Hi! I see a few familiar faces over from GT! So some of you may know me.

I'm a mathematician. I've been using GIMP on and off for the past three years. I started using it to teach myself how to draw... as a hobby and creative diversion from the gruelness* of qualifying exams. I'm a full time mathematics professor now, but I still like to write and draw as a hobby.

While I was in grad school I wrote a series of novellas (again, just for a diversion to keep my head clear). I have no desire to try to publish them. My wife is a librarian, and while she was in school she told me all about digital books. I thought it'd be fun to put all my work on my own website. I've been using GIMP to illustrate every page. If you're interested, some of the works I've posted on other GIMP sites are here:

Some Illustrations
The Main Website

I'm not completely happy with the prologue on the main website, but the few people who have read it said they enjoyed it. The excerpts at this link are probably better representations of my writing style:

Some Excerpts

You can probably tell from my artwork I'm an amateur. Sometimes it's a bit intimidating posting my work online ~ but receiving feedback from other artists has been very helpful.

I'm a big fan of open source software and an advocate for open source textbooks. I've begun writing some material for use in the classes I teach, and have started using GIMP to draw some figures. I've noticed, as best I can tell, it is somewhat lacking in mathematical figure functionality (aside from the fractal generator, which if you look at some of my artwork, you can tell I frequently use it). I think GIMP could be a powerful tool for creating elaborate figures, if used right. If I can master GIMP's scripting tools, this might be my contribution to the ``GIMP world''.



* yes, I know this isn't a word. But it should be. Totally.

Welcome to GIMP Chat
I am Willis, over on GT, and well it's dead right now

Well if you can't make up your own words to fit the circumstances, what good is the language, eh?

I prefer to make up my own words at times too.

How nice to have a writer/artist/mathematician/fellow gimper! merrak!

I enjoyed browsing your artwork and reading the exerpts. I'm a big fantasy fan so your writing appeals to me. Your artwork is great. I like it all.

One of the things I like to do when I'm reading is have a map of the fantasy land where the story takes place so I can follow the quester's progress. Have you made a map or did I miss it somewhere?

Welcome to our world!

My thoughts exactly! I love how easy it is to make up words in the English language. You probably already knew what ``gruelness'' meant, too.



Thanks! There is no map, other than doodles in my notebooks. (Drawing a ``real'' one sounds like a good idea, though). Most of the locations and characters are parodies of people I've met and places I've been to in the Triangle region of North Carolina. A campus map of UNC and the town of Chapel Hill would almost suffice for the first two stories.

I remember seeing parts of the artwork on GT, it's nice to see the whole illustration.

Greeting and salutations!!

Welcome to Gimp Chat.

^, ^^ :
thanks