There will probably only be one layer, unless you've downloaded something like a PSD file. Open your image in GIMP, then go to the right-hand side and look for the layers menu. In the case of our icon, it'll ensure we don't have an unsightly pure white background. Alpha channels allow images to have transparency. For images with more complex backgrounds, you'll need to use more complex methods.įirst, we need to make sure our image has an alpha channel.

That makes the fuzzy select tool (Magic Wand in Photoshop) the ideal tool for the job. The principles will be the same.įortunately, our example image has clean, well-defined black lines around the subject and a plain background. We'll use GIMP, the popular free and open-source image editor, for this but you can use another image editor if you prefer it. The next step is to remove the parts of the image you don't want in your icon.