Apart from the completely unfortunate name, the GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program) is a great little application. It’s generally accepted that it’s got the power of Photoshop, with the exception of a few features (probably more, but I’m not going to get into that right now). The obvious advantage of this all being the fact that it’s under a GPL licesense and completely free to do with as you wish; which many people have and created GIMPShop, which basically does a pretty good job of emulating Photoshop in many respects.

So why is it that I can’t bring myself to use the damn program?

I think it’s a mixture of things; maybe it’s the clunky pointer, maybe it’s the overall feel of the program that doesn’t have that polished Photoshop look. Maybe it’s the huge icons that distract you. Honestly it’s a combination of all of these things, plus it doesn’t feel like my black pencil. I’ll explain.

When I started drawing properly (as opposed to for fun and without purpose since I was like 5 years old) I bought a range of equipment. A ruler, some erasers, paper, ink, and a mechanical pencil. The last item is very important as I’ve kept that pencil since I was 13 years old. It used to have writing on the side of it, now it’s just a cheap and old black plastic mechanical pencil with a 0.5 nib. Honestly nothing to write home about, and yet without it I couldn’t draw anything. For me it’s got the perfect shape and weight that I can’t be creative without it anymore. A while back I went out and bought an exceptionally expensive Rotring alternative, only to use it once, realise that it just wasn’t even close and went back to my old and tested pencil.

I guess the point is that Photoshop to me is like my pencil, it’s got the right shape and weight and I understand it, I enjoy using it. The GIMP still needs some serious work to get to that level of usability for me, which is unfortunate as I’d like to use and support good Open Source projects, it’s the future.