Utterly lost

I am new to the Guild and especially new to GIMP.

I downloaded it yesterday and am lost. I've been drawing and painting by hand for 30 years.

What is the best tutorial for someone who is so new they make a beginner look knowledgeable?

Be welcome. We have a tutorial sub forum that will help you for sure. take a look on it.

Here's a good one to get started that should also run down a lot of the basic interface elements: http://www.cartographersguild.com/sh...gional-RPG-Map

I also did a series that was intended for absolute beginners to Gimp here: http://newbiedm.com/2009/11/09/newbi...athan-roberts/

Welcome to the guild!

Thanks guys. I wasn't just lost because I am a n00b. There were so many tutorials about aspects of programs that I realized I didn't have a clue that I didn't have a clue (category 3 cluelessness).

Well Torstan pointed to two really good ones to get you going. Remember that this path is one that could easily lead you all over the place, so once you have worked your way through those, dive into another and have fun

Cat 3 cluelessness can be a good place to be, so long as you don't exhibit cat3 despair about it. You see, "it isn't so much the things we don't know, as it is the the things we know that ain't so". With that certain blankness of mind comes a host of possibilities. Kind of like one valiant dwarf surrounded by 200 orcs might happily consider it a target-rich environment. Pick a direction you think you like, and tutorial your way to some smidgen of knowledge. Then if you find that wasn't the way you really want to develop, then meh - you still learned something!

Pushing your way through *any* of the tutorials (that don't have the word "advanced" in the title) will start to teach you that program's terminology, and what it *means* by those terms. The delightful thing about all the tutorials is the electrons are practically free, and you really won't make a mess by trying. Unlike a few times I recall with a Speedball pen and a bottle of Staedtler ink....

And welcome!

I can relate to your position. I was a "manual mapper" for many many years before I discovered this site and all the wonderful resources here. I also use GIMP and can tell you that with a little patience and practice you can turn out some amazing work !! I look forward to seeing your results. :)

Just a quick warning that most of the tutorials here are for gimp 2.6 or earlier, so if you have downloaded the latest 2.8.x there will be some (significant in some cases) differences.

-Rob A>

there is a full channel of CC3 tutorials on youtube

Map Making Made Easy - YouTube

Thanks for all the tutorials