Creating a roll of parchment in GIMP

[Ghostman]

As promised, here's my tutorial for designing a scroll graphic like this one:



The instructions will be for GIMP, but the steps should be repeatable in any advanced raster editing software. Following these steps, you should end up with a scroll very similar to the one I posted, with wooden handles and discs to the ends of the tubes around which the parchment is rolled. It should be easy enough to deviate from this form and go for a different look, such as having only a single tube, having no discs between the handles and the parchment, etc.

STEP 1: Discs and Handles

We start with a blank new image. Using basic drawing tools such as elliptic and rectangular seletions, magic wand, (de)selections by color, etc, we'll create three flat colored shapes that represent the handle, the edge of the disc, and the inner side of the disc. These will be used for quick and easy selections later on.



Copy & mirror the handle and disc to the other side of the image, so that you get left and right sides facing each other.

(Note that there are other, more sophisticated ways to store selections - but I like using this method, especially for a tutorial, as it is easy to grasp and easier to explain.)