So lately people have been asking me how to do things in GIMP. And hey there's a SAI thread, so why not a gimp one?

You can download GIMP for free here: http://www.gimp.org/

So lets start out with how to save your picture without having to take a screenshot or anything like that. You'll want to choose "Export" from the File tab in the top left corner.



Then make sure the file type is .png, unless you want a different file type. png is the most used, but psd can be used in SAI.



How to select everything in a layer:

Okay so this one is the one many people have been asking about. Choose Layer > Transparency > Alpha to selection. Make sure the layer you want is selected.



So in this picture you can see that I've selected the whole lineart layer. This way I can easily color in with a different color if I want to instead of redrawing the lines (bleh who'd want to do that?) When you're done and want to get rid of it:



This goes back to selecting the whole image.


And lastly, how to use smooth stroke. Smooth stroke is super helpful for trackpad/mouse users, and even if you use a tablet a low setting of it would be great for steadying your hand. The smooth stroke option is under every tool after the gradient tool. You can adjust how smooth the lines are by moving the blue bars up and down.

Here are scribbles on different smooth stroke settings:



I usually prefer using settings around a third to a half of the bar for lineart.

Okay that's it! Feel free to contribute your own tutorials or ask questions!

this is great

i may have too many fonts installed
it wont even startup
e: nvm it finally worked
cant wait

Wow, I don't understand most of the stuff you posted lol. But I use gimp and it's great for me.

Kattiej a dit :

Wow, I don't understand most of the stuff you posted lol. But I use gimp and it's great for me.

What don't you not have understanding about?

Satash a dit :

What don't you not have understanding about?

alpha and the pic after alpha
Don't know what they do

if you want to change the color of the lines
you can use it

Susanlwu a dit :

if you want to change the color of the lines
you can use it

Use alpha or use the select all tool?
Or both?

Alpha is transparency. Not sure what you two are talking about anymore.

Satash a dit :

Alpha is transparency. Not sure what you two are talking about anymore.

I'm not sure either.
So if Alpha is transparency what is the select all tool for

Kattiej a dit :

I'm not sure either.
So if Alpha is transparency what is the select all tool for

If you ever want to continue drawing. That selects everything in the whole drawing so you can continue.
Because when you're making it transparent, you have to select the places where you want it to be transparent. If you don't well, everything will be transparent. That's not really good.

Gonna head out, see ye kids.

actually no? thanks for helping, satash, but the part you said about the transparency thing isn't right, I'm pretty sure of that. Alpha to slection makes it so you select everything you've already colored on a specific layer. Like if you drew a star and nothing else on one of the layers, using alpha to selection would select only that star. But then you use select all when you want to draw somewhere besides on the star. I was using the lineart as an example but I guess you didnt get it??

Sourisplum a dit :

actually no? thanks for helping, satash, but the part you said about the transparency thing isn't right, I'm pretty sure of that. Alpha to slection makes it so you select everything you've already colored on a specific layer. Like if you drew a star and nothing else on one of the layers, using alpha to selection would select only that star. But then you use select all when you want to draw somewhere besides on the star. I was using the lineart as an example but I guess you didnt get it??

Ah. I used Gimp a couple of times and Alpha seemed to be transparency. Sorry.

Sourisplum a dit :

actually no? thanks for helping, satash, but the part you said about the transparency thing isn't right, I'm pretty sure of that. Alpha to slection makes it so you select everything you've already colored on a specific layer. Like if you drew a star and nothing else on one of the layers, using alpha to selection would select only that star. But then you use select all when you want to draw somewhere besides on the star. I was using the lineart as an example but I guess you didnt get it??

wait so it's like opacity lock on sai?

Bumps because this is a very helpful thread.

I have a question, er how does the dodge mode work?

Beautyiscool a dit :

Bumps because this is a very helpful thread.

I have a question, er how does the dodge mode work?

i dont use gimps, but i think dodge is increasing of contrast and saturation

Fierying a dit :

i dont use gimps, but i think dodge is increasing of contrast and saturation

^this pretty much. I've only used dodge a few times but it makes the colors darker and stuff.

Okey if anyone doesn't mind caan you explain the different modes, there seems to be no difference to me

Helped me to find stuff from russian version, thanks!

guys I am brilliant!

actually no I'm not

but you can lock layers by clicking the little grey and dark grey box, when you have a layer selected at the top of the layers dialog ( the box with all your layers) if you select that it locks the layer. it's easier than alpha to selection but only works on that one layer

edit: also kat just play around with them or look it up on the gimp website, I've tried playing with them before but idk