User blog:Cultred/The Intro and The Guides

Introduction to myself (which should have been in the first post) and Two AWESOME guides about GIMP.

{{CultredBlog|The Intro and The Guides|Let's get started, shall we?

The Introduction

 * I am a teenager who follows the Halo series. I love video games, but I don't always have time to play them. Recently, I got selected to my town's all-star baseball team (I'm talking like two days ago), because my coach says I'm a great pitcher, above average fielder (with a quote "electric arm"), amazing athlete, and a great contact hitter. So this summer, I will be traveling to areas around the main city (Atlanta) and facing other all star teams from other towns. I live in the town of Kennesaw and I have one sibling.


 * My interests are in baseball (I follow the Atlanta Braves closely), Halo, Call of Duty, etc. While I hate going to it, I do good in school and get almost all A's. In August I will be going to Kennesaw Mountain High School for the Magnet Program (hard to explain, but it's hard to get into) and I will undoubtedly try out for their baseball team. Another interest of mine is computer graphics. I love using GIMP to make graphics like banners, affiliation buttons, etc. and would happily make one for anyone upon request (ask me in my talk page). I am thinking of beginning a fanon soon and/or join Necros, because I just love reading about how BEASTLY the Necros-era UNSC is (post-Vulcan).


 * Back when I was little and liked Pokemon, I had my own website. It used the host named Quotaless (which was the best host EVER). However, even after hours of work on it, no one really looked at it. I had like three visitors and they were all my friends, and even they stopped viewing it after a while. Then I lost my interest in Pokemon and ditched the site. I want to make another, but I need time - something I don't have. It would be more of a graphics website now, not Pokemon, so don't worry.


 * So that's pretty much me.

Thoughts of GIMP and the Guides

 * GIMP, which stands for GNU Image Manipulation Program, is an outstanding open-source image manipulation program, not much different than the famous but expensive Adobe Photoshop. GIMP is my preference for several reasons:
 * No cost - it's free
 * Can use Photoshop brushes and its own GIMP brushes
 * Tons of filters that Photoshop lacks
 * Open-source - you can edit its source or anything freely, and release your own versions of it


 * While Adobe Photoshop has way more brushes, GIMP has way more filters to enhance your image. And with GIMP, you can also download Photoshop brushes for use without a problem (that's what I usually do).

The Guides

 * #1 - How to make a banner -  The first guide teaches you how to make a breathtaking banner using GIMP. It only requires GIMP 2.6 or higher. It is an image-guide, so you have to click to view it: GIMP Banner Guide. Note: it refers to "banner" as signature, because way back when I made it, I was part of numerous forums that used that type of banner as a signature. Yeah, it's an old tutorial, but a VERY helpful one.


 * #2 - How to make "Web 2.0" text effects on GIMP -  This guide teaches you how to make a Web 2.0-style text using GIMP. For those who don't know what that is, it looks sort of like this. The tutorial, which was made just before making this blog post: GIMP Text Effects.


 * Please excuse all spelling/grammar errors in the guides.

Requests

 * To Tuckerscreator: I was unable to get your images into a banner today, and I apologize. I will try to make them by tomorrow.


 * Anyways, request any graphics on my Talk page. Make sure to tell me what type of images you want, what color background, what text, etc. and I will try my best on it. Note: The Halo: Reach font? The one that says "Halo" on the main cover? Yeah, I cannot find that anywhere. Someone may be kind enough to give me a link, but I doubt you'll find it - I searched Google for like an hour. So yeah, no requests with that font unless it just says plain "Halo".


 * Sincerely,
 * Cultred

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