From LibrePlanet

Contents 1 Basic Talk Details 2 Who says free software is only for code hackers? 2.1 Some Stuff mentioned during/after the talk 2.2 Talk Photos 2.3 About the Presenter

Basic Talk Details

Title	Digital Art Using Gimp & Inkscape
Presenter	Máirín Duffy
Location	Lecture Room D
Date & Time	Friday, 19 Mar 2009, 2:00-3:30 PM
Slides	OpenOffice.org Impress File 13 MB PDF File 23 MB
License	CC-BY-SA 3.0

Who says free software is only for code hackers?

Free software is not only for code hackers! Free software has lots to offer artists! Maybe you've heard of Inkscape or GIMP, maybe you know you can create cool graphics with them.... but you're not sure how!

In this 1.5 hour talk, Máirín Duffy will help demystify these free software creative applications and coach you on becoming a free software-toting artist! She'll cover:

• Gimp vs. Inkscape: Which one should I use for what types of things?
• Where to find openly-licensed source materials for your creations.
• Gimp Fundamentals:
  • Masks - extracting objects from photographs.
  • Layer-Blending Modes - quick, easy, impressive effects.
  • Using Masks + Layer-Blending Modes together - unbelievable effects, and easy photo corrections.
• Inkscape Fundamentals (projects tentative):
  • Shapes & Nodes - tweaking shapes using nodes to create a logomark.
  • Bitmap importing & the text tool - creating a slick-looking LOLCAT.
  • Blur & Path functions - bling-ifying a logo design.
• Where to learn more about these programs.

Bring your laptop along to this presentation with Gimp and Inkscape installed and ready-to-go!

• Get Inkscape!
• Get Gimp!

Some Stuff mentioned during/after the talk

• If you're after CMYK support, neither Inkscape or Gimp do this yet. What I do to get CMYK support for artwork I produce in Inkscape is import it into Scribus.
• CinePaint is another option for CMYK support, it's a Gimp fork that supports 16-bit graphics and CMYK.
• GNOME Color manager is a free software GUI that enables you to calibrate your monitor for proper color display
• If you'd like to create patterns for cross-stitch or knitting, Inkscape has a function that will generate a grid you can superimpose over artwork. It's available in Inkscape 0.47. In the Inkscape menus, go to Extensions > Render > Cartesian Grid.
• Juca showed us an interactive SVG+js game he used Inkscape and Javascript to build. SVG+js is a nice replacement for Flash.
• Juca also mentioned you can create you own font with Inkscape, he worked on a UI that is available in the Text > SVG Font Editor menu item. (It's still a little rough though, as he mentioned.)

Talk Photos

Thanks to Luis Villa for taking these photos! If anyone else took photos please post links here!

More images

About the Presenter

Máirín Duffy is the team lead of the Fedora design team, the community-based team that creates the artwork for Fedora as well as icon and UI designs. She is also a senior interaction designer with Red Hat and designs user experiences for free & open source software. As a design professional, she uses a 100% free software workflow in creating all of her work, including the usage of Fedora, Inkscape and GIMP (more on that workflow here.) You can see some of Máirín's designs using these free software tools along with discussions about designing with and for free & open source software at her blog.