Preview:

In this tutorial i will create a textured background with a very neat abstract touch to it. the end results probably isn't that useful for anything other then wallpapers, but nonetheless if your still learning how to use gimp then this tutorial is another great exercise for you.

Getting started

before i get started ill just remind you that my original image size it 1024x678 but I've resized the images for the sites width.

Step 1

create an image area of 1024x768 or if intend to use it as your wallpaper then which ever resolution your on will do.

Step 2

set your foreground color to 931818 and your background color to 000000

Step 3

grab the "Blend tool" and in the Tools option dialog make sure your Gradient is set to FG to BG (RGB) and the shape to Radial.

Step 4

Apply the Gradient from the center of the image area to the bottom corner.

Step 5

Still with the blend tool selected, create a new layer then change the Gradient to a pre made gimp gradient named Abstract 2. now apply it from top to bottom

Step 6

now make sure you have the last layer we created highlighted then go to Filters>Distorts>Emboss.
now in the Emboss window set the Azimuth to 256.76 Elevation to 132.35 and depth to 84 then press ok.

once you've done step 6 your once rainbow looking gradient is now a cool texture like with some cool abstract lines.(image is zoomed at 100%)

Step 6

now set the layer mode to "OVERLAY"

this is how it should look once you set the mode to overlay. ( image zoomed at 100%)

here it is wih the image at %50

Step 8

we're almost done, create a new layer and game your foreground and background color to black and change the gradient to FG to Transparent and the shape to Liner.

Step 9

Apply the gradient from the lower right corner to the center of the image area, this is where the text will go so adding the extra dark shade would help the text blend in more.

finally pick a nice font for the text, i used "Diavlo" which you can download from Here ,the colors i used are white as you can see :)
here is my outcome, you can click on the image below to enlarge it.

Click here to Enlarge

please if your very new to gimp and have a lot of very basic questions please post your questions in the Gimp forum section Gimp forum section this helps keep the tutorial pages for quick questions only.