Good GIMP Book?

[Michael Hipp]

Michael Hipp wrote:
> Can anyone recommend a good book on GIMP suitable for an unsophisticated 
> non-artsy person like me?
> 
> (Better yet, can anyone recommend an easy-to-use alternative to GIMP?)

Thanks for all the replies and suggestions. Glad to hear I'm not the 
only one that thinks the UI on GIMP makes OS/360 JCL look intuitive by 
comparison.

I created a simple graphic in OO draw to use as a website banner (just 
some text in a certain font, color and size). But when I exported it as 
a .gif from OO, it comes out with a white background rather than 
transparent like I *told* it to do. Thought it would be simple enough to 
load it in GIMP and bucket-fill the white background with transparent. 
But if the bucket-fill in GIMP even works, I can't prove it.

Think I'll try that online book. After than I'll have to resort to 
Fireworks on a Win box (bah humbug).

Thanks again,
Michael