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[nenjin]

I guess it depends on how complex of an image you're working on. I don't make a whole lot of fancy stuff so I tend not to work with a lot of layers. For simple image editing you don't need to fool with them. I guess it comes down to how you design too. Managing a dozen layers is "big picture" kind of stuff. Anchoring is like, get it done naow kind of stuff.

Although that's nice to know about .xcf, I'll start saving out important stuff in source. That's probably the nicest thing about GIMP once you get it. It works for simple stuff but it's extensible to way more finessed projects...where as PS isn't geared toward simple projects.

[Duke 2.0]

I actually tend to go layer-mad, with many layermodes, and only when I'm satisfied with the finished product do i make a merged COPY (in png, preferably, unless it's an anim), then i save the whole shebang as an XCF

Pretty much this~
Also, sometimes I feel like the only person in the world who actually likes GIMP's interface~

To be honestly fair, this is true for quite a few things.

The word Paint Program is a bit of an odd term. There are image editing programs, painting programs, specialized draftwork programs for technical stuff and various specialized tools for specific types of artwork. Here you mean an image editing program, which is probably the most technical and complex of all of them. Then you have painting programs like Corel and stuff, which specialize in actual painting with a tablet. A few programs out there exist for architectural work and animation design, and a ton of pixel art stuff is out there.

And remember that if you only need a few tools from a program like Gimp you could always do all the other work in a more manageable program and import it in for whatever tools you need.

[Hubris Incalculable]

Unless of course GIMP was your first ImageManip program, and you had a hard time adjusting to PS's interface

<----<< Yep. Me.

[nenjin]

Having used a lot of program suites in college, from InDesign to Apple Final Cut to Photoshop to Adobe Premiere and stuff I can't even remember....yeah. It's crazy how some of these programs mix, match and overlap. I've used professional photo editors that can't, for example, draw a simple black line to the image. Because it wasn't designed for it. GIMP may allow you to tweak levels in the image, but it doesn't have even half of the tools, effects, filters and stuff that PS or an actual photo editing program has. I remember firing up GIMP to do work in school one day, and my photo professor walked by and said "what the hell is that?" I told him what it was, showed him how I was manipulating color levels through GIMP the same as you do in PS...and he was like "Why are you using that instead of Photoshop on the macs?"

My answer was simple. "Because I don't need to fire up Photoshop on the schools' over taxed mac to do simple stuff, when I can fire up GIMP in flash on the PC and have it done in under 2 minutes."

I can't say I've used everything by far, but GIMP just seems to hit this sweet middle spot between photo editor, paint program and drafting. It probably falls short in each department because it's trying to do them all, but if you're good you can create stuff that easily could pass for having been done in PS.

And since we're on the subject, is there any plug-ins or downloads for paint and draw tool shapes for GIMP? When you're working on a really small piece of bit art, the default shapes for GIMPs tools are kind of annoying and there isn't a great variety. I can always work smaller, but it'd be nice to have a square instead of a circle sometimes.

[ein]

If you mean the brushes, that's pretty easy~
There are GIMP brush packs all over deviantart, and probably other sites, and you can make your own in any vector program pretty easily~
Just look up how to install and create gimp brushes~

[Itnetlolor]

What would be the best paint program/image editor to make decent pixel art in? Could use the skill for any future jobs and side-projects.

[ein]

Graphics Gale~
Max White recommended it a long time ago, and it's pretty nice~
Otherwise, Paint.net is pretty decent for pixel work~

[Yoink]

I downloaded GIMP the other day, it seems pretty nifty! Makes making confusing avatars all the more simple.

[Hubris Incalculable]

Yoink, you've inspired me to make an avatar in your style:



I don't intend to use it yet, though.

[ein]

Now I kinda want to do one~