by Melissa Raissa

Created on: July 24, 2010

A basketball image can be illustrated using GIMP's preset leather pattern along with line drawings distinct to that of a basketball pattern. We will use a square template or canvas and the Spinning Globe animation filter to produce the ball shape given the correct leather surface and line illustration.

Basketball Pattern

Open a new file with GIMP using the same value for the height and width settings of your canvas. For the pattern, we will draw two lines that intersect at the middle of the canvas. Using the RECTANGLE SELECT tool, we will form a thin line then fill it with the default black foreground color by clicking EDIT->FILL WITH FG COLOR at the menu bar.

While the rectangle selection is active, click EDIT->CUT then click EDIT->PASTE AS->NEW LAYER at the menu bar. This will create a new layer made up of just the thin line which you can see at the Layers dock. Click on the line layer then right-click and select DUPLICATE LAYER. Now, click LAYER->TRANSFORM->ROTATE 90° to create an intersecting line.

We will now move the two intersecting lines to the middle of your canvas using the ALIGN tool. Click on the vertical line layer at the Layers dock and activate the Align tool at the toolbox. Click on the vertical line at the canvas then click on the center-alignment button “->|<-”. For the horizontal line, activate the corresponding layer then click on the middle-alignment button of the Align tool.

You now have a cross at the middle of your canvas. We will now add the arching lines using the ELLIPSE SELECT tool. We will draw a horizontal ellipse then cut it in half and drag each half to the opposite side for a fork-like look. This will give you 3 lines at the right and left corners that will connect to each other to form an ellipse over a horizontal line once the sphere is rendered.

You can also use the CURVE BEND filter under FILTERS->DISTORTS to create a curved version of your line drawing layer or you can use the PATH TOOL if you want to draw a specific arc or shape. For the leather surface, go to the PATTERNS Tab under WINDOWS->DOCKABLE DIALOGS. Select the Leather pattern, then go to the Background layer and click EDIT->FILL WITH PATTERN.

Spherical Basketball

At the menu bar, click EDIT->COPY VISIBLE then click EDIT->PASTE AS->NEW IMAGE to open a new file using your finished pattern. At the new file's menu bar, click FILTERS->ANIMATION->SPINNING GLOBE which allows you to create several frames or phases of your basketball sphere. Specify the number of frames that you want then click OK to render the sphere image.

The result is a series of layers or frames showing you a different side of your basketball image. You can preview the animation by clicking FILTERS->ANIMATION->PLAYBACK. If you want to retain the layers, you can save this file as a GIF animation file or as an XCF working file for GIMP, even as a PSD file for Photoshop as well as several other file types.

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