When I first joined Gimp Chat in 2014 the combined/default Board Index was typically awash with many artwork contributions. Those many and varied member submissions helped me understand the use, value and capabilities of Gimp, be it just in its native form, with added GMIC and also with all its user added scripts/plug-ins. I was able to learn so much from those artistic contributions, their creators and the many fellow member comments/postings to those artistic threads and all the tutorials they made available..

Sadly over the years these artistic submissions have continually reduced in number until now there appear to be just a couple of us contributing regularly. Looking at the Board Index today there was just one Gimp Art thread visible, being Sallyanne's “Different Effects Gimp Text”. Nowadays, that is the typical situation.

To quote Professor Julius Sumner Miller, an old American with an Aussie TV show - “Why is it so?”.

Hey! I have been trying to poke the bear.

I guess I could make some more "messes".

I use the GIMP fairly regularly for photo retouching and enhancement tasks of various sorts, for which it excels, but frankly there are far more adroit specialized creation tools these days.

Today I discussed this situation and my views thereof with a friend, who summed up his assessment by saying " ... as a disinterested (i.e. non GIMP) third party, it's quite clear - wrong product, wrong place, wrong time."

I still check in nearly everyday, but stopped contributing some time ago. I normally don't log in. I don't GIMP too much anymore creatively, but mostly use it to enhance my photos. There's at least one more issue I have here, but it's not worth discussing really.

I had done workart but mostly writing plugins. I'm not so good writting tutorials, but I have done a couple. Usually my plugins are from other users tutorials or my own inspiration. I miss some of the users that used to contribute their art.

There isn't one singular answer. A good number of regulars are no longer with us. A lot of the work I do is not yet published and is not safe for this forum.

As an aside, it's not a good look to have more moderators than regular users. It probably drives some people away. If everyone is an expert, no one is an expert.

Use to enjoy Moko's work. She started off as a teenager as I recall but last I heard, believe was going to college. I know Griatch also posts but not often enough in my book (but Christmas soon will be here). Not sure if Erisian still posts or not, but do like his and AnMal's artwork as well (see AnMal post at DeepDreamGenerator once in a while but I've really not checked the site that often of late). Do miss the artist and hope they soon start posting again.

I'm not likely to post any of my work here again because people stopped being interested in what I was doing.

I felt the same way.

Sad you guys feel this way. Just because your work is not commented on does not mean people are not interested. There are many 'lurkers' who just wait to see what may be posted next.

I'm in same line of thinking as you, Wallace. Present day, most of my artwork is in the form of wood and wood carvings, so it's not related to GIMP for show and tell. However, GIMP plugins and scripts play a big role in my wood projects, since CNCs are computerized and thus I am able to improvise how I want something to look. And pretty much like some of the older scripts that takes ages to complete a run, so does the cutting. Now, the laser enables me to just burn images into wood, metal, etc. Which is fun to do. No one should feel like there is no interest in their art. You should let your art bring you joy in creating it, That's why we do it. It makes us happy.

Reading this thread it looks like Gimp artwork posted here doesn't get much attention.

Remember this forum is frequented by artists, not the general public. Just speaking for myself, I've got an overblown ego and like to be praised for my work. If you look at people's lives no wonder they crave recognition. Kicked around by an education system run by people produced by the same education system. Good teachers are not fully supported because why nurture 'art' and not knocking down the rain forest to build lavish villas.

Look at the people our society has elevated to influence? Mostly white males with no brains or vision for the future. BTW I'm a white male but just a dreamer, the Money that runs entire countries wants mindless consumers who are completely brainwashed and predictable.

People are also very scared of anyone who knows the truth.
On probability, when you die you go back to where you were before you were born. Everything you learned on Earth only applies here. There is a lot of vested interests that don't like that simple truth. Enjoy the planet while you are both still here

That's a very good analogy Tas. I agree with about 99% of what you wrote. Way too many people obsessed with superficial B.S. You get one life, live it to the fullest, or regret your decisions. No second chance....

This is a poem from a book written by Richard Harris named, "Father's Son". Thank you Tas_mania for sharing it

"Human being start their lives from the top and that is why we fail. We need to start from the bottom so we can make changes as we go from our trials and fails. An example of this is; A professional mountain climber start from the bottom and as he goes up, he can see the perils and make adjustment as he goes up. He also remembers those perils and know where they are as he scale down the mountain. If he start from the top would not recognize the dangers, since he never faced them."

We need to learn from this poem that it start with me as individual, then with my family, with my town, my city and eventually my country. Is never too late to teach the next generation this values. I have heard from others the saying, "You can't teach old horse new tricks". Whoever quoted that gave up on life way before he thought it. I always apply this to myself; "The day I stop learning is the day I will stop teaching", and at 61 I want to learn new things as long God give me the power to do it. (Just a thought)

tiktok, facebook, twitter, instagram, etc...

Forums are dying, it's to closed, I mean it's just about GIMP, nothing else, you can't switch between GIMP and the last moron's video of "karen's fails" in one click. And younger don't come to fill the gap.
Having said that, people likes to thumb-down or gives a heart without speaking, there is nothing of it on GC, on GF it's too clean that it took me month to see it, on GL (sorry Tim) the pages are way over crowded, you get lost, literally.
Also people want to connect with one click only, like via FB or Google (cheeez me saying that an anti-social media person ) or whatever, like that they don't have to confirm their email or whatever, it's just 1 click and 1 click only... GC, GF, GL do not offer this simple subscription system, what we need is enter "pseudo > email > 2 time the password > open our email > click on a confirm link > etc... " from a smartphone UI it's extremely cumbersome.
Last but not least, GIMP is not on Google play/Android nor apple store for iphone, I can see it with my kids, they want on their computer what they have/see on their phones, thus GIMP for the younger is completely unknown, new bloods will not fill the gap of the leavers.

Summing it up, what all this this tells me is that, despite a still lively and artistic mind, I am a dying breed in a old dying body