Gimp may not be the greatest graphics program but it already meets my modest needs for photograph enhancer and I know it can do far more than I need to do on other kinds of graphics.

Trouble is, I haven't a clue about the latter. The mindblowingly simple (I'd suppose) things that I know I can't do include resizing the "canvas" of a rectangle that's mostly a flat green and having the additional strip the same green. (I successfully increased the size, but couldn't find any way to alter the added strip, which obstinately remained in black and white checks.) Also, adding text of any kind, anywhere. (This is all stuff I could do in Lview under Win95.)

I want an introductory book, probably one that I'd outgrow fairly quickly. (Definitely not a "complete" book or a "reference" book -- that might come a few months or years later.) But I'm not fond of books with big typeface or huge margins, or those that address me as a dummy, idiot, drooling cretin, etc.

Tips?

I don't know, but I would think there would be lots of tutorials on the net. Amazon lists a few Gimp books (haven't read them, not a recommendation).
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss?url=sear...d-keywords=gimp
http://google.com/search?q=gimp+tutorial

Thank you, Pandy.

It seems that for somebody who can't read German (in which there are a surprising number of books), the best is Peck's Beginning GIMP.

More surprisingly, I don't see anything marketed to "dummies" or "idiots". I do, however, see various "bibles", which I suppose might go down well with a certain God-fearing American demographic.