What is the easiest way to circle out something in a picture, like this example
Here are the steps necesary to draw an empty ellipse without clearing the contents of the image below it.
1 - Layer > New layer
2 - Make the layer to be the same size as the image and layer fill type to transparency. This should be already selected by default.
3 - On the toolbox select the ellipse select tool and make an ellipse
4 - Use the bucket fill tool to paint the ellipse with your desired color.
5 - Right click on it and go to Select > Shrink...
6 - Type in how many pixels you want the border to be and click ok.
7 - Go to the menu and click Edit > Clear.
I feel it is very indirect, in the sense that first fill out the region enclosed by the ellipse, and then shrink the region to the boundary. I wonder if there is a quicker and more direct way to circle out something, such as by directly drawing the boundary?
My OS is Ubuntu. What I was asking may be done outside of gimp, but must be by some software under Ubuntu.