in

just a minute and fill the rest of that

all in

okay so now that that's all filled in

what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna grab the

brush and I'm gonna go back through

these little areas here that may have

been left out and I'm just going to fill

them in manually you just go ahead and

fill in those blank areas and then we'll

move on to the next step

okay so once we've done that we are

finished with our hand tracing so the

next step would be to turn off the

visibility of the white layer there and

then turn off the visibility of the hand

photo layer and take the opacity of the

top layer here and just bring that all

the way up and what we want to do is

convert this to black from red to black

so I'm gonna do is I'm gonna go to

colors colors and then threshold and you

can take this arrow and bring this to

the left and take this arrow over here

and bring that to the left as well and

then I shouldn't make it all black like

that and click OK

and we want a black with the transparent

background and everything just like that

once we've done that it's now time to

take this tracing and make a logo out of

it like you see here on this shirt so to

do that what I'm going to do is I'm

going to open a new document I'll go to

file new and I want to size this

document at 1280 by 1280 I want to come

down here to Advanced Options and I want

to fill it with transparency and go

ahead and click OK

and I'm just gonna hold ctrl and roll

down the mouse-wheel a little bit to

zoom out I want to be able to see the

entire canvas there I'm gonna add some

guides going on the canvas so I'm gonna

go to image guides new guide by percent

and I'm going to make this one

horizontal at 50% then I'll add another

one vertically I'll go to image guides

new guide by percent and I will add a

vertical guide in there and go ahead and

click OK and just to make sure you come

down here to image make sure you have a

actually no view make sure you have got

a snap to guides selected it shouldn't

be selected by default but just double

check to make sure and once we've done

that I'm gonna change the foreground

color to black

menu keeps popping up on the wrong menu

on the wrong monitor click OK I'm gonna

grab the circles and ellipses tool and

I'm gonna bring the cursor over here to

this intersecting area of the guides

where the center of the page is and I'm

going to click and drag and then hold

ctrl and so it makes a perfectly

round circle in the center of the page

and I'm gonna make this circle about

maybe 2/3 the size of the page right

there like that I'm gonna go to edit

fill with foreground color and then go

to select none and then take the opacity

of this layer and bring it

about in half like that and we're gonna

come back over here to our hand tracing

and I'm going to go to edit copy visible

come back over here to the circle and

then go to edit paste as new layer I'm

gonna grab the move tool and I'm gonna

grab this hand and position it right

over the right over the circle right

about where we want to place it and we

want the top fingers to be sticking out

of the circles a little bit as you see

here it sticks out of a circle a little

bit I want to do the same thing just to

add a nice little design touch right

about there is good what we want to do

now is delete the portion of the hand

that's sticking out of the bottom of the

circle so to do that I'm going to right

click on the background layer and go to

alpha to selection and then I'm going to

click on the pasted layer up here and

I'm going to add to this circle

selection by grabbing the free select

tool and I'm gonna hold shift on the

keyboard and then just click and drag a

selection going around the top of those

fingers over there and then back into

the circle and then back to the starting

point and let go and then press ENTER on

the keyboard and it'll create a

selection it'll add that selection to

our current selection and what we could

do now is go to select invert and press

Delete on the keyboard to get rid of

that protruding area or if you're using

a Mac you can go to just edit clear and

once we've done that we can go to select

none and what I will do now is I want to

erase the area from the inside of the

hand of that light circle the the

lighter circle back there so I'm gonna

activate that background layer I'm gonna

grab the eraser tool I'm gonna zoom in

on the area right here I want to make

the brush a little bigger yeah that's

too small and use the bracket keys to

make that bigger and I'm going to go

through and erase or maybe not that big

I'm going to go through and erase the

portion of the circle that's sitting

within the hand there just like that so

just go through and erase all of that

oops

and then I will catch up with you when

I'm done

okay so now that we've done that we

could take the opacity of that layer and

bring it all the way up and you can see

we kind of have our logo set but if you

want to add this white outline layer to

the outside of it I'll show you how to

do that next otherwise this right here

could work pretty well as a logo by

itself it's got the negative space in

there and whatever background you place

it on will show through there so let me

just show you how to add that white

outline in case you'd like to do that as

well what I'm gonna do now is I'm gonna

create a new layer I'm gonna fill it

with transparency go ahead and click OK

and I'm gonna bring it to the very

bottom I want this to be the bottom

layer and I'm gonna go back to the

circles and ellipses tool bring the

cursor back to the center of the page

click and drag and then hold shift and

ctrl to bring the circle out to here

we're gonna make this circle a little

bit bigger than the previous circle

right about there and we want to fill

this in with white so what I'm gonna do

is since we already have white set as

our background color I'm gonna go to

edit fill with background color and

that's gonna fill that in with white and

we're gonna select none now what we have

to do now is add a little bit of an

outline going around the fingers as well

otherwise it doesn't look right so to do

that I'm going to click on the top layer

up here the hand layer right click that

and go to alpha to selection then go to

select grow if I could find it there it

is I'm going to choose I'm gonna grow

this by about 20 and see how that looks

I'll click OK we want the thickness to

be consistent with the thickness of the

white border there and I think 20

relative to this design anyway looks

pretty good so once we've done that we

could fill that in with white as well

I'm gonna go to edit actually no we got

to create a new layer first let's create

a new layer transparency click OK bring

this beneath the pasted layer so it's

gonna be the second layer down and then

go to edit fill with background color

and then select none and what you want

to do now is just grab the paintbrush

flip around the foreground and the

background color so that you have white

is the foreground color and then just

zoom in here and just make sure you have

whatever blank space is there filled in

with white we want to make sure it's all

filled in it looks like everything

filled in there so we're good

yours may be different when I was

making when I was planning out the

tutorial line there was a lot of blank

space in there so I had to go and fill

that in manually but right here this

looks pretty good what we could do now

is we have to delete this area of the

white outline because it doesn't look

right I think that looks a little too

busy like that so what I'm gonna do is

I'm gonna right click on this layer and

I'm gonna go to add layer mask and I'm

gonna choose black full transparency and

go ahead and click Add and what that's

gonna do is it's gonna completely erase

everything we just made on that layer

and wherever we paint it in with white

it'll show through so I'm gonna do is

I'm going to zoom back in over here

using the white paintbrush still I'm

sure to go ahead and fill it in in only

only in the areas where we want it which

is these fingers that are protruding

from the logo here there anything over

here yeah a little bit and that's

perfect right there what we could do now

is right click on that layer and go to

apply layer mask and that will finalize

that and with that we are finished we

have created our logo what you can do

now is export this as a dot PNG file and

it'll have a transparent background and

you could use it however you'd like so

if you have any questions let me know

and as always thanks for watching

[Music]