Sunday, January 11, 2009

The GIMP Tutorials: How to Change Your GIMP brush

One of the most annoying things that happens whenever I work with my digital drawing tablet in Photoshop GIMP is when the brush icon suddenly changes from this:

The GIMP brush icon showing only its outline

to this:

Here, the icon is now a crosshair. (The GIMP's crosshair icon doesn't show up so I had to draw it. )




I do not know why this bug occurs. I notice it happens when I've been working for several hours with several GIMP tools. One thing's for sure though, it's very annoying. Restarting the PC fixes it in Photoshop. With GIMP though, the first time this happened I immediately set about trying to determine how to revert the GIMP brush to its former state. This is what this GIMP tutorial is all about.

(Why all the fuss of reverting the GIMP brush to its usual icon? Maybe it's just me but I really don't like the crosshair icon when applying colors with my GIMP brushes; I find it distracting. :D)

This The GIMP how to is a cakewalk really:

1. In the interface of GIMP2, go to: EDIT > PREFERENCES.


2. In the window that pops up, click IMAGE WINDOWS.


3. Untick "Show pointer for paint tools." (Make sure not to untick "Show brush outline"; needless to say, that will cause make outlines for GIMP brushes invisible. It'll be hard to work with that.) Press "OK."


Voila!

Alternatively, if you prefer GIMP brushes with additional info attached to them, check the Show pointer for paint tools." You can then choose from "Tool icon," "Tool icon with crosshair," and "crosshair only." Click "OK" to apply your preference for your GIMP brushes.




>> What is this blog all about?


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Sunday, December 7, 2008

The GIMP Tutorials - About this Blog

This blog is an art diary; something where I can note down links to tutorials and notes about what I will have learned as I struggle with this freeware image manipulator. I am NOT an expert at The GIMP how tos nor is this site meant to replace or even compete with professional The GIMP how tos sites out there.

That said, feel free to join me in this digital journey. I hope that through this sites The GIMP how tos you will learn a lot of things along the way.

Will the time you invest reading my tutorials be worth it? I certainly hope so. While I am new to GIMP, I have designed and made paintings for an online game called The Five Pillars. If you are curious you can check one of them out:

CLOCKWORK DRAGON

(The other one, the Desert Dreadnought, has been recently replaced as the owner wants a wheeled contraption that's all sooty. He didn't want an ambulatory machine.

The past art head for the game, a Belgian who called himself Dragolin, disagreed with the owner on some parts of the design. He approved my design.

Below is the front part of the steel mammoth I drew for them.)



So why GIMP?

My continual drive to lean something new I guess. Also, strange as it may sound, I gravitate toward things that have steep learning curves. It's also my intent to give persons who can't afford the hefty price tag of Photoshop to still be able to create digital art with the help of The GIMP how tos I will be posting.

Good day! :D


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Manhattan Tablet can be used by The GIMP Tutorials in Windows XP

W00t!

Not that I had any doubts but if any of you are having any about a Manhattan Tablet 5.5" X 4" working in The GIMP how to projects, I tell you it works.


Proof lol!

My Manhattan Tablet is no Wacom but it still gets the job done. I advice owners to download and install v5.0 of the graphic tablet's PC tablet software though. There's a colossal performance difference compared to the one bundled with the Manhattan Tablet.

Ah things I could do with this one. In the days ahead, I'll be posting The GIMP tutorials (that will also serve as reminders for me as I learn the nuances of this new --- to me --- digital art freeware).


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Saturday, December 6, 2008

The Gimp Tutorials First Post: The Gimp 2.6.3 Released

The free raster graphics editor, The Gimp, has been updated to version 2.6.3.



You can download Gimp 2.6.3 from The Gimp official website. For a list of what has been fixed in The Gimp 2.6.3, see this changelog.

The Gimp tutorials coming soon!


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