LaShandar D. Cook ||||

GIMP vs Paint.NET

It’s been years since I was deep into web design–I’m talking about restless nights of compulsive obsessing…and I loved every minute of it. Then life caught up with me.

I did try a web design firm thing with a couple of friends, but that didn’t work out–meaning we didn’t make much money, despite our efforts, and it was just not the right time. I’ve missed it, and recently I’ve been working on some promotional work for my writing and that has lead me to working on a new web design, instead of relying on templates. Well, the other night I opened up Notepad and I had to sit there for a few minutes tinkering with stuff, and messing up a lot. Finally, I started googling and now it’s kinda coming back to me. Slowly but surely.

Another thing I’m severely lacking is graphic software. I used to have access to a full arsenal. Everything from Director to Flash to PhotoShop and Freehand.

I’m nearly 6 years out of school, so I don’t have free/cheap access to that anymore. And now my hardware isn’t the best so it can’t even handle everything. I’ve been into 3D art for around 2-3 years now, and I’ve become all too familiar with my limitations–waiting forever for stuff to load and render. I’ve been meaning to look into graphic software so I can do some collages (piecing together images instead of trying to create one big scene with everything in it).

Well, I downloaded GIMP, at least a year ago. I read all of these great reviews and comparisons to PS. Well, I’ve hardly opened it in all that time. Every time I even try I get discouraged. It may be my PC again, but I can’t hardly get the thing to do what I want. Firstly, I think I’ve maybe managed to remember how to get the “dialogs” open twice without first having to check a tutorial. Then I keep trying to make a background with the selection tool and use the paint bucket to color it, but that rarely works. It’s seriously hit or miss.

I’m not saying it’s unusable because it’s clearly a great tool. But for me, it’s too damn slow and unnecessary complicated. I figure if I click on something it should do what I want it to do.

Well, anyways, finally frustrated as hell and considering purchasing PhotoShop Elements, because no way am I spending the hundreds on PS, not until I’m making that times about a thousand with my writing, I googled again and came up with Paint.NET. Now, I’ve seen it mentioned previously, but it was usually dismissed as a beginner’s/amateur’s tool.

I decided to try it anyway and I’ve been pleasantly surprised. It is amazingly easy to use. I mean, you click and it does what you expect it to do. And while I’ve never been graphic intensive with my designs, since I’m primarily a coder, I think this is more than enough. It would be nice to have Flash or Director (if people even still use that), but I think I’ll search for an open source/free substitute for that, too.

I’m not going full force into web design, again–yet, but it’s definitely back on my list of things I obsess over.

I recommend Paint.NET for impatient, practical folks, like myself, but if you have a lot of time on your hands, and you focus a lot on details, GIMP is probably a better choice.

I’ll maybe post a sample image later, but I’m currently working on 2 WIPs; so it may be awhile.