Beginner questions, missing tools, how to draw shapes

[winny]

Perhaps GIMP is not the right tool for me, but people say you can do anything in GIMP so I'll at least try.
Programs I do feel home in is MS Paint, Deluxe Paint IV for the Amiga and MacPaint. Yes, I'm old.

Whenever I look at a tutorial, they say "select X from your toolbox". I don't have X in my toolbox. Did I miss some step somewhere? The toolbox is there but has no (to me) useful tools in it. Screenshot attached. Do I need to activate or bring up something?

More things, where can I choose colors and shapes to draw with? How can I draw circles, rectangles, triangles and the like? Is there a skin or something to "dumb down" the interface to appeal to MS Paint users, but with more tools available IF you need them? For example, in MS Paint I can't make a rectangular selection and scale it on the fly (WYSIWYG), whereas in GIMP, this is possible and I did succeed with it, once.

I upgraded from some older version to 2.10.28, but it looks identical.

[PixLab]

Here, is a good start https://www.gimp-forum.net/Thread-How-do...he-toolbox to get all the tools out

[Redraw]

After you read and follow PixLab's link's advice rearranging your toolbox, there is always more to learn with Gimp (always) and an option you might like (if not found already) is in = preferences>icon theme>color, it looks that your running a dark theme_


color icons have a look here

https://www.gimp-forum.net/Thread-Anothe...e-question

my second monitor

https://www.gimp-forum.net/attachment.php?aid=7066

[rich2005]

Some screenshots which might help All in Edit -> Preferences

Use the system theme https://i.imgur.com/IGpgmST.jpg
Change the icon theme and size https://i.imgur.com/PN7yFgF.jpg
"unpack" the tools groups https://i.imgur.com/sH8dMrW.jpg
"old-style" sliders https://i.imgur.com/J0auoEt.jpg

Quote:How can I draw circles, rectangles, triangles and the like? Is there a skin or something to "dumb down" the interface

The usual way is make a selection - rectangular or circular and adjust the size before making the shape into lines using Edit -> Stroke selection
More complex shapes are made using the path tool, then similar Edit -> Stroke Path
For solid shapes you can bucket fill a section and if a path Edit -> Fill Path

There are plugins to assist making shapes one described here: https://www.gimp-forum.net/Thread-arakne...-creator-8

[rickk]

(12-08-2021, 04:04 PM)winny Wrote: More things, where can I choose colors and shapes to draw with? How can I draw circles, rectangles, triangles and the like? 

There is an awful  lot to absorb in the Gimp control interface. You just gotta "jump in" and get comfortable finding where everything is.

Specific to your question above, I have 2 suggestions. 

 #1, make a rectangular selection on the drawing area, and then go into the "edit" menu.  work your way down till you find "stroke selection", clicking on that will give you a set up menu, giving you the chance to set up how thick and what kind of line you are going to draw your rectangle with...and then click on the [stroke] button...and voila  you just drew a rectangle.....same thing works for the circular select tool.  
You should also get accustomed to using the paths tool   to plot lines, and then use the "stroke path" function, also located in the edit menu. to turn the path plotted into a drawn line.

and #2,  notice  that you can select many different brushes, and that you can set the size for most brushes. So, if you select a square brush, and set the size up to 200 pixels, then each time you click on the canvas you will draw a square 200 x 200 pixels Same goes for round brushes, star shaped brushes, triangular shaped brushes...and the best part is, you can eventually create your own brushes, giving you an infinite number of items you can readily draw.

But, creating your own brushes is kind of a "201" thing, so better for you to work towards that eventually, and not put the apple cart before the horse. I mention it mostly to illustrate that what might look to you like an impossibility to you now, is more along the lines of waiting for you to discover....

Don't be afraid to explore, don't be afraid to make mistakes, and get real comfortable with the most powerful tool in the Gimp Arsenal...the "ctrl-z" key combination....it makes everything else easier to learn (repeat until satisfactory results are obtained)