In this article I will introduce you to the My Paint application and show you just what this tool can do with little effort placed toward training with the application.

Vs. The GIMP

As you may (or may not) know, I am a big fan of The GIMP. The GIMP is the flagship open source graphics application and has been for many years. But The GIMP is not always the right tool for the job. In fact, many people will have already discovered that The GIMP very quickly makes itself clear that it is not geared toward tablet PCs or tablet artists. My Paint is not an “image manipulation” program (as is The GIMP). My Paint is designed for images to be created form scratch.  For manipulation work (touch ups, filtering, color adjustments) you would need to employ a tool like The GIMP.

My Paint is ideal for graphic artists or anyone needing to digital style graphics. It’s free form, free flow, and free to use. Let’s take a look.

Installation

Installation is simple. But before you do install this application you will want to make sure your tablet is recognized and working. Once that has been accomplished, you are ready to install. To do so, follow these steps:

1. Open up the Add/Remove Software tool.
2. Search for “mypaint” (no quotes).
3. Mark the application for installation.
4. Click Apply to install.

That’s it.  Once the tool is installed you will find it located Applications > Graphics > My Paint.

Usage

Figure 1

Using My Paint should be very intuitive. Don’t be caught off guard when you see the interface. As you can see (in Figure 1) the interface might remind you a bit of The GIMPs three-window interface. Although it may seem similar, these windows are much simpler and serve very specific purposes:

The main window: (right-most pane) This is the window where you work.

The brush selector: (top left pane) This is where you select your different bushses.

The color window: (bottom left) This is where you choose the color you want to work with.

That’s it for the interface. As you work with your art all you need to do is switch between brushes and colors.

Figure 2

Now before you start to think that the tool might seem a bit complex, it’s not. To prove this I had my 15 year old step daughter (who uses Ubuntu by the way) do some work with her tablet and My Paint. With no training on the tool whatsoever she was able to draw a sketch of Jude Law (see Figure 2).

Besides the fact that the girl has some very natural talent, she was able to begin using My Paint as if it were second nature. And that is, ultimately, the main draw of the tool. Artists will find My Paint does not get in the way of their work. It’s ideal for digital artists and tablets. NOTE: The drawing you see in Figure 2 was done with a Wacom Bamboo Pen working in Ubuntu 10.04 and latest release of My Paint.

Final thoughts

If you are looking at using a tablet (either tablet PC or USB tablet/pen combo), you should do yourself a favor and immediately install My Paint to take care of all of your drawing needs. You might need the help of The GIMP to touch up you work, but as far as the bulk of the work, My Paint has you covered.

The second reason was that when I used to work with a mouse daily I started to feel quite serious pain in my forearm through the last few months and that required some changes. I finally decided to buy Wacom’s low-end device called Volito2 and I must say I really like it.

For the very low price you get a nicely featured equipment with pleasant specs. At the beginning I thought that a 127x92mm wide active area is too small to work on but when I actually held the stylus (pen) and had to move my hand around the pad, I found out that it’s actually big enough. Despite all the positive aspects tablets are not suitable for all applications (i.e. some types of games) but they’re still very handy for common navigation.

A very good thing about Wacom’s products is the “Penabled” technology which means that there’s no battery needed inside the stylus. Therefore the pen is really lightweight. It also has 2 programmable buttons on it meaning that you can choose what functions you want them to have (from a sufficient amount of functions included in the list).

You also don’t have to lay it down when you need to type something on keyboard. 512 pressure levels are quite enough for all programs that are able to use them. After few weeks of using a tablet instead of mouse I don’t feel pain in my arm so much and I’m satisfied with it although it requires some level of skills and practice to use it efficiently.

If you want some change and are willing to invest a little effort into learning how to handle this type of device I would suggest that you consider getting it. If you choose one of Wacom’s products, you’ll also get a free piece of software from ArcSoft as a bonus gift. And the design is like perfect – take a look yourself.

If you have any questions about my device, don’t hesitate to ask them.