assistance, please!

[rivendellrose]

Alright, friends-list of mine, I need opinions.

I need some sort of image-editing software. I want something that's freely available (ie, will not cost me massive amounts of money or leave me feeling very guilty), that will allow me to resize, crop, and do editing to pictures at the very least and will preferably give me the option of doing some snazzier things (icon-making and eventually desktop/wallpaper creation are my main concerns), and is relatively user-friendly. I lost PhotoDraw and GIMP in the process of my reformat, and although I could get either one again (my dad has my copy of PhotoDraw, and I know GIMP is available online somewhere...), I'm debating whether either were really what I need.

PhotoDraw had a LOT of problems. I had a hard time figuring GIMP out (although at least this time I'd be able to have the help files). So are there better options I'm not aware of, or should I stick with one of these? And, if I should stick with them, does anyone know where the hell to find the GIMP?

Comments

[pandorasbox.livejournal.com]

I use easy crop from http://www.yellowmug.com/ I know you don't have a mac but I am sure you can find it for PC

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

Hmmm.... I'm hoping for something that'll allow more than just cropping. I've got a really strong desire to learn how to make nice desktops and icons and stuff. I'll take a look at that, though!

[gurny.livejournal.com]

The two downloads at the top of the following page will get you the GIMP and what it needs to run. I don't do a lot of photo manipulation so I don't know the full extent of what's available freely.

http://gimp-win.sourceforge.net/stable.html

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

Thanks! Hopefully with the Help files GIMP will be a bit more... user-friendly, than I found it last time. Or maybe there are user guides or something... I'll have to look into that.

[gurny.livejournal.com]

There are some basic tutorials here:

http://www.gimp.org/tutorials/

Hope that's helpful.

[ursula]

You could always download PaintShop for the free month.

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

Another good possibility, thanks! Of course, with those there's always the hazard of getting totally addicted to it... but it might be worth a shot, once I've got enough time that I can really devote to testing it.

[nicolemarieh.livejournal.com]

might depend on what op system youre running-xp sometimes doesnt let you do this- but for a lot of free trials if you just set the date on your computer back, you can keep using them ;)

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I'm running XP - I'll just have to tough it out, I guess. ;)

[bluerose16.livejournal.com]

I'd recommend Photoshop Elements in that:

1. It's cheaper than the full-blown photoshop

&

2. It lets you do pretty damn well WHATEVER you could want.

&

3. It's easy to operate, and if you still have trouble, there are ZILLIONS of online tutorials.

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

If I can't figure out the GIMP this time around, then, I'll probably look into that. I'd like to say I'm not looking for all the fancy bells and whistles, but I kind of am - I really want to teach myself to make pretty desktops and icons and stuff. I'm sick of looking at other people's and thinking "damn, I wish I could do that, but my programs suck."