Quite a few users have posted on support forums about GIMP’s paintbrush tool not working. Consequently, the paintbrush either doesn’t paint anything at all or doesn’t paint with the color selected. It’s usually pretty easy to fix GIMP’s paintbrush utility when it’s not working.
How can I fix GIMP’s paintbrush?
1. Select RGB mode
Note: The above resolution is for fixing the paintbrush when it paints a different color from the one you’ve selected. If you can’t paint anything at all in GIMP, try fixing its paintbrush with the resolutions below.
2. Check you’ve got the right layer selected
If you have multiple layers, make sure your top one is selected. If you’ve got a lower layer selected, the paint will be applied to that instead of the visible top one.
GIMP’s right sidebar displays your layers. Select the top layer there if it’s not selected, and then try painting. You can also move layers up and down the stack by clicking the up and down arrows at the bottom of the right sidebar.
3. Check your brush settings
4. Check if Clipboard Image is selected
GIMP’s Clipboard Image and Mask brushes don’t paint anything onto layers. So, the paintbrush isn’t much good when you’ve got either of those brushes selected. To check what brush is selected, have a look at the brush selection panel on the right sidebar shown in the snapshot directly below. That panel includes a wide range of brush choices.
Select an alternative brush there that isn’t Clipboard Image or Clipboard Mask. Then paint something onto a canvas with the selected brush style.
5. Select the None option
This resolution will ensure there aren’t any small rectangular selections selected on your canvas. When there are very small rectangular regions selected, you can’t paint outside them. So, there isn’t usually an issue with the GIMP software when its paintbrush doesn’t work. In most cases, users can fix the paintbrush by changing some settings in GIMP.
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