3D map effect with GIMP

WHEN USING A PHOTO MANIPULATION application such as Adobe Photoshop or GIMP, there are many more possibilities than you may initially realize. Plenty of these programs can be used in various ways to create unique pieces of artwork. In this tutorial, we will create isometric 3D art using GIMP. This technique can be transferred onto all sorts of different media and can be used to emphasize a particular place or subject. Learning as many skills as possible can enable you to broaden your creativity by applying them to new forms.

- SAM LEWIS

YOU’LL NEED THIS GIMP 2.1 OS: Windows 7 or newer

We will be using an image from Unsplash, which is of a skewed piece of land, taken from an angle and not a birdseye view. This will help later on in the tutorial to create a 3D effect. In particular, we’ve chosen an image of the coastline at Étretat in France by Allyson Beaucourt and we will use part of this image to create our isometric cutout. Of course, you can use any image you like, as long as you have the license for it. Unsplash and other license-free image sites are great for practicing and getting to grips with these skills. –SAM LEWIS

1 WORKING OFF-GRID

Once you’re happy with your image, open it up in GIMP, either through the file selection method, copy and paste, drag or drop, or right-clicking on the image and opening with GIMP. Yep, there are plenty of different ways to get started.

After this, rename the image to suit your work, duplicate this unchanged image and then lock and hide that layer. It’s always important to have a spare duplicate in case we need to go back and make some changes.

Next, we need to download an isometric grid from an image browser to use to draw our cutout shape. Once it’s been downloaded, head to File, Open as layer and then click the file. Bring this over your image and reduce the opacity so that you can see your original through the isometric grid. This is now where we will choose the section we want to emphasize. [Image A]

2 TAKE THE RIGHT PATH