Text to path (right click on the text layer to find this)
Path to selection (switch from the layer tab to the path tab and right click on the path to find this)
Select -> Grow (to taste, start with 3-5px)
Select -> Feather (optional, to taste, start with 2-3px)
Create an alpha layer under the text and use the Paint bucket (or just drag the swatch onto the image)
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For memes, it might be worth fucking with Inkscape. You can import raster images then add text with a lot of control over stroke / fill / scaling. If you need to do photo touch-up, then you'll need a raster image editor. Krita might be worth looking at if you absolutely can't stand GIMP.
Make the text the color and size you want, put it on the image where you want. Then: text to path. Then stroke path, in some color that strongly contrasts with the text. Like if the text is white, stroke in black. How wide the stroke should be depends on the size of the text and the resolution of your image, you may need to try a few times.
In GIMP do:
Text to path (right click on the text layer to find this)
Path to selection (switch from the layer tab to the path tab and right click on the path to find this)
Select -> Grow (to taste, start with 3-5px)
Select -> Feather (optional, to taste, start with 2-3px)
Create an alpha layer under the text and use the Paint bucket (or just drag the swatch onto the image)
For memes, it might be worth fucking with Inkscape. You can import raster images then add text with a lot of control over stroke / fill / scaling. If you need to do photo touch-up, then you'll need a raster image editor. Krita might be worth looking at if you absolutely can't stand GIMP.
Slightly easier way is:
Make the text the color and size you want, put it on the image where you want. Then: text to path. Then stroke path, in some color that strongly contrasts with the text. Like if the text is white, stroke in black. How wide the stroke should be depends on the size of the text and the resolution of your image, you may need to try a few times.
Then you're done, export to jpg or PNG.