Hello and welcome to yet another video by Davies Media Design my name is
Michael Davies and in this video I'll be providing a direct comparison between
GIMP and Inkscape. Before I get into that don't forget to
check out my website at daviesmediadesign.com. As always I have
tons of Inkscape and GIMP tutorials on here,
my GIMP Book of Layers, and free software help articles so definitely check that
out. You can enroll in my GIMP 2.10
Masterclass: From Beginner to Pro Photo Editing on Udemy. You can enroll in any
of my Skillshare classes by visiting GIMPschool.com
and you can get more with a Premium Membership to Davies Media Design.
GIMP vs Inkscape: which one should you use? Well both are going to be great free
and open source software options that can replace expensive premium or
subscription programs. However, there appears to be a decent
amount of confusion as to which program you should use
based on what you need out of a program. As a result I have decided to put
together this video to help shed some light on which program will work best
for you based on the kind of work or professional projects you're doing. So
let's dive in starting with Inkscape. The Inkscape program by definition is an
open source drawing tool for creating and editing SVG graphics. In layman's
terms, Inkscape is a program used for drawing scalable vector graphics.
This means that graphics drawn within Inkscape are formula or
code based, and thus can be infinitely scaled up or down without any loss of
quality. It should be mentioned that although Inkscape uses SVG
graphics, it can also import raster or bitmap graphics for use within vector
designs. In other words you can bring photos into
your Inkscape design projects, though the photos are typically already
edited in another program such as GIMP prior to being brought in. Inkscape
typically saves to vector-based file types including .SVG
and .EPS, though it can also export to common file types such as .PNG
and .PDF. It does not export to .JPEG which is kind of a big drawback, at
least in my opinion. Plus Inkscape can be exported to code
documents such as .HTML as well as to animation files such
as .SIF. So all that being said, when should
Inkscape be used? Vector graphics, or also known as SVG
graphics, are best used when drawing shapes, curves, and text as they produce
clean lines and can be resized or manipulated
at any time without quality loss. Plus the color of these objects can be
changed much more easily - usually with one or two clicks - which
makes it more efficient for creating multiple color versions of a design
or for going back and changing a design's color at a later date.
This is why designing a logo is typically best left to an SVG graphics
program like Inkscape. Additionally, any shape or
text-based artwork should be done in Inkscape, especially
when that artwork is going to be printed or will need to be made available in a
variety of sizes. Inkscape is most similar to Adobe
Illustrator which also uses scalable vector graphics.
Who should use Inkscape? Well graphic designers, marketers,
business professionals, and vector artists should all use Inkscape.
Also, anyone who needs to print digital designs or send designs to a printer
will prefer Inkscape over GIMP, unless you're printing photos.
Finally, web designers or web user interface designers who prefer to
directly code their designs into their websites will find Inkscape useful.
So what about GIMP? GIMP by definition, which stands for the GNU Image
Manipulation Program, is a multi-platform photo manipulation
tool. It is used primarily for photo editing and photo manipulation,
though it can sometimes be used for graphic design as well, as I've shown in
many of my tutorials. It uses raster graphics or
a bitmap for display and editing purposes,
meaning everything is displayed as pixels in a rectangular pixel grid.
When you zoom in on a design or photo within GIMP, you'll notice that every
color in the image corresponds to a pixel.
The number of pixels in a composition will depend on the overall resolution of
the composition, or simply the dimensions of the image.
GIMP can open up and export to a variety of file types, but
the most common file types used in GIMP include .XCF, gimp's native
file format, which allows you to save and reopen works that contain layers, .JPEG,
of course, which is probably the most common file type,
.PNG, .GIF, and even yes .PSD files, which stands for Photoshop Document.
Alright, so when should GIMP be used? Raster graphics are best used when
editing or manipulating photos as well as for digital painting.
This is because each individual pixel can be manipulated or drawn,
giving you much more flexibility and control. You can perform tasks
such as adjusting image colors, adding brightness or contrast,
sharpening, adjusting color temperature, increasing or decreasing color
saturation, or adding a variety of effects that
manipulate the image pixels in some form or another.
As a result, GIMP is best used as, and most famous for being, a photo editor.
GIMP can also be used for digital painting and pixel art.
It produces better freehand strokes than Inkscape, which needs to convert lines to
vector shapes, and thus when combined with a drawing
tablet feels more like natural painting or drawing. You can also
use artistic brush heads to emulate textures or various paint
brushes or pens. The built-in paint tools and brush
heads as well as some third-party plug-ins such as GIMPainter or
G'MIC really make painting in GIMP super easy and awesome, although a lot of
people prefer other programs such as Krita for their
digital painting. But when using something like the pencil tool within
GIMP combined with a pixel grid, you can draw
individual pixels with extreme accuracy - hence why it is recommended for pixel
art, which is used in things like game design
and other applications. However, the part that gets confusing for
some people is that GIMP is also capable of performing certain graphic design
tasks. It can draw shapes and curves, for
example, though it still does this based on a bitmap or in other words based on
pixels, whereas Inkscape uses a formula or code
for its objects. GIMP can also be used to draw text,
though again the text is displayed using pixels rather than
a formula. So although GIMP is capable of creating graphic design
elements, these elements are not scalable and often have jagged or pixelated edges
when looked at closely. GIMP is most similar to Photoshop, which is also a
raster-based photo editing and manipulation software.
Who should use GIMP? Photographers, digital painters, and artists
and game designers will all find GIMP extremely useful.
Additionally, any marketing professionals or individuals wanting to edit photos or
create designs for digital mediums such as the web will find GIMP useful.
Also, some of you may be wondering which
program is better when directly comparing Inkscape and
GIMP. It is not a matter of which program is better than the other overall,
but rather which program is better than the other for the task at hand.
Inkscape is going to perform better than GIMP when it comes to creating scalable
and professional graphics, for example when you're designing branding assets
for yourself or a client. It's also better for any shape and
vector based drawing. GIMP, on the other hand, is going to be
better than Inkscape when it comes to editing or manipulating photos or for
creating pixel art. It's also usually better, in my opinion,
when you need to create quick graphics that integrate photos.
On the subject of digital art, the program you use will depend on the look
you're going for. Inkscape will be better for vector
artwork whereas GIMP will be better for artwork that looks like it was painted
or hand-drawn. I definitely recommend using GIMP and
Inkscape together as I think they both offer their own strengths which can be
even stronger when combined. For example, you can edit your photos in
GIMP, and then import the finished JPEG into Inkscape to use within a vector
design - maybe a vector logo that you're designing based
on a portrait. On the other hand, you can create a vector design
and import it into GIMP to be used in a photo such as a logo watermark to add to
the bottom. Another example is that you can create
crisp, clean vector graphic icons to use on a website in Inkscape
and then import that design file into GIMP to adjust the pixel
resolution and compress as a JPEG for better
performance on the web. Finally, you can create assets like GIMP
Palette Files, or .GPL files, within Inkscape and import
those palettes to use in your GIMP projects, or vice versa.
There are many more examples of what you can do by combining
these two programs but I think you get the point.
GIMP and Inkscape are both great free options, especially if you're looking to
replace Adobe Illustrator and or Adobe Photoshop. Alright so that's it for this
video, hopefully you liked it. If you did you can check out my YouTube channel
at youtube.com/daviesmediadesign. Don't forget to
subscribe and click the bell icon to be notified each time I have a brand new
tutorial. You can also check out any of the links to my resources
in the description of the video, but thanks for watching and I'll see you
next time.