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pralinkova-princezna — GIMP tutorial - as good as PS
Published: 2008-05-02 01:35:25 +0000 UTC; Views: 98271; Favourites: 1586; Downloads: 2960
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Description
My first proper tutorial!
I so enjoyed making it. 
There are not many GIMP tutorials here, definitely not as many as for Photoshop, and this program is still underrated. I want to advertise it as a tool equal to Photoshop.The tutorial covers these areas of digital drawing:
inking
colouring
shading (with the use of Levels)
text adjustmentsThe Cisqua and the Mudkip pic was specially designed for this tutorial.
XD See it finished here: [link] More tips:
As for smudging, people complained soft shades are harder than cel shading. Use various sizes of fuzzy brushes and mainly remember to lower the opacity of them, that gives you better control over them.
I strongly recommend viewing other tutorials on anything you need - inking, colouring... everybody has a little different approach (though the basic ideas are the same) but you could pick up some useful tips and tricks and learn by seeing the art itself.
If you make something with the use of this tutorial, post a link, I would love to see it!
NOTE: My GIMP is in Czech, so the translations may not be 100% correct, but I hope everything will be clear from the pictures. Anyway, in case of more troubles, feel free to ask!
NOTE 2: This is an old version of GIMP, so the new one has slightly different icons and more functions, but the tools remain.
Gimp can be downloaded here: [link] It is for free.
Thanks for comments+faves, I'm incredibly happy you find it useful!
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Comments: 589
*Stares at tutorial* o_O ILY. *Nods* I've made my own crappy style of coloring, but me thinks this is a good tutorial that I'll have to look through later when I go to color another sketch xD
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It is called the Ink tool.
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oh my goodness!! thank you soooo much for making this!!!!!! this helped me more than you will ever know, really thank you!! i had like nnoooo idea how to use gimp (like the whole layering thing...yeah didn't know what that was all about until i read this!!!!!!). very easy to follow and very thorough
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Aww, I am so happy! Glad to be of some help.
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Thank a lot for this very clear and funny tutorial !
It helped a lot. ^^
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wow, i never thought that you can do sooo much with that programm, ne! awesome tutorial! i already wanted to watch that yesterday, but lappy was in a bad mood and just didn't load it no matter how oft i tried...
and you did that sketch on the computer? that's awesome!
and i need now to go looking for my computer mouse because doing such stuff with a touchpad is a little too complicated ^^
and a little question at least: what exactly does that 'layers' mean, what do they do/what are they there for? i never worked with something like that before, so i'm a bit curious about it...
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I am glad you like it! I draw on a tablet, that is incomparable to the mouse.
Imagine layers like transparent foils laid on top of each other. On each layer you have got something else - one layer with outline, another with skin colour etc. When you change the layer, only that part of picture changes, so the work is really convenient. You can recolour, erase within it, delete it.. and the rest of the pic remains unaffected. There are some layers tutorials on dA. I think there are tutorials for everything here.
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thx for helping me again, ne! i don't have such a tablet, and yet the mouse is still better then the laptop touchpad. i just don't have the mouse normaly attached to lappy cause like that i have more free space on my desk... i guess i have to tidy up it first before starting... XD
but since i can also scan a handdrawn pic it's gonna work somehow i think, ne! i guess i'm gonna try it out with some pokemon drawing, that's for beginning easier then a human ^^
and thx for helping me sooo much again, ne! 
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No problem! Out of Pokemon I know only Pikachu and Mudkip (thanks to dA).
Btw, it is funny how you use the "ne" as a question tag, I know it is Japanese but it looks totally Czech. XD
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ehehe i'm kinda addicted to pokemon games since i was in elementary. i still love the games... uh, memories, new ones and old ones, the games are fun, but not junk! pokemon rocks!!!
oh, and 'ne'? 
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misha's 'su' and she often says Te hi hi, especially in the manga. even though i am a shia-fan i ended up saying the te hihi all the time too XD
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Maybe su is a short for desu, hmm?
hihi is nice.
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might be, i dunno, it's only in the anime, in the (at least in the german) manga she doesn't say it, only the 'te hihi' and yup, it's cute, te hihi, ne!
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why is gimp not in english? 0_0 it kinda lost me later on
still geat though
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It is in English, but also in many other languages, I have a Czech version.
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absolutely awesome i never seen a gimp tutorial thats so good this really helped since i don't have photoshop i have to fave this or the world might end!!
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Aw,t hanks, I am glad it is helpful!
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Amazing.
I wasnt know Gimp can doing things like this
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Then my tutorial fulfilled its purpose.
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I like this tutorial a lot. It's fairly easy to understand, and you apply a few things to your work that I haven't tried or even seen elsewhere until now. The end result looks great, too. I'm looking forward to using this. Thanks.
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Thanks a lot! I am glad it is helpful.
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First of all, I've never seen the levels setting used for enhancing the colors of a drawing before. I suppose I never put that much thought into it, but it caught me by surprise when I saw it. To be honest, I'm still finding it a little hard to believe that you pull this all of in GIMP. It really is an amazing example that with an understanding of what to do, you can manage to do exceptional work with the software and not need anything else. That was probably the best tip of all, if you want to call it one.
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Levels are maybe not as common as curves, but they give better results.
Cool, so I chose a good title!
I admit Photoshop is still better because it has wider options, but for what GIMP can do, and that it is for free, it is a better choice for me. GIMP's functions are sufficient for my work.
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ZOMG CISQUA FROM ELEMENTAL GELADE
GREAT TUTORIAL
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Oh yeah
Thank you!
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WILL DO
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THe GIMP is awesome. Thanks for helping a beginner user figure out how to color. 
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Thanks much! I am glad it helped you.
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good tut. Very nice. Much letters - that's great
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Hehe, thank you!
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I find GIMP is much more "user friendly" than the Infamous Adobe Photoshop. I tried using adobe photoshop but I don't know where to start XD
Anyways, nice tutorial Pralinkova
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Infamous Photoshop? Usually people praise it only... it is a matter of habit, I had a hard time getting used to GIMP interface. Both programs have some good features the other one doesn't have; PS is probably a bit better, but GIMP is for free.
Thank you!
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wow GIMP works as good as PS! thanks, i have GIMP, and i needed to know this stuff!!
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That's cool to hear!
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Thanks for this! I've been using GIMP for ages, but I still get lost when it comes to all these neat little tricks you learn over time. It's a real big help.
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I'm so happy to hear that! 
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I just have a question about Gimp... If you save you pic and then exit, is it possible to keep the layers because if it is PLEASE tell because i have tried to make like 8 Gimp pics but when i save all the layers get deleted and merged together!!! PLZ HELP ME!!!!
Great tutorial by the way
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You probably save in other format than .xcf (native format to GIMP). You cannot use .bmp, .gif or .jpg sooner than right before the final saving of the finished product.
And thanks! ^^
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Wait... i SHOULD save it in a .xcf file???
P.S.: Thats was fast...
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Of course. (It is in the tutorial too, at the bottom.) Try it out.
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