How to Create a Marble Texture in GIMP

Marble is a classic texture that can be used in almost anything–graphic design, web design, interior design, fashion design–and today I'm going to show you an easy way to create your own!

For this tutorial, I will be using GIMP 2.10, which a free, open-source image editor. You can download the latest version here.

STEP 1 » Open a new file by going to File > New. I will be using a 600x600 pixel canvas but you can choose any size you like.

Make sure your foreground and background colors are set to black and white.

STEP 2 » Go to Filters > Render > Noise > Solid Noise. You'll want the X and Y Size to both be set at 6.000 and your Detail set at 15.

STEP 3 » Next, go to Filters > Render > Noise > Difference Clouds.

If you're using Gimp 2.8, set X/Y Size to 3.00 and Detail set at 1.

STEP 4 » Now we're going to brighten the gray areas and make the veins more defined by going to Colors > Auto > Equalize.

STEP 5 » The veins are too dark and thick so the next step is to go to Colors > Levels. I have my settings at 3 | 4.00 | 255 but feel free to play around with the sliders.

STEP 6 » In your layers panel, right-click the layer and hit Duplicate.

STEP 7 » With your duplicated layer selected, go to Layer > Transform > Rotate 90° Clockwise.

STEP 8 » Making sure the duplicated layer is still selected, set the layer Mode to Screen.

STEP 9 » To finish, right-click the top layer and hit Merge Visible Layers.

Ta-da! You've got yourself a beautiful marble texture.

OPTIONAL: Changing the color of the marble texture

STEP 10 » Add a new layer on top of the texture by going to Layer > New Layer.

STEP 11 » Set your foreground with the color you'd like to change it to. For this example, I'll be using #f696ad.

STEP 12 » Either use the Bucket Tool or go to Edit > Fill with FG Color to fill the new layer with your selected color.

STEP 13 » Set the layer Mode to Soft Light or Lighten Only. Depending on your color, you may want to experiment with the different modes and opacity.

STEP 14 » Once the color looks good to you, right-click the top layer and hit Merge Visible Layers.

And now you've got a pretty, colored marble texture!

Alternatively, you could paste or open a gold foil or glitter texture as a new layer with the layer Mode set to Lighten Only to jazz up your marble texture.