In this tutorial we’ll learn a technique to make glossy gradients with GIMP.  This type of background can be used as a background image for buttons, navigation bars, etc.

So let’s start right away, create a new image with 500px width and 200px height.

Select your BG and FG colors. Choose a bright color for the FG and a darker version of it as BG. I have chosen #71100f (BG) and #fe2726 (FG):

Pick the Gradient tool (press L), click and drag a “FG to BG (RGB)” gradient from bottom to top:

Create a new layer and name it “white”. Select white as your FG color and go back to the Gradient tool options. Pick “FG to Transparent” as the gradient.

Click and drag a gradient from top to around halfway down the image while working on the white layer:

Reduce the layer opacity to whatever you prefer, here I have reduced the white gradient layer opacity to 90 % and added some text to simulate the actual use:

This works well with all colors (as far as I have tried this method). To find the right colors, I have developed a simple method:

Open the colors window for the FG first

Now notice I have selected “V” (value) to edit, do the same. Select your bright color, then click OK.

Now open that  again for the BG and select the most recent color in color history, then start lowering white-to-black gradient value on the right side of the color selection box. This will give you the power of keeping Hue and Saturation the same and lower the brightness only.