Don’t hate me because I’m beautiful

You can’t be good at everything

I made a new banner for this blog today. Obviously, I have no graphic skillz whatsoever so please don’t take my efforts as a testimonial to the quality of the tools available on Ubuntu. I would have come up with something just the same in Photoshop (or probably MS Paint, for that matter.)

How it was done

The point to be made is that I would have used Windows-based software for my image manipulations, and I don’t have to anymore.

First, I wanted the Ubuntu font, which I found out how to get in this blog post. It’s as simple as:
$sudo apt-get install ttf-ubuntu-title

After that I used the GIMP to do the editing. This was a bit disconcerting because I am used to Photoshop, and the GIMP has quite a different interface. In most cases I have ran into so far, the interface of the Free or Open Source software has been very close to that of the closed alternative. However, the GIMP’s interface is quite different than what I was used to, especially the “multiple windows for one application” approach.

That being said, I was able to do the little bit I needed with a minimum of head scratching. Again, I’m fully aware of my own limitations in the graphics department, but the point here is that for my purposes, the GIMP on Ubuntu delivered.

And that being said, I welcome real artwork from anyone with actual skill.