doing digital stuff

Hey folks, this is back where we started when I first blogged. I displayed some art work and was curious about Linux. We took in the sights and sounds and explored some of the behind the scenes. So as we move on further into this adventure, I really hope you are still as curious as I am. One thing I have to hammer in is that there are NO Linux experts, just very knowledgeable nerdy types who need to be refreshed now and again. Linux is continuously evolving as well as the user base. I want to remind server people not to teach desktop people their skills as a prerequisite to learn Linux. It is ironic that system admins have to know so much, yet Linux will run for years without intervention, if nothing goes wrong. Desktop people don't have to know so much, just some basic concepts on top of pointing and clicking. And my constant reminder, Linux is Linux is Linux, holds true. While the various distributions or versions of Linux are not interchangeable in a compiled form, they share and use the same source code on a lower level. Sort of like cars, same format, different styles, etc, etc, etc. The whole point of Linux or any other operating system is the applications so that you can do digital stuff. YouTube had a tidal wave of vids showing off Linux with compositing effects, whirling cubes with active movies on it's sides, loud grinding music, wobbly windows and sigh........ means nothing if the word processor doesn't work and the CD player doesn't play. The applications are what allows you to do digital stuff. Linux gives you such liberty to do digital stuff with industry standard tools. The tools themselves are standard. They can be found in the marketed namebranded applications on other operating systems as well, but usually Linux packages them and includes them when you install Linux, for free. Then you've got to work on your concept of what free is. It is not like the early days. The software developers are in the market for high paying jobs, why should they put out shoddy software with their own reps at stake. Free and open source software is like a resume, a sample of their fine work and dilligent effort. These folk are not all working for nothing. The focus is to produce computer tools that allow you the user to have a freedom of movement, a freedom of access, a freedom of computer platform and freedom from vendor lock. Case in point, the American car industry under the oil threat and small foriegn car competition has finally found it worth their while to redesign their product offerings. You as a computer user can now ignore both Mr. Gates and Mr. Jobs if you choose to do so. Well, my soapbox is transforming into a stage, so let's move on........
Doing digital stuff is what it is all about. The obvious thing is that computers allow you to view the work of others and then also do work your self. Be it a doc or an email or a photo or a drawing or music or video or, or, or, whatever......... Linux or in my case, Ubuntu Linux can do it all, no sweat. These days I am focused on art work. I was looking for a way to put my sketchbook on the computer and see what the drawing tools provided by Ubuntu Linux can do for me. I don't know who has progressed more, Linux or myself. The tools have improved and I have learned a thing about using them. In my digital artbox there is an application called Xsane which runs my scanner. It is a standalone program but I can work it from inside GIMP. This allows me to use GIMP tools along with scanning. Then I user another program I've mentioned before called Inkscape. Inkscape is a vector drawing app. We've already explained bit-mapped and vector graphics. I use Inkscape to convert bit-mapped to vector. I don't know how well it works on photos or sketchy sketches or color washed drawings but outlined art processes very well. It has been suggested that OpenOffice.org Draw, which also uses vector graphics might be useful. Draw is useful but limited. Draw is more suited for desktop publishing than for fine art. Inkscape has more tools and finer control over the drawing. There are also file formats differences.
I'm am designing a nameplate for promoting my artwork using Inkscape. Here is a sample of that work in progress...........
Well, needs work, but as you can see lineart works really well. Humm, maybe some color.....
Trying to do many scenerios on paper is time consuming and exhausting, but on the computer!!!!