Business Card

Create a grunge business card using the Gimp


A while back I did a tutorial for making a business card using Inkscape.  This will be basically the same, but use the Gimp instead.

A business card is a great way to represent yourself and your talent level (especially if you are a designer and you designed your own card). Creating a business card in the Gimp is fairly fast and easy.

Step 1 - Get the Background Image


Imageabstraction.com has a lot of great grunge backgrounds.  Choose one you like and download it. I downloaded this one.  ©  Darren Hester


Step 2 - New Image
Create a new image in the Gimp. Standard business card size is 2" x 3.5"
I don't recommend you create a 2x3.5" business card as it will be pixelated.  I would scale up the image significantly to improve quality.  Also; when printing your business card, you will have printer bleed. Go to the website of the company you wish to have print your business cards and find out what they require for bleed.



Step 3 - Insert the Background

 Drag and drop.

Resize the background if necessary.


Step 4 - Darken the Background

 Create a new Black layer.

Change layer mode to "Grain Merge."


Adjust the opacity till you like it.


Step 5 -  Background for Text


Create a new transparent layer. Use the freehand select tool.  Hold the CTRL key when doing that to get exact angles.


Fill in the area using the paint bucket. I filled it in white and lowered the opacity.


Step 6 - Background Text

 Add your text.
 Rotate it so it fits.
 Select by color.

Select the text (you will probably want to select feather for selection.  I set mine to 4.


Find a grungy looking paint brush and erase your selection. (You will want to press the eye on the text selection so you can't see it. Make sure when you are erasing you are doing the background layer with the white paint).  Erase somewhat artistically.  You don't have to erase everything.


I like to apply jitter, then erase the background sides so it flows more.


Step 7 - Vignette
Use the gradient tool.  Foreground to opacity.


Make sure black is your foreground and apply the gradient till the sides are more black.  You will have to redo this step a few times to get every side.

 Step 8 - Add text

Add your new text.  You can optionally add drop shadows.

 Your grunge business card.
Conclusion:
After having done this in both Inkscape and the Gimp, I would recommend that you use Inkscape to do this. The quality is always going to be easier in vector and it will be easier to go back and edit different steps.

About McKay

40 comments:

  1. complicated, but cool

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  2. The effect is so classic.

    Thanx for the tut.

    Joseph

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  3. How you are rotating that text?? I'm trying but it's not rotating properly!

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  4. Great, but the background is a CC image: where do you reference the author?

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  5. Very nice, Most printers require Business cards to be 3.6 x 2.1 to account for bleed but it does vary a bit. I have done a few cards in Inkscape and it does work well the only problem is that we print(yes I'm a printer) in CMYK and Inkscape only produces in RGB. Scribus on the other hand can handle CMYK and is easy to use as well.

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  6. Marco. I just changed my post. All images from that site are from Darren Hester. Thanks for catching that.

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  7. Thanks for the printing tip. I have used Scribus a bit. Good to know it works well for printing.

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  8. VasiaUVI; here is the documentation for the rotate tool.

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  9. Very nice and interesting blog. I like it and so much thanks for sharing this nice post with us and keep posting.
    Business Card Printing

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  10. Create a grunge business card using the Gimp are nice tutorial. i find a lot of information from this tutorial.
    Plastic Business Cards

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  11. Freaking awesome business card. What types of business card sizes can this card be made into?

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  12. WOW ! It is INCREDIBLE IDEA of creating business card using gimp. I am impressed. It is really excellent tutorial shared by you. I can't wait more. I am going to create new business card for my company. Thank You very much !!

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  13. Excellent procedures! Those are impressive and really helpful in case of me that I like to design more using that software.

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  14. Freaking awesome business card. Very inspirational and full of creativity thanks for sharing..! Fantastic walk-through I appreciate this post.

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  15. Thanks for taking the time to discuss this, really liked this article you have posted. I will return back for any new updates.

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  16. Superb editing a little complex but cool.

    Clear business cards

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  17. Really..It is awesome business card. The design is so simple and attractive. Let me try it. Hopefully, I am also able to create such a attractive business card for me :-)

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  18. Business card is the identity of any business. It is as important as the logo of your company. That’s why the business card of your company should be clean, elegant and stylish. A business card is a great way to represent yourself and your talent level to front of anyone. I really like Gimp to create our business card. There is obviously a lot to know about this technology. I like to stress that you made some good cards by using Gimp. I am hoping the same best work from you in the future as well.

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  19. Thank you for the tutorial. I found another one with step-by-step instructions how to create a simple geeky business card with GIMP on http://www.inforbiro.com/blog-eng/how-to-create-a-business-card-with-gimp/

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  20. Thanks for sharing. Its good to see fresh content always.

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  21. Yes, the postcard is the great way to respondent your telnet and the postcard provide us the way of learn our business and it is the great way to promote our business. I like it so very much and have a very nice information. Thanks for sharing me!

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  22. I recently created some grunge-ish business cards and used GIMP for the graphics and Scribus for the text. Worked great.

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  23. That is great! If you have any links to your business cards I would love to see them.

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  25. Of course business card is the identity of any business. It should be attractive and easy to understand about your business. It makes the first impression on clients.

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