Anyone have a how-to on Gimp, Inkscape and Scribus for labels?

I'm trying to wrap my head around doing labels with opensource software, and used The Gimp to just do some really basic photo editing. I went into Inkscape and tried to do some basic label info and import my picture. I had read that you can get a decent PDF by sending the whole mess to Scribus and exporting it as PDF.

Well, it was a bit tricky, and I have a long, long way to go to get anything decent looking.

So - for those of you using opensource software, do you have a brief tutorial? Maybe a template I could mess with?

What a goofy question. Pardon my ignorance.

I'm still working it through, but so far we decided to start from a sheet of paper. Top line, brewing company name (yeah, it's just a hobby, but we are tossing Three Beagles Brewing and Boisterous Beagles Brewing around). Then we had to decide on a name for the cider. Since we are going with a Beagles theme (we have two rescue beagles and one dog pound beagle/spaniel mix) - we tossed some names around. Ruby's Secret Yellow Fizzy Cider (too much bathroom humor, we nixed that name), Brash Bubbly Cider.

So we decided on Boisterous Beagles Brewing for the company name (we need to make a logo) and Brash Bubble Cider. (and that is WAY too many B's - it will have to be Brash Sparkling Cider).

Then we wrote out the ingredients. Not sure what ABV will be, but decided we should include that as well as the bottling date.

So - label will be 3.5" wide by 3" tall. Text elements will be Brand name (top center), Cider name (below brand name), Ingredients - and maybe ABV, towards the bottom center, and bottling date.

We're playing with fonts, sizes, colors and placement of each text element in Inkscape.
I used Gimp to edit a picture of one of the hounds, but think since we changed the name, perhaps I'll go through pictures again to see if there is a better choice.

So - we don't have a label. We do have a better idea of what we want to sy on the label, what size the label should be, where we want to put the text elements on the label, and where we want to put the picture on the label. I need to figure out roughly the size we want the picture to be, and that will help in placing it.

So - if anyone has a tutorial, that would be cool. If not, that's fine too. We're getting a little bit closer to figuring it out.

(now, about background colors and styles, hmmm....)

Basically to do what you are talking about you need to make a large canvas in GIMP and think of that as your piece of paper. Add everything you want onto the canvas. Once you have all the info and your layout done you crop and resize the canvas to be the actual size of your label. Put every new piece of the label as it's own layer so you can move and edit each piece separately. It's not the easiest thing to explain and if you have any friends with Photoshop you would be saving yourself a few headaches. Just my opinion on GIMP

^That's also about how I work in Gimp. Get used to working with layers, it'll enhance your possibilities. I'm sure there are tutorials out there somewhere.

I actually find Inkscape a little easier to use, and the nice thing about it is that you can create vector graphics that can be resized for other purposes like T-shirts, etc.

Honestly I learned everything on Photoshop and I've tried to work with GIMP. I hate it. If you have the money or a friend with CS, get it. You will be much happier over all.

Playing around with Scribus. Changed the name from Three Beagles Brewing to Georgia Nuclear Brewing. Changed the cider name to Hot Cell Cider. My son has been researching the Georgia Nuclear Aviation Laboratory in Dawson for his senior Communications capstone. He took some pictures (the pic on the label is of the old hot cell), did a podcast, did some interviews, still has to do a short movie clip.

I know the label is lame, and I have a LONG way to go to come up with a good label. But at least it's headed in some direction, anyway.

Boy said:

Honestly I learned everything on Photoshop and I've tried to work with GIMP. I hate it. If you have the money or a friend with CS, get it. You will be much happier over all.

Click to expand...

I'd agree to that.

It's not that GIMP is a bad program - it's that Adobe has done very well to implement a fairly intuitive photo editing environment over the past 21+ years

Scribus though, seems to be a lot easier to use than QuarkXPress (but not easier than InDesign).

If I were you, I'd see if I could find a friend in college to order you an educational copy of Photoshop, which should have a really nice discount.

If push comes to shove, the 30 Day Trial of Photoshop should work just fine.

Gimp is a great program and the biggest complaint I normally hear about it is "it's not photoshop". I've been screwing around with it for quite a few years now (but I can't do much more than replace family member's head's with the dog's head).

I great book to learn the basics is Grokking the Gimp. I have it in paper form but it's a free book to download:

http://gimp-savvy.com/BOOK/

This will get you started....

Also, YouTube is a really great resource for GIMP and Inkscape tutorials. Sure, they're all from kids who are about 12, but in a few minutes you can pick up the basics and really make some cool looking stuff.

I personally have switched over to using Inkscape just because it works with vectors, not pixels. What this means to the final products is that everything will look very crisp and professional, not blurry, which you sometimes get with .bmp/.jpeg images. Just my 2, but it's turned out pretty well so far.

I'm going to have to spend some time checking out the Gimp, Scribus and Inkscape tutorials. Slowly working my way through some basic stuff - but the tools are very rich in capabilities.

I know Photoshop and InDesign are industry standards - and I'm sure my son has played with them (a Communications/Media major). I just get propeller-headed at times and like to mess with Ubuntu and opensource tools. Not enough to actually read manuals and such, but enough to start up the toolsets and say "what now?"