I use GIMP from time to time. I can say I am decent with it. It took me a while to go from being a long time Adobe Photoshop user to a regular GIMP user, but I did make the switch and happy I did. Most of what I do is not as artistic as I would like. Its all basic stuff for website like this.

If you want to be inspired and get some ideas of what artists are doing with this free software, head over to the GIMP Magazine website. Issue #2 is linked below and issue 3 comes out next month already. So amazed at what people are capable of!

it can be viewed a number of ways too. Download as a PDF, view it online with Issuu, buy a printed version, and even watch a 30 minute walk through of every page! AWESOME.

http://gimpmagazine.org/issue2/

Issue #63 of the FREE great independent Full Circle Ubuntu magazine has arrived! It is formatted as a PDF file, a Google Currents Edition and an EPUB ereader book. I really love Full Circle and if you have never downloaded and read through an issue, it is worth your time. Full Circle features Ubuntu and linux news, new apps and how to guides for maximizing your knowledge. Its great for the Ubuntu guru and the novice alike.

This issue has great tips about Python programming, make use of LibreOffice, continued tips on using GIMP and Inkscape, an informative Q&A section, the all important Games Review section, and has a new section called “Ask The New Guy”.

Grab it here:

http://fullcirclemagazine.org/issue-63/

The latest greatest FREE Ubuntu magazine Full Circle Magazine has released new issue #61. It has tips on Python programming, VirtualBox, awesome GIMP and Inkscape tutorials, DVD ripping tips, game reviews and you’ll also find…

* Command and Conquer.
* How-To : Beginning Python – Part 33, Use The TOP Command, and VirtualBox Networking.
* Graphics : GIMP – The Beanstalk Part 2, and Inkscape Part 1.
* Linux Lab – DVD-Ripping and Encoding.
* Book Review & Competition – Linux For Newbies.
* I Think – Have You Helped a Kickstarter?
* Closing Windows – Add/Remove Software and Repos.
* NEW! Audio Flux – CC music, sites and apps.
plus: Ubuntu Games, My Desktop, My Opinion, My Story, and much much more!

http://fullcirclemagazine.org/issue-61/

Wow ohhh wow! Another month has passed just like that and the newest edition of Full Circle Magazine has hit the “shelves”. Issue number 60 of FCM is the fifth anniversary issue and its worth checking out.

This new issue includes some great reads…

* A great new graphics series has emerged! A nice intro into Inkscape and the SVG file format, and the impressive beginnings of the GIMP walkthrough of “Beanstalk”. A definite must read for aspiring artists!

* A detailed review of Desura, the linux/windows game distribution platform similar to Steam.

* A game review of Trine 2 and another Nintendo emulator called BSNES.

* Plus a whole lot more packed into 58 pages of reading!

http://fullcirclemagazine.org/issue-60/

As always you can download the PDF version, but there is now an EPUB version and Google Currents version available.

Agave is a very simple application for the GNOME desktop that allows you to generate a variety of colorschemes from a single starting color. It is free software licensed under the open-source GPL License.

Ok folks. We all know that people belonging to our tribe, the tribe of nerds, are not famous for their taste and ability to match colors. Linux conventions are filled with people dressed in very horrible color combinations. Even when it comes to choosing the right color scheme for a website, nerds are not exactly the best specimen around and that’s why for every website we make, it is better to get the help of a professional “color picker”. But us nerds are good at computing and have tried to exploit the formula for perfect color matching. They made an algorithm out of it and put it inside Agave, a software that will quickly become your best friend, if you mind about looking decent. Given any color Agave is able to pick up the perfect match, which will let you save time, money and honor while picking up your clothes or while painting the walls of your room. Agave features also the possibility to obtain the hex code for each color, so that you will simply have to copy-paste it in your code to have a decent looking website. Agave also offers some lists of web-safe colors, giving you the opportunity to pick up from a list of colors that won’t give your readers headaches or vomit.

Agave is the best friend for people like me, people that constantly fail at picking up decent color combinations. Believe it or not, Agave totally changed the way I present my work, making it look better designed overall.

Agave comes under the terms of GPL and it can be freely modified and redistributed.

Install it simply by searching for it in the Ubuntu Software Center or by typing “sudo apt-get install agave” in your favorite terminal.

I am an artist myself and have always enjoyed the Bob Ross painting series on public television here in the states. Have you ever wanted to do something similar in GIMP? Well, Ronnie Tucker, the author of Full Circle Magazine has put together a series called ” Bob Ross in GIMP”. Its a great tutorial for both enjoyment and to learn some of the many features in GIMP. Scared of GIMP? Fear no more… this will shake your fears away and get you comfortable. Check it out!


http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL9A5BCF53661A9620&feature=viewall

Inkscape: Guide to a Vector Drawing Program, Fourth Edition, is the guide to the Inkscape program. With coverage of versions 0.47 and 0.48, this authoritative introduction and reference features hundreds of useful illustrations.Using Inkscape, you can produce a wide variety of art, from photorealistic drawings to organizational charts. Inkscape uses SVG, a powerful vector-based drawing language and W3C web standard, as its native format. SVG drawings can be viewed directly in browsers such as Firefox, Opera, Chrome, Safari, and Internet Explorer 9. A subset of SVG has been adopted by the mobile phone market. Inkscape is available free for Windows,Macintosh, and Linux operating systems.

Systematic coverage of the entire Inkscape program begins with twelve tutorials ranging in difficulty from very basic to highly complex. A new tutorial introduces the use of interactive SVG in HTML5.The remainder of the book covers each facet of Inkscape in detail, with an emphasis on practical solutions for common problems. The book is filled with valuable tips and warnings about the use of Inkscape and SVG. Find dozens of Inkscape illustrations from the book in the online color supplement available at http://tavmjong.free.fr/INKSCAPE/.

Updated for Inkscape version 0.48, this edition includes complete coverage of new features, including the new Spray Tool, updated Node and Text tools, improved bitmap image import, LaTeX export for PDF/EPS/PS, added extensions including the JessyInk extension for web-based presentations, the adaptive UI, and the new Glyphs dialog.

Complete Coverage of New and Improved Inkscape 0.48 Features

• Live Path Effects for tasks such as adding patterns along a path while maintaining complete editability
• More than two hundred pre-built SVG filters for adding textures, manipulating color, and so forth
• A tiling tool to create complex tilings with thirteen different symmetries
• Clipping and Masking objects
• An integrated spell checker
• Built-in bitmap-to-vector tracing
• The ability to export to more than a dozen graphics formats, including PDF and PostScript
• The ability to import from more than two dozen graphics formats, including PDF, Adobe Illustrator, Corel Draw, AutoCad, and XFig Graphics
• Complete vector drawing program supporting the W3C SVG standard
• Three path-drawing tools (Pencil, Pen, Calligraphy)
• Five shape-drawing tools (Rectangles, Ellipses, Stars, Spirals, 3D Boxes)
• Linear and Radial Gradients
• Pattern fills
• Tweak Tool for fine adjustment of paths and colors
• Spray Tool
• Eraser Tool with both Vector and Bitmap modes
• Sophisticated snapping for precision drawing and aligning objects
• Extendable through scripting; more than one hundred scripts included

Pinta is an open source paint & drawing program modeled after Paint.NET. For users coming over from Windows, this is a simple program you might feel very comfortable using. Albeit with less options than GIMP, Paint Shop Pro and Adobe Photoshop, Pinta can still do a lot and its lightweight too.

I helped my company make the switch to Ubuntu linux and Paint Shop Pro was the norm here for several years (we dont do a lot of serious image creation or editing). Pinta is easy to use for most all users and fit right in for everyone.

Pinta 1.0 was recently released. Install it and try it out by installing the PPA and program by opening up a terminal and typing in these commands (or copy/paste):

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:nilarimogard/webupd8
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install pinta

For more info on the Pinta Project, go here: http://pinta-project.com/

New book just came out a month ago called “GIMP 2.6 for Photographers”. This book is packed full of color photos & tutorials in over 380+ pages. It also includes verison GIMP 2.8 Preview on included disc.