Forum: Author Hangout

I've been manipulating photos in GIMP for years. But for adding text to what I generate in GIMP, I move over to PaintNet. It is far easier to use than GIMP and less cluttered so you can see how things are turning-out while working. Unfortunately, PaintNet is Windows so for me it means switching applications and computers, but still, for adding text, I love it.
Jo-Anne Wiley

Why?

A major strength of GIMP is layers. The text is in its own layer(s) that can be created, sized, moved, changed, manipulated, etc. in concert with the image layers.

I'm a big fan of Gimp, but there is a learning curve to it, and it has some quirks. Text is one of the easier features. But for example, the hover text controls sometimes goes off screen. It's not always easy to select portions of the text. On my Mac, at least, the list of fonts is hundreds long and the mechanisms for reducing that to a manageable size are clunky.

I believe PaintNet supports layers, although I don't have enough experience with it to say whether I recommend it. I expect lots of apps offer similar features.

I love Gimp. I'm looking forward to Gimp 3. But from the sound of the original post, Gimp is more of a commitment than TheDarkKnight is looking for.

Since I've always created my own covers, I'm used to it. Yet having worked as an artist, and having used a variety of different products/apps over the years for business, I've always resorted to a bootlegged version of Photoshop, simply because I'm more familiar with it.

In that product, the best approach is to add the text and then capture as visual image, so it's loads faster and there's nothing to slow the processing down. Thus, what you see IS what you get, eliminating any potential processing issues with the text or the modified image.

I also tend to make several different versions of ALL my covers, depending on where I'm posting it to, as each posting site tends to have very different posting size restrictions. Yet I tend to be a bit obsessive/compulsive about such things, so having the various dimensions recorded make creating new versions of each much simpler (i.e. there's no reason to start from scratch).

I've also used Affinity Photo, yet it's often easier to use for certain things though not for others.

There's a free browser-based Photoshop clone called Photopea that I've been using successfully on my Chromebook for years. Well worth checking out.

I used Pixlr for most of the cover for my story "The Hookup." I think it came out quite nicely.