[ubuntu-art] Where do I Start?

[Thorsten Wilms]

On Sat, 2009-09-26 at 21:32 -0400, ecm wrote:

> I've never contributed to any sort of group project before, so I'm not
> sure how any of this works.

Welcome!

At times we are not sure how this works, either ;)


> I'm a former graphic artist / industrial designer.  I've been using
> Ubuntu as my primary OS for the last year and a half, and as my only OS
> for the last few weeks.

Do you have examples of your work up somewhere?


> The transition from Corel and Adobe to Inkscape
> and GIMP has been relatively pain-free (though GIMP drives me batshit
> with all of the disappearing toolbars and docks).

GIMP is much nicer to use if you put it on it's own workspace.
Especially for working with large images, I recommend to use
focus-follows-mouse and auto-raise without delay. This allows to have
the image window partly cover the toolbox/palettes while still having
quick access to them.

Anyway, GIMP will have a single-window mode:
http://www.mmiworks.net/eng/publications/2009/09/gimp-single-mode.html


> Ideally, I'd like to start out with some smaller tasks or repetitive
> tasks, and work my way up to complex tasks as I become more familiar
> with the process, and more comfortable with the software.
> 
> So, I guess, all i need now is something to do.  What needs done?

First of all you must understand that Ubuntu's default theme, icons and
wallpapers are all done and decided on by the people at Canonical. There
have been exceptions regarding the wallpaper, but I think Canonical now
having a design team makes that less likely to happen again.

The next release will be at the end of October, making this not the best
time to step in.

Community artwork usually happens in the form of:
- Wallpapers. See
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Artwork/Incoming/Karmic/Backgrounds
But note that for this release, a set of wallpapers has been selected
among a large pool of pictures on flickr. It's currently unclear if it
makes any sense to continue with putting wallpapers on the wiki for the
next cycle.
- Themes. Example:
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Artwork/Incoming/Karmic/NightImpression
I'm not qualified to tell you more about the process, other should chime
in.
- Icons. Look at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Artwork/BreatheIconSet
Contributing here requires rather tight cooperation.

Then there's also the Countdown banner, but that is a done deal for this
round, as the concept deadline was on tuesday and we're now waiting for
a decision. https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Website/KarmicCountdownBanners


If none of this fits you: From time to time I get requests for logos or
other artwork from small projects and I know other projects that could
obviously benefit from the work of a skilled designer. Contact me
off-list if you are interested.


-- 
Thorsten Wilms

thorwil's design for free software:
http://thorwil.wordpress.com/