This tutorial is of my own creation and any resemblance to any other tuts is purely coincidental. This tutorial is for personal use only, using it for monetary gain is against our TOU's.

Supplies Needed: ~Gimp (any version will do). ~Tubes of choice. I used the art of PinupToons. You must have a license to use this art which you can get from CDO HERE. ~Font of choice. I used Redhead Goddess. Let's get started... This tut is all about the blend animation, you can use this type of animation in many applications once you learn the technique. This tut is NOT for beginners. 1. Open a new layer ( I prefer a large canvas, so I make mine 1050x656). Make your canvas transparent (Layer > Transparency > Color to alpha). 2. Using the Rectangle Select Tool in your tool box create a rectangular shape. Add a new layer to your layer box by clicking the little white paper at the bottom. Flood fill rectangle with color of choice using the Bucket Fill Tool in your tool box. 3. I added a gradient to the base layer. Right click on the base layer in your layer box > Alpha To Selection. You will see little dancing "ants" around your box. Select your Gradient Tool in your tool box. Click on one side of your base layer and drag to the other side. This will spread the color over your entire base layer. I used the Caribbean Blue gradient. 3. Open tubes. You will need at least 3 tubes, I used 4. ~You will need to duplicate each tube layer, so that you have 2 of each. Click on the little blue square at the bottom of the layer box to duplicate each layer. ~Merge these duplicated tubes together. Right click on the tube layer on your layer box > Merge Down. Do this to all duplicated tube layers. You should now have 4 single tube layers, 1 merged tube layer, your base layer and your background layer. ~I changed the mode on the merged tubes to Dodge (at the top of your Layer Box you will see where it says Mode, click the arrow and select Dodge from the drop down menu). ~Remove excess tube that may be hanging over beyond the base layer. Right click the base layer > Alpha to Selection > CTRL I > select tube layer in layer box > Delete. Do this for all tube layers. 4. Merge the merged tubes to the base layer. Right click on the merged tubes layer on your layer box > Merge Down. ~You will need to duplicate this newly merged layer so that you have one for each single tube layer. Place one under each tube layer in your layer box. ~Merge single tubes to base layer. You will now have 1 base layer and 4 layers that have been merged with single tubes. 4. Delete background layer from your tool box. 5. Add text and copyright info. You will need to duplicate your text for every layer of your tag. ~Merge text layers to tag layers. ~Crop tag to remove excess background layer. Image > Autocrop Image. 6. Now it's time to animate. Click on Filters > Animation > Blend. Use these settings: ~Once the blending process is complete a new box will open up that contains your completed tag. If you like to see the animation before you save you can click Filters > Animation > Playback. Another box will open that will allow you to play the animation. 7. Save tag as GIF. File > Save As > GIF. Make sure you select Save as Animation when saving. ~Use default settings for Animated GIF Options You are done!!!!!!