Freehand Drawing (intro)
Welcome Back -- it's been a long time since GiMP University had a decent update, but truth be told we keep getting visitors, so I feel compelled to come back and add stuff for you in order to keep you interested.
My friend Aaron asked me about freehand drawing in GiMP today, and it's a good question. For example, if you want to make something for a project where you can't find sufficient clip art, whaddaya do?
Well, my first reaction (and it's blasphemous, I know, so try to stick with me) is that if you can't find the component image you're looking for on the web, you're probably not looking very hard. Yes, yes: I know the purists reading this are about to launch into an jeremiad on copyright and fair use, and artists gotta eat too, blah blah blah. In theory, I agree with you: it's completely immoral to steal someone else's artwork and use it without permission to make t-shirts, or mugs, or someone's album cover, or whatever. No question.
But most of you who are GiMP n00bs (that is, the actual readers of this blog) are not making art to sell, or art to sell someone else's stuff. You have a blog, is has a handful of readers, and you like to spice it up a little, and you sell no products. You're not putting anyone out in the street by your use of their image which can be found via a Google search, and you're not putting that image someplace it wasn't before you laid your grubby GiMP on it.
But that said -- and with due respect to those who toil away at this stuff for a living -- sometimes what you can find with a Google search is simply not what you need. How do you make effective free hand drawings with GiMP? Can you?
Well, yeah. Over the course of the couple week, I'm going to show you several ways to use GiMP to make free hand drawings -- from the simple to the fairly-involved.
In the meantime, think about this: if I had to draw the object I need for my project with traditional art tools, which tools would I use? The answer to that question helps us understand what GiMP has to offer to user for freehand illustration. You look at and look for the tools in the GiMP tool box which look like those traditional tools, and I'll be back later to walk you through some basic projects to give you a feel for this sort of thing.
My friend Aaron asked me about freehand drawing in GiMP today, and it's a good question. For example, if you want to make something for a project where you can't find sufficient clip art, whaddaya do?
Well, my first reaction (and it's blasphemous, I know, so try to stick with me) is that if you can't find the component image you're looking for on the web, you're probably not looking very hard. Yes, yes: I know the purists reading this are about to launch into an jeremiad on copyright and fair use, and artists gotta eat too, blah blah blah. In theory, I agree with you: it's completely immoral to steal someone else's artwork and use it without permission to make t-shirts, or mugs, or someone's album cover, or whatever. No question.
But most of you who are GiMP n00bs (that is, the actual readers of this blog) are not making art to sell, or art to sell someone else's stuff. You have a blog, is has a handful of readers, and you like to spice it up a little, and you sell no products. You're not putting anyone out in the street by your use of their image which can be found via a Google search, and you're not putting that image someplace it wasn't before you laid your grubby GiMP on it.
But that said -- and with due respect to those who toil away at this stuff for a living -- sometimes what you can find with a Google search is simply not what you need. How do you make effective free hand drawings with GiMP? Can you?
Well, yeah. Over the course of the couple week, I'm going to show you several ways to use GiMP to make free hand drawings -- from the simple to the fairly-involved.
In the meantime, think about this: if I had to draw the object I need for my project with traditional art tools, which tools would I use? The answer to that question helps us understand what GiMP has to offer to user for freehand illustration. You look at and look for the tools in the GiMP tool box which look like those traditional tools, and I'll be back later to walk you through some basic projects to give you a feel for this sort of thing.
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