How to Draw a Circle in GIMP

GIMP does not have a dedicated circle tool like Illustrator or Photoshop. Instead, you draw a circular selection and then either fill it or stroke its outline. It takes a few more steps, but the result is just as clean. Here is the complete process for any circle type you might need.

Drawing a Filled Circle

1. Create a new transparent layer: go to Layer > New Layer and set Fill Type to Transparency.
2. Press E to activate the Ellipse Select tool.
3. Hold Shift while dragging to constrain to a perfect circle. Release the mouse, then release Shift.
4. Set your foreground color to the circle color.
5. Press Shift+Backspace to fill the selection with the foreground color.
6. Press Ctrl+Shift+A to deselect.

You now have a solid filled circle on its own layer, which you can move with the Move tool or adjust with any color tool.

Drawing an Outlined Circle (Stroke Only)

1. Create a new transparent layer.
2. Use the Ellipse Select tool with Shift to draw a perfect circle selection.
3. Go to Edit > Stroke Selection.
4. In the dialog, set the line width (in pixels), stroke style (solid, dashed), and color. Click Stroke.

This draws only the outline of the circle without filling the inside. The interior remains transparent. If you want both a fill and a stroke, fill first, then stroke the same selection before deselecting.

Drawing a Circle at an Exact Pixel Size

In Tool Options for the Ellipse Select tool, check Fixed and set the size:

• Fixed: Size - Enter a specific width and height (e.g., 200 x 200 pixels).
• Fixed: Aspect ratio - Enter 1:1 to always draw perfect circles regardless of drag direction.

With a fixed size, clicking anywhere on the canvas places the circle at exactly those dimensions. Drag to position it, then fill or stroke as normal.

Drawing on Its Own Layer

Always draw circles on a new transparent layer rather than directly on your background image. This lets you:

• Move the circle independently with the Move tool.
• Change its color later without affecting the background.
• Delete or hide it without destroying other content.
• Apply effects (drop shadow, blur) only to the circle layer.

Drawing Scalable Circles with the Paths Tool

For circles that need to be scaled without losing sharpness (like logo elements), use the Paths tool approach:

1. Use Ellipse Select to draw a perfect circle.
2. Go to Select > To Path. This converts the selection into a vector path.
3. Use Edit > Stroke Path to draw the outline, or Edit > Fill Path for a filled circle.

Paths are stored as scalable vectors. If you later resize the image, re-strokes from the path will be sharp. The same path technique is used for curved text when you need text to flow along a circular shape.