[Award Winner] Using GIMP to Create an Artistic Regional RPG Map

[RobA]

Post 19: Title Distortion

To distort the title, we will be using the displacement map filter again. First, a displacement map needs to be created.
Create a new layer (it will be a throw-away so do not worry about naming it). Select the gradient tools with the default colour, and stroke a linear gradient diagonally across the area the title is. Here the opacity of the gradient’s layer has been reduced slightly to see how it should line up.



Now open the curves dialog (Colours->Curves) and change the straight line to a squiggle. This will end up turning the single black to white gradient in to a whole bunch of smaller gradients.



Turn off the visibility of this new layer. Now it can be used as a displacement map. Select the Title Background layer (left after merging down) and apply a displacement map filter (Filters->Map->Displace)



Now a few more things to liven up the distortion – (and I changed my mind here, we’ll keep the gradient layer I said was throw away before).
Right click on the Title Background layer and Alpha to Selection. Right-click on the gradient layer and add a layer mask, choosing “Selection”. Make the gradient layer visible, and change its mode to Overlay, adjusting the opacity down a bit.



Right-click on the Title Background layer again, and “Alpha to Selection”. Now distress the outside by stroking the selection with the eraser tool, using a hard brush with jitter. Here I used the hard Circle (05) brush, scale of 1.0 and a jitter setting of 1.0
Then Edit->Stroke Selection and choose the eraser tool. I have brought the dialog up again to see the effect and the settings.



Lastly, shift the shadow selection over and down, and decrease the opacity. Additionally, I played a bit with the colour and saturation until I was happy with it.