Gimp 2.6 Cookbook

Gimp 2.6 Cookbook. Over 50 recipes to
produce amazing graphics with the GIMP.

I've been using graphic photo manipulation software programs for nearly 20 years. After using several, I've come to the conclusion that all of them are quite similar in features, bells, and whistles. The main difference comes in how they carry out the task at hand. That is to say, the menus, tool bars, and commands are laid out differently from program to program. So, migrating from one program to another isn't difficult, it's just that you need to learn (or relearn) the “moves” and menus in order to get the application to respond to your input.

If you're a regular reader of this blog, you already know that my graphics application of choice is the Gimp (current version 2.6). The Gimp is a free, open source software application available with the Linux operating system. Gimp is also available for Windows and Mac.

After cutting my teeth on many other software programs on the Windows platform, I moved over to the Gimp when I switched to the Linux operating system. The minor challenge for me, as noted above, was relearning some of the moves in order to get the Gimp to do what I wanted it to do.

This is why I LOVE the Gimp 2.6 Cookbook by Juan Manuel Ferryera so much! How I wish this book was available when I made the switch to Linux and the Gimp! It would have made the transition much easier. A lot of my questions would have been answered in one place rather than spending countless hours on Google trying to track down some of the information I needed.

The Gimp 2.6 Cookbook is a terrific combination of step by step tutorial along with being an introduction to The Gimp and all its features. The book, when followed sequentially, chapter by chapter, gives the user a good foundational understanding in how to use the Gimp. You build your understanding of how to use the program from the ground up.

The challenge in using The Gimp sometimes comes from not having enough good instructional books available to learn the program.  It's important to learn the moves, so to speak. Once you know some of the basics, you can build on doing more and more complex projects.  The Gimp 2.6 Cookbook - Over 50 recipes to produce amazing graphics with the Gimp does just that!  It's a wonderful resource manual to learn the Gimp! I love this book!

Juan starts you with simple tasks, increasing the level of difficulty with each chapter. As the difficulty increases, you're introduced to new tools and methods to accomplish the task.  In this way, you learn more about the program.  You learn where the tools and filters are located and how to incorporate them into the various tasks.

Juan also encourages the user to experiment. That's where the fun in using Gimp comes into play. Juan recognizes that there are many approaches to achieving the same result. He shows you the most common and fundamental path. By encouraging experimentation, the user can teach themselves new ways to to achieve a desired result. In so doing, the power of the Gimp is really unleashed. It becomes a continual process of uncovering new tools and methods to reveal a new way to edit an image.

Many times, while using this book, I've said to myself, “Oh! So THAT's how you do it!” Which means, I’ve learned a new process from Juan or realized that there's a better way to editing an image than the one I've been using.

The book shows you how to use color, paint tools, cloning, filters, effects, text, fonts, photo manipulation, etc. The Gimp 2.6 Cookbook covers all the bases!  It shows you how to achieve professional results, step by step! It gives you a great start and, as you go through each lesson, you can actually have some finished pieces to add to your portfolio.

With the Gimp 2.6 Cookbook,
learn cloning basics to
transform the top photo
into the bottom photo!

Whether your a beginner or seasoned pro, Gimp 2.6 Cookbook is incredibly helpful. Even after 20 years of using graphics editing software, I've learned some new techniques and methods, and gained a new understanding in using Gimp. I know I'll be pulling this book out from time to time as new photo editing/cartooning projects come along.

The Gimp 2.6 cookbook is available from Packt Publishing.

Christmas 1960.

This is a famous photo within my family.   It shows me and my brothers with Santa Claus.  The year was 1960.  And thanks to digital technology, I was able to scan it in and preserve it for years to come.  It's one of my favorite Christmas photos. (There are five boys in my family. This photo was snapped a few years before my kid brother Dave arrived on the scene.) And because I run Linux, I'm able to do some pretty amazing things with this photo.  That's because Linux has a load of free software already bundled and installed. Once you install Linux to your computer, these programs are only one click away.  One of the most powerful programs that comes with Linux is The Gimp. Gimp is the Linux "PhotoShop" offering. And it's powerful and easy to use!

I've blogged about Gimp before, but using the 1960 Christmas photo as an example, I want to show you some of Gimp's "one click" tools. These are the filter effects that you can apply to your own photos.  All it takes is opening Gimp's Filters menu, picking the filter, making a few adjustments to the filter (if required), and clicking.  Done.  The effect will be applied.

Let's add a drop shadow to the photo.  Simply go up to the Filters menu, select "Light and Shadow",  and pick the "Drop Shadow" filter.  A dialogue box opens where you can adjust the distance of the shadow, how transparent you want it to be, its blur (the softness of the shadow's edges), and the color of the shadow.  Click and you're done. You'll get a result like the one at left.

Another fun effect is applying a canvas to a photo.  Again, open the filters menu, select "Artistic" and then "Apply Canvas" from the sub-menu. Adjust the properties (Direction and Depth) as to how you want the canvas applied.  You'll be able to see the result in a real time preview before finalizing.  Click "OK" and the canvas will be applied.

And the Gimp also has animation effects.  These are always useful if you want to add a bit of movement or splash to your web site or blog.  Again, with Gimp, all it takes is a couple of clicks.  I'm going to apply the "Spinning Globe" animation filter to the photo. The first thing I do is crop the photo so it's a perfect square. This way, the globe will be a nice round shape and not an oblong egg shape.  I select "Filters" then "Animation" and then "Spinning Globe."  I select the number of frames I want to create, the direction I want the globe to spin, etc.  After Gimp creates all the frames (as layers) I export as a gif animation file, select the delay time and other options, and my animation is created.  (Click on the spinning globe to see the animation in full size.)

When you get Linux, you not only get a safe and secure operating system, you get thousands of software packages that allow you to do anything and everything with your computer. Linux and Gimp  will unleash your computer's power!

Get Linux.

Kiowa Linux and Gimp 2.4

The Great thing about Linux is how cutting edge it is. And a majority of it is due to a community of people working together to produce not only an advanced OS, but some of the most advanced software for your desktop computer. And, the majority of this software is free!

An example of this, is the latest and greatest version of Gimp. Gimp 2.4 boasts some amazing tools! One of these tools is shown in the Google video above. Perspective Cloning! Perspective cloning is available in PhotoShop CS, but that program costs $600.00 or more. Gimp is Free. and the perspective cloning tool is awesome! There are other new tools in Gimp 2.4 and these are quite remarkable, as well. You can see video demos of these at the Gimp's site.

Now, the great part is, Gimp 2.4 is availble in Kiowa Linux! Kiowa Linux is striving to make sure the latest and greatest Linux software is available in each new release.

Kiowa is getting ready to release a new beta of its Linux OS. I highly recommend that you get involved in the Kiowa community and give this Linux operating system a test drive. You'll love it! and you'l also have the latest stable version or Gimp, Firefox, Thunderbird and more!

I'm running Kiowa Linux onmy laptop and already have been creating neat images qwith Gimp 2.4

Get creative, get Kiowa, get Linux, and you'll have Gimp 2.4.

More Customizing Fun!

Linux has so many customizing features, you can make your system look as individual as, well, you! For instance, one neat little trick is to change the background of Konqueror.

If you take a look at the above screen shot, you'll see how easy it is to change backgrounds in Linux. Select View>Configure Background. Then, navigate to the image you wish to use or select a color from the palette.

I'm using an image from the upcoming movie Horton Hears A Who.

I modified it a bit using Gimp so it wouldn't appear so cluttered.

You can use photos, colors, wallpapers, etc. Images can be large or small. Konqueror will tile the image as Konqueror's window grows larger or you scroll through file lists.

Customization is one more reason why you should get Linux!

Creating Cartoons in Gimp.

As a cartoonist, the most useful tool in my studio (and most used) is my computer. Because I draw four features for DBR Media, I rely on my computer to streamline some of the tasks in creating my cartoons. And because of the problems I've run into with Windows (crashes, viruses, etc.), I moved to Linux.

And I was wonderfully surprised to find so many graphics software applications available for free.

The "top-shelf" graphics app in Linux is The Gimp image editor. Gimp is a PhotoShop clone of sorts. Gimp works like Photoshop, feels like PhotoShop and even opens PhotoShop .psd files.

With Gimp, you work in layers just like PhotoShop (check out the above screen shot of my feature Word Pile). In fact, you can do everything in Gimp that you can do in PhotoShop, PaintShop Pro, PhotoImpact and other image editors. You can can add color, cut, paste, clone, crop, move elements, create mattes, select areas, add filter effects,etc. It's all there! And the cost is...FREE.

(I like Gimp a lot. It's worth re-visiting.:) I've blogged about it before here and here.)

When parents ask me what kind of computer or graphics program they should give their children, I tell them to get a Linux system. All the tools a young budding artist needs are already installed. And this software is incredibly powerful. Best of all, the cost is much more affordable than a Windows system and certainly thousands less than a Mac.

Linux is perfect for the family budget. Plus, the system is secure and immune from Windows viruses.

If your child is showing signs of digital creativity, get him or her a Linux system. Linux is fast, powerful, packed with creative digital tools, and wonderfully affordable.

I use Linux to create my cartoons. You can, too.

Gimp tutorials are everywhere!

Well, let's say you've finally loaded Linux onto your computer. You boot the system, log in, and are greeted with the KDE (or Gnome) desktop. You start to explore the menus to test drive some of the applications. One of the main applications you'll undoubtedly want to try is The Gimp, the free, open source image editing program that comes pre-installed in Linux.

Now, I absolutely love using The Gimp. But I will admit, the interface is a bit different and takes some getting used to. Trust me, it's an easy adjustment to make.

Even though The Gimp is as powerful and feature rich as PhotoShop, PhotoImpact, Paintshop Pro and others, you'll find that you may need just a bit of help in navigating the toolbar menus and keyboard commands.

Luckily, the web is chock full of Gimp tutorials. My Linux buddy Matt passed along these links to Gimp tutorials, help manuals, and forums. (Thank you, Matt!)

http://gimp-tutorials.net/

http://www.gimp.org/tutorials/

http://www.gimp-tutorials.com/

http://tutorialblog.org/gimp-tutorials/

http://www.gimptalk.com/

http://www.gimpguru.org/Tutorials/

http://www.pixel2life.com/tutorials/Gimp/All/

In addition, there is an extensive help manual for Gimp located in your Linux distribution's repository (usually called gimp-help-en. "en" for English, "fr" for French, etc.)

But, if you're more inclined to use a book, Amazon.com is loaded with Gimp manuals. Simply enter, The Gimp in the search bar. The most widely known Gimp manual (which will come up in the search results) is called, "Grokking The Gimp."

If you don't want to wait for the book to be delivered, Grokking the Gimp is available for free as a web site.

So, once again, you can see how open and generous the Linux community is with information about the Operating System and its applications.

When was the last time Microsoft gave you any help without first reaching into your wallet?

Got a question about cartooning with Linux, or Linux in general? Email me at: georgetoon@gmail.com. If I use your question on my blog, I'll send you an original, signed George comic strip!

Visit the George Store for all things George!

Check out the new banner!

I created a new banner for my blog. That's my character George on the right. He stars in a comic strip I draw for DBR Media. And it's called, George.

Anyhow, I used the Gimp to create the banner. Just ike PhotoShop, I used layers in Gimp to create each element and then combined them all into a single image.

The most bottom layer was the crimson background. New layers were created for white text. I also resized the text in each layer to fill the area a bit. I then did the drawing of George at the computer. I scanned this in using Xsane and then added color using Gimp.

I pasted this "George" layer on top of the crimson background. I then created a new layer behind George. Using Gimp's brush menu, I created a brush with a soft edge. I then painted in white on this new layer, highlighting behind and around the character so the black outline would stand out a bit on the crimson background. I then dialed down the opacity of this "highlight" layer so it would soften and blend in a bit. I cropped, resized and saved as a Jpeg.

All of this was done in Gimp running Linux.

So, do you still want to buy that $600.00 copy of PhotoShop?

Photoshop, $600.00. Gimp, Free!

One of the great things about running Linux is the thousands of free software applications available. Some are already available to you when you first install Linux. Others are available to you (from a disto's repository) with the simple click of a mouse.

One of the best Linux software applications is The Gimp. (Gimp stands for "GNU Image Manipulation Program").

A history of The Gimp can be found at Wikipedia.

The Gimp has all the features and power that Photoshop has and touts. The gimp suports layers and channels, allows photo-retouching, does digital image retouching, has hundreds of plug-ins available giving the user the ability to create any number of effects, sup0pots many popular file formats, lusmuch much more. The Gimp also opens Photoshop (.psd) files.

So why pay hundreds of dollars for PhotoShop?


Well, this is one of the really big reasons why I've moved to Linux. I can run a terrific program like the Gimp for free. I have all the power and ease of use of PhotoShop without the expensive price tag. In this screenshot (above), you can see how I use The Gimp to add color to my cartoon feature Double Take. (click on the image to see a larger view) I do all the digital editing in Gimp. I add text, draw on the screen digitally, rotate, morph, resize, and change the image. I can cut, paste, add effects, paint, import, export, etc. I do it all with the Gimp! No need for PhotoShop. The Gimp is the perfect program for professionals and beginners alike! I highly recommend any family or school needing a computer system to simply get Linux. All the tools a child or student would need for expressing his/her creativity are already bundled! They are easy to use, free, and allow students (and anyone) to explore digital creativity to their heart's content in a stable and secure computing environment. I use Gimp. It's one of the best digital imaging programs around! And the price cannot be beat!

UPDATE -- I was reminded by Freespire forum member Thorpe that GimpShop is also available. GimpShop is Gimp, but with a more familiar PhotoShop interface.

Check your Linux distribution's repository to see if it offers GimpShop along with Gimp.

Careful, though, my pal Elinux (at the same forum) says that Gimpshop may not be in active development. The package he checked was built on some pretty old libs.