The GIMP Community Tutorials are the official tutorial collection of GIMP, the free and open-source image editor often used as an alternative to Photoshop. They are written by the community and published under free licences, and the project invites readers to correct outdated steps through its public repository.
The collection is small and selective rather than exhaustive. Each tutorial focuses on one technique, explained with screenshots and practical steps.
Tutorials by level
| Section | Tutorials | What you learn |
|---|---|---|
| Beginner | GIMP Quickies, Simple Floating Logo, Circle-Shaped Image, Heart Shape with Selections | resizing, cropping, basic layers, and selections |
| Beginner | Layer Masks, Basic Color Curves | non-destructive editing and tone adjustment |
| Photo editing | Luminosity Masks, Tone Mapping with Colors/Exposure, Focus Group | advanced masking and exposure control for photographs |
| Painting | Parametric Brushes | flexible, resolution-independent brushes |
Where to begin
GIMP Quickies is the natural starting point: it covers the everyday tasks most people need, such as changing image size, cropping, and saving in the right format, without requiring any knowledge of advanced editing. The selection and layer tutorials then introduce the two concepts that underpin almost everything else in the program.
Layer Masks and Basic Color Curves are the most valuable next steps. Masks let you edit part of an image without destroying the original pixels, and curves give precise control over brightness and contrast. Both ideas apply equally in Photoshop and other editors.
For photographers
The photo editing section goes further than most beginner material. Luminosity masks isolate highlights, midtones, or shadows for targeted adjustments, and the tone mapping tutorial shows how to recover detail in dark areas while protecting bright ones, techniques usually associated with paid software.
Who it suits
The tutorials suit beginners who want a free image editor for everyday graphics, and hobby photographers ready to move beyond automatic filters. Because they are few, they work best as a structured starting point, complemented by GIMP's official documentation for tools the tutorials do not cover.
Practice with your own images
Work through each tutorial first with the example described, then repeat it with one of your own photos. Save a copy of the original before every exercise, and compare the result side by side. This habit makes it easy to see what each technique contributes.
For vector work such as logos and icons, the Inkscape Beginners' Guide in this category is the better companion; GIMP is designed for pixel-based images.