I've made somes videos (click the images in the spoiler) so you can learn how to do your own digital alters. For the purposes of the first video I choosed the more common template (the modern one in Zeerbe's template), in the second one I made a full-art card.
Making the mana symbols: just select the font Magic Symbols and then write "o" for doing a shadow, "ouo" for two.. Then for the symbols of mana it's the common: wubrg for white, blue, black, red, green.
Layer Masks create the illusion of certain elements (normally the artwork) "breaking" the surrounding card frames as seen in Planeswalkers & some Unglued/Unhinged cards. Layer Masks allow you to hide the elements you want without actually erasing anything. Here's a good GIMP Layer Mask tutorial for that.
Rounded Corners: The quick & dirty way is to do a Select > All on the artwork layer & then go to Select > Rounded Rectangle. Adjust the numbers in the pop up window that determine the desired roundness you want (8%). When you have that go to Select > Inverse so that only the corners you want to remove are selected. Then delete those areas.
** An extra step in this process you can take is once you have the desired corner roundness create a New Layer and fill it with a solid color and use that as a Layer Mask like in the tutorial linked above. That way you have it for future use for other renders you create.
Artist Info:GIMP Stroke Text tutorial. If you want to create a drop shadow effect follow the tutorial then finish up with Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur and adjust the position of that layer to create the effect.
Pixelated Mana Shadow Zoom in, use a selection tool to just select the areas of the mana symbols that are pixelated and apply a very slight blur to them (Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur).
When you have an opportunity please update your Black Lotus render to include the text "NOT FOR SALE" per the rules Official Digital Rendering thread. Also the artist should be credited as Chris Rush. Thanks!
//EDIT: Thank You!
I don't have much experience with GIMP but I have been using Photoshop for a long time & they are similar enough that I should be able to offer some insights if you have any particular challenges that might come up. I've found over time that once you learn the basics it's simply a matter of combining things in creative ways and building on that. The next "big" step in creating renders would be utilizing Layer Masks to create the illusion of certain elements (normally the artwork) "breaking" the surrounding card frames as seen in Planeswalkers & some Unglued/Unhinged cards. Layer Masks allow you to hide the elements you want without actually erasing anything. Here's a good GIMP Layer Mask tutorial for that.
Thank you. That will be the next one that I'll do so the tutorial will be very useful. Do you know why the shadows of the mana that I do are pixelated while the ones already in the template are fine? And how can I do rounded corners?
Rounded corners for rectangles have to be created manually in most versions of Photoshop and it looks like it's similar in GIMP using the Rounded Rectangle option under the Select Menu. From there you stroke the selection to create the rectangle and tweak from there. There will be a lot of trial and error involved until you find the settings you're after. GIMP's website has a good amount of documentation for basic stuff and there are a lot of videos on YouTube that will help with individual tasks like this.
1, 2 CC
3, 4 CC
5, 6+ CC
1, 2 CC
3, 4 CC
5, 6+ CC
1, 2 CC
3, 4 CC
5, 6+ CC
1, 2 CC
3, 4 CC
5, 6+ CC
1, 2 CC
3, 4 CC
5, 6+ CC
Allied
Enemy
Shard
Shard
0, 1, 2 CC
3, 4 CC
5, 6+ CC
Creature
Basic
Mana fixing
Utility
Card Back
Emblems, Tokens, Oddities
Making the mana symbols: just select the font Magic Symbols and then write "o" for doing a shadow, "ouo" for two.. Then for the symbols of mana it's the common: wubrg for white, blue, black, red, green.
//EDIT: Thank You!
I don't have much experience with GIMP but I have been using Photoshop for a long time & they are similar enough that I should be able to offer some insights if you have any particular challenges that might come up. I've found over time that once you learn the basics it's simply a matter of combining things in creative ways and building on that. The next "big" step in creating renders would be utilizing Layer Masks to create the illusion of certain elements (normally the artwork) "breaking" the surrounding card frames as seen in Planeswalkers & some Unglued/Unhinged cards. Layer Masks allow you to hide the elements you want without actually erasing anything. Here's a good GIMP Layer Mask tutorial for that.
Good luck!