Trouble with this one of the tutorials

[CarthageCartographer]

I have been following one of the GIMP tutorial's created by Gidde and I have run into a bit of trouble with drawing the mountains. The tutorial apparently runs on an older version because the instructions mention using the "fuzzy circle 19 brush". I couldn't figure out what that was so I tried to guess. This is the first map that I have ever worked on so I'm not sure if I did this right but it looks "off" to me. Can someone take a look at this and let me know if I used the right brush or what I should be using?

[Abu Lafia]

Hey CarthageCartographer, can you post a link to Gidde's tutorial? Otherwise it's going to be hard to decide whether it looks "off", or what could be done better.

[jfrazierjr]

In 2.8 the gimp team removed a bunch of brushes...you need to find and install some...plenty around the net. Also, a graphics tablet will work 5 times better than a mouse

[Freodin]

The current 2.8 version of GIMP uses a slightly different variant of brushes.
Here, you should use one of the standard round brushes. There are four basic versions, called "2. Hardness XXX" where "XXX" is either 025, 050, 075 or 100. This indicates a softer edge and should be what was referred to as "fuzzy". You can set the size directly and do not have to rely on pre-fab brush size.

So in this case, I would say, use the 2. Hardness 050 or 075 round brush and set the size to 19.

[Freodin]

In 2.8 the gimp team removed a bunch of brushes...you need to find and install some...plenty around the net. Also, a graphics tablet will work 5 times better than a mouse

Sorry to contradict you: you can use a simple setting in GIMP 2.8 to get about the same brush as in GIMP 2.6... you just have to know how to do it. No need to search the net for something that is just an outdated variant.

And, yes, a tablet is better for manually painting... if you buy one and use it long enough to get the expertise. To promote "use a tablet" for something looking for a different brush setting... is a little overkill, wouldn't you say?

[johnvanvliet]

gimp moved to using gegl for the brushes , so they are different
you now have a slider for setting the size

instead of the old brush creation dialog ( buried two deep in the drop down menus )

in the development version you can also use "libmypaint" brushes
https://github.com/mypaint

[jfrazierjr]

Sorry to contradict you: you can use a simple setting in GIMP 2.8 to get about the same brush as in GIMP 2.6... you just have to know how to do it. No need to search the net for something that is just an outdated variant.

True, but from what I recall, there are some brushes which came in 2.6 but not in 2.8 and there was no direct equivilent... but I don't have GIMP installed on this machine(nor the tablet I responded from). I also haven not opened GIMP in a few years, but from what I recall, there was no hard brush, only a REALLY large and really fuzzy brush included in the stock set. Of course.. my memory could be wrong on this as I last installed GIMP around the time 2.8 came out.

Or.. perhaps having been used to different sized brushes, my innate old fogey came out and just does not like the change.

And, yes, a tablet is better for manually painting... if you buy one and use it long enough to get the expertise. To promote "use a tablet" for something looking for a different brush setting... is a little overkill, wouldn't you say?

True, but I was on a tablet and could not expound. Not everyone can afford a tablet. But for those who can and really want to make the most of their experience, it's like night and day. Simple example.... my handwriting is quite bad at the best of times. Trying to write using a mouse makes me look like a 4 year old with bad hand writting while using a pen/tablet can at least make it look like an adult with poor handwriting.

[Freodin]

True, but from what I recall, there are some brushes which came in 2.6 but not in 2.8 and there was no direct equivilent... but I don't have GIMP installed on this machine(nor the tablet I responded from). I also haven not opened GIMP in a few years, but from what I recall, there was no hard brush, only a REALLY large and really fuzzy brush included in the stock set. Of course.. my memory could be wrong on this as I last installed GIMP around the time 2.8 came out.

Or.. perhaps having been used to different sized brushes, my innate old fogey came out and just does not like the change.

I still work with GIMP, so I have a similar problem: I haven't used GIMP 2.6 for years. I had to check the web how the old brushes looked.
It's all a question of practice. Over time, you just get to know what is which and which looks like what.

True, but I was on a tablet and could not expound. Not everyone can afford a tablet. But for those who can and really want to make the most of their experience, it's like night and day. Simple example.... my handwriting is quite bad at the best of times. Trying to write using a mouse makes me look like a 4 year old with bad hand writting while using a pen/tablet can at least make it look like an adult with poor handwriting.

I wish I had the strength of will to do that. As above said: all a matter of practice.
Having spend years using a mouse, I am quite good at coordinating the movement of the mouse on the pad and the position of the cursor. With my tablet (yes, I own one ) it is all over the place. I freaking KNOW that if I'd only spend some (a lot of) time using that darned thing, I would manage to do just as well.
But right at that moment, I just need to draw... and why practice for months something I can do just as well with what I already have?

[jfrazierjr]

I still work with GIMP, so I have a similar problem: I haven't used GIMP 2.6 for years. I had to check the web how the old brushes looked.
It's all a question of practice. Over time, you just get to know what is which and which looks like what.

Well.. to be honest...I have not used GIMP at all in 3 years or so... and had used 2.6 for a long time AND got my tablet around the time that 2.8 was being finalized(on linux, so I built it myself before GA) and I rememeber having a hell of a time with the missing icons and even worse, the entire brush filter feature. I spent several hours going back and forth with some of the developers(and this was before 2.8 was available to the public) on IRC until finally someone said something that clicked and I realized just how useful(more useful than what I was naively proposing!) the current "tag/filter" feature is. So the transition was fairly sharp in terms of brain re-alignment between the two versions while also trying to get used to a tablet(not to mention figuring out how to build GIMP itself!). I am sure much of that filtered into my confusion about the brushes... after downloading again last night(too lazy to pull out my older laptop) I see what you are talking about and it would be simple to update existing tutorials if the artists decided to do so.

I wish I had the strength of will to do that. As above said: all a matter of practice.
Having spend years using a mouse, I am quite good at coordinating the movement of the mouse on the pad and the position of the cursor. With my tablet (yes, I own one ) it is all over the place. I freaking KNOW that if I'd only spend some (a lot of) time using that darned thing, I would manage to do just as well.
But right at that moment, I just need to draw... and why practice for months something I can do just as well with what I already have?

To each their own... I just don't have the precision with a mouse(perhaps I just have poor mice..lol??) that I do with a tablet. I will admit that you have to train your brain, but from my experience and most others I know on here(I have not been on here regularly in 4-5 years) who have a tablet it only took 6-10 hours to get really comfortable. From what I have heard, it also depends upon the size... some people seem to get large tablets(thinking bigger is better) and a small tablet would work much better for them. I have a medium one and my wife has a small and honestly, the small one seems to work better in most situations for me. I tend to make short strokes instead of long sweeping ones and it's far easier on a small tablet than a large one. This is because I tend to rest my arm on the table and sweep with the wrist while with a larger table you have more instances where you have to pick your arm up and move the entire thing(which can reduce your precision.)

[johnvanvliet]

Use the darn SLIDER to change the brush size!!!!!!!!!
do you need a brush larger than 2000 px