If you haven’t already figured it out, I love Gimp! When I first found out about the application and downloaded it I kept thinking, “all this for free?” And when I say ALL THIS , I mean there’s a lot to this Open Source image editor. In fact the only thing I think Gimp lacks is decent documentation. Yes, you have the gimp manual available and the Gimp-Tutorial section on the site is pretty cool, but they leave you wanting something more. I guess video tutorials have spoiled me. I only really use manuals when…OK I can’t really think of a time when I purposefully use a manual anymore. Even though our educational system has crammed the “Read and Retain” method of learning down our throats, it’s just not natural. We need to see, hear and feel to learn. How does the saying go, “don’t tell me, show me” (or something like that).
That’s why I put together post like, Use YouTube To Learn Gimp and Don’t Use Gimp Without ‘em. I feel like these video deliver the message so much more clearly than you could ever get from reading dry boring manual copy. The next level in that progression of thought is to use professional training videos. Why not? You don’t have to sift through bad YouTube video searching for someone that speaks clearly. Doesn’t it drive you crazy when you find the video you need and when you go to play it there’s music blasting and you have to read subtitles that are flashing across the screen at a speed reader pace? Thank God for the Pause button.
Invest a little money in some training videos. I just got through watching one of the Learn Gimp Fast tutorial videos and I must say it looks like a pretty good tutorial series. There are over 30 videos in all and they touch on most of the main features and functions in the Gimp tool box. I would call this a good middle of the road tutorial set for $30. Some of the videos are very short and to the point but that could be a good thing depending on how you look at it. For the beginner, it gives you just enough to get your feet wet with the program so you can start to use it with some level of confidence. It also touches on more advanced features like Script Fu, which lets you automate curtain task within Gimp making your workflow a whole lot smoother. If you are a experienced designer like me who cut your teeth on Photoshop, some of the tutorials may be a bit redundant where as others can serve to help orient you to some of the subtle differences between Photoshop and Gimp. The instructor’s voice is not overly annoying and he sounds like he knows what he’s talking about.
Bottom line, if I had to rate this tutorial set with beginners in mind, I’d give it a 7 out of 10, which is not bad. I’d say at the vary least you should check out the free demo for yourself.
But no matter what you do take advantage of Gimp. It’s free!
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