Re: [Gimp-gui] Work in progress on an new/updated brush set

[Americo Gobbo <jag rabisco gmail com>]

Hi all,

On 16-05-2017 11:24, Jehan wrote:
> Hello everyone!
>
> Many of our resources are old, and not really up-to-date with current 
> needs in an image editor.
> Amongst such resources, brushes may not feel really adequate at times. 
> Americo Gobbo, a painter, member of the GIMP team, is currently 
> working on this topic on which he has thought about for years.
>
> Here are 3 blog posts. Even though the dates show 2013, he said he 
> updated some parts of it:
>
> 19:35 < Americo> 
> https://medium.com/graphic-arts-free-software/official-gimp-brushes-redesign-f723f2f44945
> 19:35 < Americo> 
> https://medium.com/graphic-arts-free-software/gimp-2-9-set-brushes-810baff9431b
> 19:35 < Americo> 
> https://medium.com/graphic-arts-free-software/parametric-versus-raster-brushes-e77d36ce480c
>
> Also:
> 20:25 < Americo> in general, some of my ideas, 3~4 years ago are yet 
> good... others are a bit questionable, for instance
>
> Note well that the goal is not to make brushes for specific art 
> styles, but the default brush set.
> This is a heads up if anyone wants to give inputs on some brushes and 
> on what you think the default set should or should not have.
>
> Jehan
>
> P.S.: if you liked current brushes, do not worry. We will probably 
> keep them as a "legacy" set in 2.10. And even if we were to remove 
> them some day from official GIMP, we would make some archive available 
> for anyone to get them back.

In these blog posts ideas and concepts, written in 2013 mainly and 
revised recently, it was fruit, also, of many contributions with others 
painters, as Mozart Couto, L'ubomir Zabadal and Gustavo Deveze.
So many of these concepts are perfect to build brushes and a day, 
perhaps, will be possible to write something around a Basic Brush 
Design. This stuff is interesting to many artists, mainly those 
preoccupied to have good ways and methods to respect their personal style.

Some concepts, as use the parametric brushes to classic shapes is very 
important... mainly because this kind brush is more agile and have 
excellent results to emulate adequately many dry medias, for instance. I 
am not a digital photographer, but I think that many of retouching tasks 
are made mainly with traditional parametric brushes.

The raster brushes are a kind very important to many techniques and 
tasks in different graphic arts and fine arts branches.
I am accustomed to see that many artists are preoccupied with set 
brushes, but not as 'magic stick' to resolve anything, but a personal 
way to resolve the own tasks and effects following/obeying the personal 
taste and artistic culture. I think that is not possible to have a 
consensus about brushes and techniques, another way to say... this brush 
is specific to wet or to emulate pencil, for instance. Many of these 
concepts or ideas is in relation how each artist do or use the own 
brushes or made by others, and the last case is the more common.

In GIMP is important say that the paint dynamics, more effectively, are 
responsible to emulate techniques more than the brush. The brush is a 
part of process and interaction with the technique simulacrum, in 
general in digital but also in the real world, certain tools have 
different behaviors, for instance, a pencil is a media tool that needs 
only a abrasive surface to print, the watercolor, acrylics, oil 
techniques are related with brushes and other tools to apply the media 
on the canvas or other surface... so in digital world is more less the 
same thing... to simulate/emulate techniques, we need know well the 
process, to interpret it adequately on digital world (stack layers, 
blend mode, etc).

I am more preoccupied to revise the paint dynamics than the brush set... 
because a good paint dynamics does miracles with a simple round brush... 
instead the inverse is not always true... but helps. So, is important 
that is possible to resolve classical issues in simple way, 
essentially... for GIMP, I prefer adopt the simplicity and the basic 
design to add/revise the assets.

Is important, to propose/revise the assets set where the performance is 
an important key/factor of the choices... so, revise to improve the 
performance of the asset on GIMP, is sine quanon to help the artists 
improving their process and flows.
ciao
americo