GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program)

Gimp is an open-source image manipulation program what means it is absolutely free to use. Also, you will receive regular updates which add new features and fixes bugs including security issues. It has all the abilities that for example Adobe Photoshop and other commercial programs have. It can offer even more because it is easily extensible and flexible for every environment with lots of great community plugins and scripts.

The user interface of Gimp is not the most beautiful one but its function is very good. It has a lot of menus and submenus so for beginners it may be a little harder to achieve some more complex operations such as retouch of a face or double exposure. Also, compatibility with Adobe file formats exists but don't except that it works perfectly. Most of the time it works flawlessly if you are opening the document from older versions of Photoshop because newer version needs some updating and updates occur approximately every 2 months which is still faster than what Adobe is doing with their Photoshop.

On our side this program which works well, it is very stable, no crashes. I also use other programs that are not at the same price because yes it can't do everything and this is normal, I would even say that it is better that the program excels in what it can do than to be as versatile as possible, but I prefer to keep gimp for now because I got used to it very quickly and that is one of its best qualities. Which is very well documented, many tutorials. It is true that it requires a minimum of training, especially on the philosophy of layers, what is an alpha channel, a smart chisel, ...there also has the documentation on the publisher's site. This program is free.

The program is starting to get old, and we can see it. Just by starting it, it lags behind, but it could be worse. In terms of drawing tools, it is very minimalist to the point where buying a tablet that senses the difference in pressure applied on the screen is useless.

GIMP has been quite the program that I have used for the past 8 years. Before I dived into Photoshop (for school), I used GIMP for all of my art projects. Not only is it free, but it's an incredible learning tool for people that want to get into learning about digital art, design, and photo editing activities.

I wish the UI (User Interface) was a bit more cheerful, but the important content matter while using GIMP is the piece of work itself!