This is a section of the tutorial “Get Creative with Colors“. See the entire article here.
In this tutorial, we will use the original textures of the T-shirt.
However, you can also use the ones you made by following the indications of the tutorial Making a Shirt. It is up to you.
If you decide to use the textures that you made in the aforementioned tutorial, the final textures may differ a bit after following the instructions of this tutorial.
In case you did not keep the original textures, no worries. You can download it by going to the Bella Crop Top Product Page by clicking here.
Download these three textures only.
Gimp provide several tools to help us to customize the color of the T-shirt.
Creating layers, selecting a Layer Mode, and altering the values of attributes such as opacity, brightness, or saturation among others, are some of the tools you can play with to find the best color for your T-shirt.
Selecting a layer mode changes the appearance of the layer or image, based on the layer or layers beneath it.
To learn more about the Layer Mode, click here.
● Front Texture
Let’s start by opening in Gimp the front texture.
- Open the front texture by clicking on File ➞ Open
- Browse to the folder where you have saved the texture and select it.
- Click Open
Create a new layer to change the color of the tee.
To do so, look for the toolbar on the right bottom corner of the screen and click on the Create a new layer button 
.
A new window opens to set the attributes of the layer.
Click OK.
To ensure you see everything correctly, check that the RGB Mode is activated. To do so, go to the top menu and click on Image ➞ Mode ➞ RGB.
Now that a new lawyer has been created, the next step is filling it with a color.
To do so, set the Foreground Color to a color of your choice.
In this case, the current Foreground Color is black. When clicking on it, a new window opens and a pallet of colors is displayed.
We encourage you to try different colors and select the one you prefer.
Once you have decided which color are you going to use for the front of your T-shirt, click OK.
You can see that the Foreground Color has changed from black color to the one you have chosen.
Fill the new layer with the chosen color by selecting the Bucket Fill Tool 
.
- Ensure that the new layer is selected.
- Click on the Bucket Fill Tool
- Assure that the “FG color fill” option is selected in the window that is displayed under the Toolbox once the Bucket Fill Tool is activated.
- Move the mouse over the new layer.
- Click on it.
The color of the layer has changed from transparent to the chosen color.
To see the changes on the front texture of the tee, change the value of the Layer Mode (Layers Tab).
To do so, click on it to change its value. In this case, we will choose the Linear light option, but we encourage you to try all of them and select the one you like the most.
Adding a layer and changing the Layer Mode (Layers Tab) value is a way to change the color of a texture. You can add as many layers as you want.
However, there are other tools that you can use such as Exposure, Brightness-Contrast, Hue-Saturation, etc., that will help you as well to get the best color for the T-shirt.
To access to the Color Tools, go to the top menu and click on Colors.
A menu displays with several tools that can be used to adjust the color.
To learn more about the Color Tools, please click here.
Although Gimp offers many tools to adjust colors according to one’s needs, we are going to keep working with layers and the Layer Mode (Layers Tab).
Let’s create a new layer.
To do so, look for the toolbar on the right bottom corner of the screen and click on the Create a new layer button .
A new window opens to set the attributes of the layer.
Click OK.
As did it before, fill the new layer with a color.
To do so, set the Foreground Color to a color of your choice.
In this case, the current Foreground Color is the color you previously chose. When clicking on it, a new window opens and a pallet of colors is displayed.
We recommend you to try different colors and select the one that fits best with your style.
Once you have decided which color are you going to use, click OK.
You can see that the Foreground Color has changed from the color selected to fill the first layer to the one you have chosen.
Fill the new layer with the chosen color by selecting the Bucket Fill Tool .
- Make sure that the new layer is selected.
- Click on the Bucket Fill Tool
- Assure that the “FG color fill” option is selected in the window that is displayed under the Toolbox once the Bucket Fill Tool is activated.
- Move the mouse over the new layer.
- Click on it.
The color of the layer has changed from transparent to the chosen color.
As did it before, change the value of the Layer Mode (Layers Tab) to see the changes on the front texture of the tee.
To do so, click on it to change its value. In this case, we will choose the Multiply option, but we animate you to try all of them and select the one you prefer.
What a cool color for a T-shirt!
As mentioned before, you can continue adding layers or using the different Color Tools until find the desired color.
Let’s save the front texture created.
- Save the changes by going to the top menu and click on File ➞ Export As …
- Select the folder where you want to save the front texture, name it, and click on Select File Type (By Extension).
Select the JPEG image option and click on Export.
A new window appears. Click on Export.
The new front texture has been saved to your chosen folder.
In case you have decided using the textures you made by following the instructions of the tutorial Making a Shirt, the final front texture, according to the instructions above, will look like:
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● Back Texture
Now it is time to work on the back of the T-shirt.
You have seen how adding layers and choosing a Layer Mode can change the appearance of your tee. We recommend you try the aforementioned tools that Gimp provides to create the back of the T-shirt.
In this tutorial, the front and back of the tee are going to have the same color.
To do so, repeat the same steps you did in the previous section to create the back texture of the T-shirt.
After following the same steps done previously, you will end up having the following result.
Let’s save the back texture.
- Save the changes by going to the top menu and click on File ➞ Export As …
- Select the folder where you want to save the back texture, name it, and click on Select File Type (By Extension).
Select the JPEG image option and click on Export.
A new window appears. Click on Export.
The new back texture has been saved to your chosen folder.
In case you have decided using the textures you made by following the instructions of the tutorial Making a Shirt, the final back texture, according to the instructions above, will look like:
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● Sleeves Texture
The T-shirt is almost ready! Just a few more steps!
Although one color shirts will always stay popular, we are going to add a bit of color to the sleeves. In this way, the T-shirt will stand out among others.
Let’s start working on the sleeves by opening the sleeves texture in Gimp.
- Go to the top menu and click on File ➞ Open
- Browse the folder where you saved the texture and select it.
- Click Open
Create a new layer to change the color of the sleeves.
To do so, look for the toolbar on the right bottom corner of the screen and click on the Create a new layer button .
A new window opens to set the attributes of the layer.
Click OK.
Fill the new layer with a color.
To do so, set the Foreground Color to a color of your choice.
When clicking on the Foreground Color, a new window opens and a pallet of colors is displayed.
We recommend you to test different colors and select the one that you like the most.
Once you have decided which color are you going to use for the sleeves, click OK.
Fill the new layer with the chosen color by selecting the Bucket Fill Tool .
- Make sure that the new layer is selected.
- Click on the Bucket Fill Tool
- Assure that the “FG color fill” option is selected in the window that is displayed under the Toolbox once the Bucket Fill Tool is activated.
- Move the mouse over the new layer.
- Click on it.
The color of the layer has changed from transparent to the chosen color.
Change the value of the Layer Mode (Layers Tab) to see the changes on the sleeves.
To do so, click on it to change its value. We will pick the Linear burn option, but we suggest you to try all of them and select the one that you prefer.
The sleeves are ready!
As mentioned before, you can continue adding layers or using the different Color Tools until find the desired color.
Let’s save the sleeves texture.
- Save the changes by going to the top menu and click on File ➞ Export As …
- Select the folder where you want to save the sleeves texture, name it, and click on Select File Type (By Extension).
Select the JPEG image option and click on Export.
A new window appears. Click on Export.
The new sleeves texture has been saved to your chosen folder.
In case you have decided using the textures you made by following the instructions of the tutorial Making a Shirt, the final sleeves texture, according to the instructions above, will look like:
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