How to Draw an Arrow in GIMP

Last Updated: September 16, 2021

GIMP is an awesome graphics editor. It is so popular it can even rival the great Adobe Photoshop. However, there is one aspect can cause a little frustration, and that it: GIMP does not have a built-in “arrow drawer”. This small problem can be solved by following the given steps.

Steps

1
Click on registry.gimp.org/node/20269 and download the arrow.scm file. The file size is only 11.24 KB, so the download should be completed within seconds.
2
Navigate to your GIMP script folder. In Ubuntu, the folder path is located in /home/username/.gimp-2.6/scripts. If you are using another Linux distribution and cannot file the folder, search GIMP in your file browser.

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3
Drag-and-drop the arrow.scm file into your scripts folder. You may be required to enter your root user name and password.
4
Launch GIMP. Under the tools menu, at the very bottom, you should see the new entry Arrow.... However, it will not be available for use until you create a path of the picture you wish to draw an arrow.
5
In the left tool bar, locate the Path icon. The icon looks sort of like a rope connected to a quill pen.
6
Click once to set a point for the head of the arrow; then click a second time to set a point for the end of the arrow. You should see a segment with two little circles at the ends.
7
Go the Tools menu and click the Arrow... entry. Then click OK.
8
Congratulations! You can now experiment with your arrow, such as changing the color, shape, size, and even position!