[Award Winner] Explanation of Layer Masks in GIMP(and PS)

[jfrazierjr]

Ok.. up next, we get to the real meat of the tutorial show you how to actually use a layer mask. Now, remember from the previous posts that when painting on a layer mask, that black is opaque and white is transparent.

• We start by creating a new layer for the bank of our stream.
• Fill this new layer with an appropriate texture, in this case, I used Gravel_blu-aT.png from the CSUAC (which is where the rest of the textures come from).
• Next, we Add a layer mask to the gravel layer, in this case, I have chosen white so that nothing shows through.
• Select a largish brush, perhaps cranking up the multiplier some and select your foreground color to white.
• Now, making sure you have the Layer mask selected in the Layers dialog(it has to have a slight white halo around it, though it may be hard to tell since the mask is white!) Begin carving out the rock texture using your brush to reveal the water underneath.
• Just to show the technique, once I finish my main shape, I switch to a smaller brush and back to white and draw in a small island shape.

You should have something like this image


Not to very exiting is it eh? The banks are "hard" the water appear the same depth every where, and the rocky texture is just way overpowering over that much space right? Don't worry, we will fix those issues very shortly.