Some stylish button/banner in Gimp (with video)

In this tutorial, I'm going to show you how to make a button or a banner if you want like this one, on the bottom of the article you can watch my video which I recorded, I belive it can help you to understand some steps. So here is the final result of this tutorial:



1) First open up Gimp and make a new image (300x100px is just fine). Select an area for the button (try to invoke the selection tool by pushing R button on your keyboard).



2) Now go to Select / Rounded rectangle
Radius 20%
Concave unchecked



3) Make a new layer called 'Content'. Click on the Bucket fill tool in Gimp menu (or just Shift+B) and fill the area with white.
Notice: pushing "d" button will set the colors to the default = black & white and "x" button will switch them.

4) Make a new layer called 'Border' and grow the selection (Select / Grow (1px)). Fill the layer with black and move it down (under layer Content). You should get something like this:



5) Select the text tool (T) and type some text with a color you want (the text layer should be on the top), I used 'Sans Bold' font:
Notice, move the text by using the move tool (M).



6) Right click on the text layer and select 'Alpha to selection', than grow this by 1px, make another layer and fill it with black. Call this layer 'Text border' and move it under the text in the layer dialog box.



7) Now select the layer called 'Border' and apply the drop shadow effect (Filters / Light and Shadow / Drop Shadow)
X: 0
Y: 0
Blur radius: 8
Apply this effect also on the layer called 'Text Border'.


8) Right click on the layer called 'Content' and click 'Alpha to selection'. We are going to fill this layer with some gradient (L). I used these colors: e1e1e1 and 939393. Now make the gradient from the top to the bottom of the image. Notice: maybe holding Ctrl button will help you.


9) Now again, right click on the layer 'Content' and select 'Alpha to selection. Now select the 'Rectangle select tool' (R). Hold Ctrl button, which will subtract the current selection, and select about a half of the button.


10) Create a new layer called 'Lighting' and fill it with white. Set the layer opacity to about 25% or so. This layer must be on the top of the layer dialog box.


Now the button is completed but you can add a mirror reflex by following these steps:

11) Merge all the layers down (right click on the layer / merge down), so you get only one layer probably called 'Background'.

12) Select the banner/button with the 'Rectangle select tool' (R).



13) Now copy this selection (Ctrl+C) and paste it on a new layer ('Background #1' is just fine). Now go to Layer / Transform / Flip vertically and move the layer down by using the move tool (M) and arrows on your keyboard. It should look like this:



14) This is the final step. Make sure you are working on the layer called 'Background #1'. Select the gradient tool (L) and use these settings:



This should be your result:



By the way I also made a video which is not high quality but it could help you to understand some steps, enjoy !