Painter 12 now enables the user to set brush size, opacity, angle, and squeeze dynamically on-screen! The circle indicator provides you with a visual reference of the brush size onscreen. Once activated you can toggle using the Ctrl key or Cmd key on Mac to change size, opacity, squeeze and angle. Karen's tutorial shows you how to take advantage of this new feature in Painter 12.
• Enhanced Dynamic Brush Attributes in Painter 12

GIMP's native file format is XCF which retains all the editable information of the files, such as layers and text information. That's great when you're working on a project and need to make amendments, but an XCF file isn't much use once you've finished your work and need to use your piece in a real context, such as a web page. GIMP, however, is able to save to a wide range of different file formats, suitable for print or digital purposes. Learn how to export the most common image formats in these tutorials.
• Exporting Files in GIMP
• How to Save a GIF in GIMP
• How to Save a JPEG in GIMP
• How to Save a PNG in GIMP
• How to Save a TIFF in GIMP

Also see: Which Graphics File Format Is Best To Use When?

This week's graphics challenge theme is Free for All. We have some random images for you to start with this week, it will be up to you to decide what to do with them. Chop, slice, dice, shake them up or roll them out, we'll leave the choice to you. The only rule is that you use at least three of the four starting images to create something new. So pick some out and as always, have some fun with it! Read More...

"Screen shot" is the phrase used to describe the action of capturing your computer desktop or anything shown on your computer screen to a static image file. In other words, it is a way of taking a snapshot, or picture, of your computer screen. Some people also call it a screen grab. Screen shots can be very helpful when you need to demonstrate something that would be difficult to explain in words. Learn what you need to know about screen shots and how to take them no matter what operating system you use.
• What is a Screen Shot? How do I Take a Screen Shot?