GIMP is regarded as a free PhotoShop alternative. It’s robust enough to edit your photos professionally and allow you to create new graphics from scratch. One of the most used tools in GIMP is the paintbrush, which you use to draw and fill areas of the graphics or images you’re working on.
Users have complained about GIMP’s paintbrush not working or letting them draw with it. When they select a paintbrush and color, it simply doesn’t work. This issue has several reasons, but they’re all easy to fix.
Fix GIMP paintbrush not working
If the GIMP Brush tool doesn’t work properly or at all, here are the main things you can do to fix it:
- Confirm that you selected the correct layer.
- Ensure that you’re using the right Brush tool.
- Use the right Brush tool settings.
- Unlock the layers.
- Use the RGB mode.
For in-depth guides on the above fixes, continue reading this article to the end.
1] Confirm that you selected the correct layer
Launch the GIMP application and go to the Layers panel. Confirm that you have selected the suitable layer you’re working on. The selected layer will be highlighted.
To double-check this, first select no layer by going to the Select menu and choosing None from the dropdown. You could also do this by pressing the SHIFT + CTRL + A key combination. Then, click on the layer you want to draw to select it.
2] Ensure that you’re using the right Brush tool
GIMP has so many Brush tools that you may get confused about which to use. The good thing is that all the brushes in GIMP will draw with no issues, except the Clipboard Image brush.
If you selected a brush that’s not working, go to the Brush tool and ensure you didn’t pick the Clipboard Image brush. You can select the Brush from the panel on your right, but the brush’s name shows up on the left-hand panel under Paintbrush.
3] Use the right Brush tool settings
Another reason why GIMP won’t let you draw is that the Brush tool settings don’t let it do that. Here are some settings that you should double-check to fix the issue.
- Go to the Brush tool and confirm that you set the Mode to Normal.
- Set the Opacity to 100.
- Modify the Size and Hardness to moderate values that aren’t too low.
4] Unlock the layers
Some users might miss the simple fact that the layer on which they’re trying to draw is locked. With the layer locked, you can’t modify it. To fix this, head to the Layers panel and see if any of the three icons beside the Lock are highlighted.
If an icon is highlighted, it means that the layer is locked. You can unlock it by clicking on the icon. Click on all three icons and ensure that none of them is locked.
5] Use the RGB mode
If the issue isn’t that the paintbrush isn’t working entirely but it paints with a different color from what you’ve chosen, then GIMP might be in Grayscale or Indexed mode. Using the RGB mode for this scenario, you can get your paintbrush working correctly. Here’s how to do it:
Launch the GIMP software and click on the Image menu at the top area of the window. Click on the Image option from the dropdown menu, click on Mode, and select RGB.
If you found this post helpful, you’ll love our article on resizing images in GIMP without losing the image quality.
Why can’t I paint on a layer in GIMP?
When trying to perform actions on a layer group, you may encounter the error message “Cannot paint on layer groups.” To fix this, select an individual layer instead of the layer group. Click on a specific layer in the Layers Dialog to make it active. If the active layer group has a + sign in front of it, it means the group is collapsed.
How do you refresh brushes in GIMP?
In the Brushes dialog window, click the Refresh Brushes button. Your new brush will appear among the other brushes, ready for immediate use without restarting GIMP.
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