.:GFX: Survival Guide:.

Use the Command-F function to find certain parts of this guide.

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INTRODUCTION

.:INTRO:.

.:INTRO|ONE:. COPYRIGHTS

.:INTRO|TWO:. BIOGRAPHY

.:INTRO|THREE:. TOOLS OF THE TRADE

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SECTION ONE

.:START|HERE:.

.:START|ONE:. GRAPHICS?

.:START|TWO:. WHAT YOU NEED

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SECTION TWO

.:TECH/TABLETS:.

.:TECH|ONE:. SOFTWARE

.:TECH|TWO:. TABLETS

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SECTION THREE

.:CUSTOMIZATION:.

.:CUSTOM|ONE:. GIMP

.:CUSTOM|TWO:. PHOTOSHOP

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SECTION FOUR

.:MISCELLANEOUS:.

— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —

—INTRODUCTION—


.:INTRO|ONE:.
COPYRIGHTS

The following guide, "Graphics Survival Guide" is copyrighted under Creative Commons. Without written permission by the owner James Weil (Cyrilshark), you are not allowed to repost, claim as your own, or change, rewrite, or rehost any part of this guide.

.:INTRO|TWO:.
BIOGRAPHY

Cyrilshark has been in graphics since late 2007, and since then has learned and practiced the art of making tags, creating website designs, and tried, and failed, and learning to code websites. He also draws chibi, manga, and realistic drawings real life. He frequents GimpTalk, Gimper, FringeFX, and occasionally MeetTheGimp.

.:INTRO|THREE:.
TOOLS OF THE TRADE

Cyril uses mainly the free, open source image editing program, Gimp. He also owns a Wacom Bamboo Drawing Tablet. He has an iMac running OS X 10.6, Snow Leopard. He plans on buying Photoshop within the month.

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—START|HERE—


.:START|ONE:. GRAPHICS?

Graphics. The art of creating something from nothing. Graphics are simply a visual representation on any surface, be it a wall, computer screen, or paper. The graphics we'll be discussing are computer graphics.

The most common styles of graphics on the computer are web design, digital painting, and tag making. I'll quickly discuss each of these in turn.

.WEB DESIGN:.
This is pretty self explanatory. Design a website is no easy task, as it needs to be able draw visitors in by looking nice, and not overwhelming the reader. It's not something anyone can jump in to and be good at!

.DIGITAL PAINTING:.
Another self explanatory graphic style. It's like painting, without the mess and the horrors of making a mistake and ruining your painting (undo tool…).

.TAGS:.
This has to be my favorite style as of now. A normal sized tag can be anywhere from 300x100 to 500x200. Most artists' work will vary in size, so change up how they do things, and make it more interesting.

So theres a very very small description of each of the main digital graphic styles. Please continue to the next section!

.:START|TWO:. WHAT YOU NEED

It's not about what forum you go to, it's not about what program you use. It's not about what tablet you have, and most importantly, it's not about what other people think about your work. It's about you, and what you make, and what you like. I don't care if the best artist in the world tells you you suck, don't listen. If you think it's the best art you've ever seen, then it is!

Imagination, inspiration, and passion. Thats what you need to become a great artist. Also, you need one more thing. Music that you like, inspires you, influences you, you know what I mean. Music is a must. It will help you when your in slumps, whether you believe it or not. Anyways, move on to the next area!

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—TECH/TABLETS—


.:TECH|ONE:. SOFTWARE

Don't worry, this is not going to turn in to the classic 'GIMP verse PS' war… I promise!

.:GIMP:.
[gimp.org]
This is most likely going to be your first choice, free open source image editing program. As far as I know, it's the most powerful. But, as incredible as it is, and no matter how defensive we the Gimpers may get, it has nothing on PS other than the fact that you save a good thousand dollars.

.:PS:.
[adobe.com]
Photoshop. The big competitor. Well actually in all honesty there would really be no competition for PS if the the price tag wasn't so big. Photoshop CS4, if you're not upgrading, is a killer seven hundred dollars. And as if that right there isn't enough, if you want the extended edition, they tack another three hundred bucks, so now we're up to a thousand dollars. A thousand dollars. Now I have to admit that Photoshop is the way to go for professionals, but probably not so much for casual artists unless you have $700+ to spend on one program.
Photoshop is amazing, and no one can deny it. It's interface, features, plugins, and everything else justifies the price tag. It's native to Macs and PC's, which is great for Mac users like myself.

.:Paint.NET:.

Truthfully I have never used Paint, but from what I hear It's a pretty powerful free program. It only runs natively on PC's. I don't even know if it's possible to get it working on Macs unfortunately. From what I've seen the interface looks pretty good.

.:Seashore:.

Pretty much a Mac native program based off of GIMP.
"However, unlike the GIMP, Seashore only aims to serve the basic image editing needs of most computer users, not to provide a replacement for professional image editing products."
This was taken of Seashores official website, and the statement stands true. This is not very powerful, yet it's not a bad program for very casual artists.

.:TECH|TWO:. TABLETS

Tablets are the paper and pen of graphics. If you plan on going in to digital painting, this is a necessity!!!
I will only be discussing Wacom tablets. Please continue.

Wacom remains the number one drawing tablet manufacturer in the world. They're tablets are easy to use, easy to install (if you use The Gimp, it could be a bit harder), and relatively cheap. The cheapest one is seventy bucks. Not bad! You get a basic tablet, 4x6", a pen, pen holder, cord, and software. Once again, I'll probably add more in the next update.

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—CUSTOMIZATION—


Ever wonder how to add brushes, scripts, patterns, and all that good stuff to GIMP and PS? Well, you can finally learn how. Lets start with GIMP.

.:CUSTOM|ONE:. GIMP

One of the most asked questions for Gimp is how to install brushes.
Actually though, this is one of the easiest tasks! We'll be using scripts as en example, though you do the same exact thing for anything else.

I'm running Mac OSX, but it does not matter, if you're running Windows,
Linus, etc. it should be almost the same, if not exactly.

Firstly, I'm only going to show you how to install brushes, since it's exactly the same thing for
anything else you may want to add.
I'm not going to divide this into separate parts since, well, it's just that easy.

Many people don't know how easy this actually is. I'm making this tutorial because there have been
many people asking how to do it.

Helpful Links:

Brushes;
DeviantArt—Project-GimpBC
Noupe.com—100 Free High Res GIMP Brushes

Scripts;
Registry.gimp.org—Free GIMP plugins/scripts
DeviantArt—GIMP scripts
note:
When downloading scripts, I recommend downloading the .scm file instead of the .py file.

Fonts;
There's tons of sites with free fonts, heres just a few.
Dafont.com
Urbanfonts.com
Abstractfonts.com

Patterns;
DeviantArt—Iceytina
Pgd-design—GIMP Patterns

Lets begin...

So of course, the first step would be to download some brushes.
Use one of the links above, or find your own and download some brushes.
Now make a new folder named "Brushes—GIMP" (or whatever you're trying to install. e.g. Scripts—GIMP etc..) or something
you'll remember. You can put it wherever you want. I made a new folder on my desktop names "GIMP Folders" and put it in there.

Now assuming you've downloaded your brushes, move them in to the folder you just made.
Now the next step will be telling GIMP to look in the folder you just made for brushes. Since you put
the brushes in the folder, GIMP will see them and then load them.

So now open GIMP. Once it loads go to Edit>Preferences. Scroll to the bottom of the list until you see "Folders". Open that
section up, and you should see more sub-folders with things like "Brushes", "Gradients", "Patterns", etc..
Find the "Brushes" one. Now there should be a white box with a navigation bar at the top of the dialogue.
To the left of the navigation bar, there should be a box with a white piece of paper or something. I apologize, I don't know exactly
what it is.

Click on the white box, and a new dialogue should pop up. It should show all the files on your computer and you should be able to navigate
your way to the folder we made earlier which we named "Brushes—GIMP". Navigate to it, select it, and click open.
Now GIMP knows to look in that folder for brushes.

Close GIMP, and reopen it. Congratulations! You should now have some brand new brushes!

If you had any problems feel free to send me a private message, or post in this thread.
And remember, this tutorial is the same for everything you want to add to GIMP. Brushes, scripts, etc..
Just change everything to the respective name. If you want to install scripts, make the folder name "Scripts—GIMP", and instead
of making a path to the brushes folder, navigate to your scripts folder.


.:CUSTOM|TWO:. PHOTOSHOP

"Brushes
Place the *.abr files into:
Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop X\Presets\Brushes where X is the version number for your version of Photoshop.
Brushes created in Photoshop 7 or later will not work in earlier versions of Photoshop. Any Photoshop brushes should work in Photoshop 7 and later.
From the Brushes Palette in Photoshop, click the small arrow in the upper right corner of the palette, and choose load brushes. The brushes will be added to the current brushes.
Layer Styles
Place the *.asl files into:
Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop X\Presets\Styles where X is the version number for your version of Photoshop.

Shapes
Place the *.csh files into:
Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop X\Presets\Custom Shapes where X is the version number for your version of Photoshop.
To load a file, go to the Styles palette, then click the small arrow in the top right corner and choose one of the layer style collections from the menu.

Patterns
Place the *.pat files into:
Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop X\Presets\Patterns where X is the version number for your version of Photoshop.
To load a pattern set, go to the Patterns palette (in the fill tool, Pattern overlay style, etc.), then click the small arrow in the top right corner and choose one of the pattern collections from the menu, or choose "Load Patterns" if the set is not listed in the menu. You can also load patterns via the Preset Manager in Photoshop 6 and up.

Place the *.grd files into:
Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop X\Presets\Gradients where X is the version number for your version of Photoshop.
To load a file, go to the Gradients palette, then click the small arrow in the top right corner and choose one of the gradient sets collections from the menu.

Color Swatches
Place the *.aco files into:
Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop X\Presets\Color Swatches where X is the version number for your version of Photoshop.
To load a file, go to the Swatches palette, then click the small arrow in the top right corner and choose one of the swatch collections from the menu.

Actions
Place the *.atn files into:
Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop X\Presets\Photoshop Actions where X is the version number for your version of Photoshop.
To load an action set, go to the Actions palette, then click the small arrow in the top right corner and navigate to the location where you saved the action. Select the file you'd like to load and it will be added to the actions palette. Learn more about creating and using actions from my links to Photoshop Action Tips.

Zip Files
Most of the free Photoshop content on this site is distributed as Zip files to reduce download time. Before the files can be used, they must first be extracted. Zip file extraction is built into the operating system in Macintosh OS X and Windows XP. Consult your computer help if you're not sure how to extract zip files. For earlier operating system versions, you will need an unzipping tool such as Winzip (Win), Stuffit Expander (Mac), or ZipGenius (Win) to extract the files. After extracting the files, place them in the appropriate folder as indicated above.
Note: Most of these files can actually be saved anywhere on your computer, but to make them available from each tool's menu, they should be located in the appropriate folder under Presets. If you keep the files in another location, you will need to navigate to that location each time you want to use them."

By Sue Chastain
Link to Guide
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—MISCELLANEOUS—



Reader notes
These notes and comments were taken from readers of this guide.

"Paint.NET is nice, I just used it to crop and resize and image. I've been told it's great with all the plug-ins but unplugged it's not that powerful. People like it because the interface is the most intuitive one you could imagine.
The only selection tools are the magic wand and a basic lasso tool. No polygonal selections. And you cannot do alpha to selection/load selection. Not shrink or grow a selection, nor feather a selection.

Where gimp has an unfair reputation for being bad, paint.net has an unfair reputation for being great.

A low cost alternative is Paint Shop Pro (which is close to GIMP and photoshop) and a better free one is Artweaver. "

Jolie, "Gimptalk.com"
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.:LINKS:.

FORUMS:
GimpTalk.com
Gimper.net
MeetTheGimp.org
FringeFX.net

RESOURCES/TUTORIALS:
gimp-tutorials.com
gimp-tutorials.net
free-brushes.com/gimp
brusheezy.com
registry.gimp.org

DOWNLOADS:
gimp.org
adobe.com

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.:CONTACT:.


Feel free to shoot me a PM at GimpTalk, Gimper, MTG, or FFX! My username is Cyrilshark at all of those forums.

AIM: Cyrilshark
MSN: Cyrilshark
EMAIL: Cyrilshark@gmail.com

—————»|«—————
Version releases
Last update: Tuesday, January 6, 2010

V1.0
Version 1.0 released.

V1.1
Added "Adding Resources (GIMP)"
Minor changes

V1.2
Added OT004, "Reader notes"
Changed intro section to all first person
Added (IB002) Installing resources (Photoshop)

V1.2.1
Changing font styles to a forum friendly format.

V1.3
M a s s i v e update. You're welcome.
—————»|«—————

I thank you for your patience and time, and I hope you learned something. I really want feedback, so if anythings missing you want to see just contact me and I will update it as soon as possible. If you want your own little section in the guide feel free to write it and send it to me, and you will receive full credit. This guide is not NEARLY complete yet and I hope to work on it often in the years to come, updating it regularly.

As a last note, feel free to leave feedback, comments etc, and they may be added in the next guide update!


Copyright © 2010 James Weil - Graphics Survival Guide - All Rights Reserved

Very professionally done. No doubt should go Official after a little more is added. Nice, Cyril. ;D
Thanks for the credit, though. (:

It was the copyright at the bottom, wasn't it. ;;) lol

Thanks a lot Pix, glad someone likes it.

And your welcomeee!

that took a lot of work to get all that organized, researched, and written...very nice job. Only part I found distracting was the intro...some of it is written in the 3rd person and some is written in the 1st person. I think it might be better if it was all written from the same perspective.

Ahh I see that now, thanks a lot ::)

Looks useful and well written, Cyril!
.
Griatch

Haven't read it all yet because I have not slept last night.

Just a few comments.

"Theres" is not a word. If my English grammar is correct it should say "there are"

Paint.NET is nice, I just used it to crop and resize and image. I've been told it's great with all the plug-ins but unplugged it's not that powerful. People like it because the interface is the most intuitive one you could imagine.
The only selection tools are the magic wand and a basic lasso tool. No polygonal selections. And you cannot do alpha to selection/load selection. Not shrink or grow a selection, nor feather a selection.

So for simply cutting out a person to place them in another image it doesn't even cut it. The only thing you can do is use the eraser tool for it.

If I want to stroke a gradient over text, I select the text with the magic wand. Stroke the gradient on a new layer and make the text layer invisible. This gets me bad/non antialised text.

Where gimp has an unfair reputation for being bad, paint.net has an unfair reputation for being great.

A low cost alternative is Paint Shop Pro (which is close to GIMP and photoshop) and a better free one is Artweaver.

If you save that selection as a path (I usually do alpha to selection), unselect, then path to selection you get smoother, antialiased text.

I haven't read all of your work, Cyrilshark, but it's a great idea.

Most people beginning with GIMP are at a loss about what to do the first time they open GIMP. They usually have something in mind about what they want to do but just starting out to do it is daunting. They usually end up frustrated and angry.

Your tutorial will be nice for beginners and experienced users both.

I was talking about the limitations of paint.net. That program doesn't have alpha to selection, or paths. I was pointing out that IMHO paint.ner isn't very powerful no matter how easy it is to use.


The best way to get a gradient overlay on text in GIMP is to simply lock the transparency of the text layer and then stroke your gradient. IMO of course.

I thoroughly agree. I didn't realize you were talking about paint.net.

Sometimes when I have a font that looks a bit rough and not antialiased well I will do alpha to selection, path to selection, selection to path and fill the selection on a different layer. That doesn't happen often but I have a favorite font that looks a bit jaggy just typed out of the font box and cleans up nicely that way.

Thanks for the replies everyone.

Jolie, thanks I'll add your comments as soon as possible.

Very nice and informative Cyrilshark.

Geez, I haven't read the whole thing but I looks very well done and professional.

I feel small . I'm kidding you .


I saw lots of links in there I'll be looking at those .


Thanks,



Moko

Nice, this will be good for beginners.

There's is a word with an apostrophe.

2-ton, just I go with first or tihrd person?

Thanks for the comments all.

Do whatever you are most comfortable with...I don't think it matters as long as you are consistant throughout.

Alright, I'm working on the next version... I changed it all to first erson.

v1.2 up

Download file updated.

EDIT: Put official. YAY FIRST OFFICIAL GUIDe!

Congratulations On The Official Status Cryil :

I'll have to trust to the other posters regarding the accuracy of your technical statements, but there are quite a few grammatical errors you might want to change, if you haven't already done so.

The best of luck. As a non-computational rookie, I truly appreciate any help you big brothers want to send our way.

Hi, its really nice and wonderful write,,,,

Thanks guys, glad to help.

Finally got around to adding to this. The latest update is just making all the bolds, underlines, sizes, etc. forum friendly. I realize I did a crappy job, so I'm updating it now, adding more content, etc..

Phew. Major update. Rewrote the whole thing, basically.