Show Us Your Label

[SMPress]

I have never used either Gimp or Inkscape, but it seems to be the go to I have seen here.

Which is easier for someone with no experience doing graphics work? Or are they basically the same?

Is there any sort of a template I can get to do labels for the nexks of the bottles. I have seen a few posts here that had pics of ring labels, but they are at an odd angle to properly wrap around the bottle, and not sure where to start in making one...

Thanks!

 

[jimdkc]

Gimp and Inkscape are 2 completely different kinds of graphics programs.

Gimp is a raster image editor. Think a large array of pixels, like a digitized photograph. It is a fixed resolution, and if you enlarge too much, you start seeing pixels and it starts getting "blocky".

Inkscape is a vector image editor. Think lines and shapes with paths and fills. The vector image file is basically a set of instructions on how to draw the image. You can render it at any size without loss of quality.

Raster image programs are good at manipulating or creating photographic images or images that look like paintings or hand drawings.

Vector image programs are good at manipulating or creating illustrations or technical drawings. It's great for things like placing text on a path.

This is a VERY simplified explanation, and there is a lot of overlap.

Adobe Photoshop (like Gimp) is (primarily) a raster image program.

Adobe Illustrator (like Inkscape) is (primarily) a vector image program.

I use a Macintosh, and I actually use a program called Pixelmator for raster images, and a program called Graphic (formerly iDraw) for vector images. Neither Pixelmator nor Graphic are free, but they are a lot less expensive than the Adobe apps! Gimp and Inkscape are also available on Macs, but Pixelmator and Graphic are a lot more "Mac-like" in the way they work!

 

[jimdkc]

Here's one source of a bottle neck label template:

http://www.onlinelabels.com/templat...elabels.com/Templates/OL2936-template-pdf.htm

 

[SMPress]

Thanks jimdkc!

My logo was done by a friend in Adobe Illustrator on a Mac. I didn't see him do any of it, he just e-mailed it to me when it was done. unfortunately, he is in Dubai for the next few years, so I am on my own to figure all this out. Your primer is a good start for me! I will also check out the template when I am not on a work computer...

 

[TexasWine]

Thanks jimdkc!

My logo was done by a friend in Adobe Illustrator on a Mac. I didn't see him do any of it, he just e-mailed it to me when it was done. unfortunately, he is in Dubai for the next few years, so I am on my own to figure all this out. Your primer is a good start for me! I will also check out the template when I am not on a work computer...

If you don't want to do the work yourself, you might try fiverr.com

Never used it, but it looks promising.

 

[jimdkc]

If you don't want to do the work yourself, you might try fiverr.com

Never used it, but it looks promising.

Or you can sketch out an idea and post it in The "We'll fix your label for you" thread and somebody may be inclined to provide help!

 

[arnobg]

One of my latest on the bottle.

View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1466808972.555440.jpg

 

[Yeastieboy]

Very nice

 

[jason1414]

Heres my label amateur work

 

[elburrogrande]

My latest Saison

 

[BongoYodeler]

Bottling my first ever brew today.

 

[jimdkc]

My latest Saison

That label's kinda sick and inappropriate!

(I love it!)

 

[voodoo_donut]

Here's the label that I came up with for my Edelweiß, which I will be brewing later this week -

I had considered a few classic Alpine scenes, but this one struck close to home, and I decided to go with it. I like the image of a young robin - a harbinger of spring here in Montana - anxiously waiting for spring (which is often late in Montana) as an Edelweiß flower emerges from the snow.

Nice label....the "young robin" is actually an adult European Robin, still appropriate for the German/Edelweiss theme. Young American Robins look like bedraggled spotted messes!

 

[TasunkaWitko]

Nice label....the "young robin" is actually an adult European Robin, still appropriate for the German/Edelweiss theme. Young American Robins look like bedraggled spotted messes!

Hi, VD (that didn't sound right! )

Thanks for the correction on that. I realized my error a few days ago, when I was looking through a bird book with my son, but didn't know the correct bird. Like you say, being a European robin, it is even more appropriate. I like it!

Thanks again -

Ron

 

[elburrogrande]

My latest IPA

 

[ocwo92]

Keeping my tradition with morbid themes:

"Spøgelsesbilisten," or "ghost driver," is the Danish term for a wrong-way driver. It's a low-alcohol Scottish Lighe Ale at 1.6% that you can drink even while driving (at least in Denmark).

"Høstøl," or "Harvest Ale," is an incredibly good-tasting American IPA and my first attempt at using rye malt.

 

[Yeastieboy]

Man I wish I could find time to design labels, print them, affix and subsequently remove them from my brews. Some day!

 

[scallopking]

Man I wish I could find time to design labels, print them, affix and subsequently remove them from my brews. Some day!

me too! I'd love to make a quality label someday.

 

[golfgod04]

just thought Id share (pictures taken by me or friends)

 

[CKelly]

Haven't posted in a while; been to busy moving to Colorado Springs. Anyway, finally found some time to crank one out. This one is themed similar to my "Twilight" label, but since this is a black IPA I thought Midnight would work well.

 

[unionrdr]

Here's some possible label designs I came up with in Labelizer for my German Mumme' gruit ale. This version of Zoltar comes from a machine @ Chippewa Lake park, dated 1878 when the park opened.;



I thought the name to be apropos, since the ale uses a lot of herbs, spices & various plants that get you a lil stoned as well as drunk. All from medieval minds...

 

[Nagorg]

Api ipa

 

[nmelione]

my 4.5% session ale with El Dorado, Citra and Apollo

 

[ThatVideoKid]

my 4.5% session ale with El Dorado, Citra and Apollo

I think you forgot to attach the label

 

[DromJohn]

@unionrdr I like the top because it names Zoltar.

 

[Siberian]

Few more of mine.

Hipster Ale - a beer brewed on site with 'Mystery Ingredients' for the Michigan Ironbrewer Competition (Ginger & Hibiscus being the mystery)
Never Marry - Patersbier/Trappist Single brewed with Spencer's Trappist Yeast harvested from the bottle (awarded bronze in it's category @ Sicilano's Homebrew Competition)
Night at the Iron Curtain - Re-brew of the first beer my wife and I brewed together (she introduced me to the hobby, sometimes I think now to her own dismay) aged in a 15g wheat whiskey barrel from a local distillery (Journeyman).

 

[greyfixer]

Here are some of my more recent labels (on various size bottles):

Sour beer:

Basic Blonde Ale. I called it a "blind ale" as an inside joke to the girl I'm dating. When we first met, she tried telling me her dog was blind but because of her southern drawl, I thought she was saying "he's blonde."

And lastly, a label I didn't get to use because the batch got infected. I will make it again eventually though.

 

[helterscelter]

And lastly, a label I didn't get to use because the batch got infected. I will make it again eventually though.

ironic

 

[Hoppy2bmerry]

So simple... Saphir hops...

 

[FearItself]

My first label (first brewed in Fall 2015; this is from a later batch). My wife came up with the name, and I found the movie poster online and modified it:

 

[FearItself]

My second label. The recipe for my first actual beer was the Dogfish Head 60 min. IPA clone, which inspired the name. This version of the label is actually from my second iteration of this recipe, by which time I had decided I needed a brand: Gearhead Brewing.

 

[FearItself]

My third label was for a pale ale that used only Amarillo hops, so I decided I needed a Texas theme. I was still stuck on rabbits, though. This batch was done before I added the "Gearhead" brand.

 

[FearItself]

My most recent label is for a summer blonde ale. This is the first one designed after I settled on the "Gearhead" brand, so I was looking for mechanical themes. Combined with blondes. The only problem was that I couldn't choose which art to use, so I just did three versions of the label and used them all.

 

[tkline808]

2 label ideas I came up with for a barlywine that me and my neighbor brewed. Were only a week and a half in primary into this bad boy.

 

[unionrdr]

I decided to alter the first label I ever did in the paint.net program that replaces Microsoft paint with one that has some PS features. It's now my brewery logo. I did the constellation Perseus with the man in the moon makin' like Mr. Bill...

 

[SGTSparty]

Not nearly as advanced as you wizards but using snip tool and powerpoint (limit of my artistic ability) I've got these for my new few brews:

 

[SGTSparty]

One More:

 

[unionrdr]

Version 2 of my Mumme label, after finding some new artwork;

 

[unionrdr]

Well, that last one changed in light of another version of the Mumme recipe being written just now. The Mystic Mumme is actually the lighter English, all gruit version. The new one, called Monk's Mumme, will be the heavier German version with a load of German traditional hops for bittering, removing the blessed thistle, but retaining the other gruits. That seems to have been done in some combination since medieval times. With Mumme, it is considered the first ale to be switched to the use of hops. So here's the new ones;

 

[nmelione]

My Session Ale. Classic Kicks




On bottles with my logo bottle caps