An poll (with no end date or time limit) for your favorite image editor between Krita and GIMP. There are others, of course. But for this poll, I picked what I consider the big two in the Linux world.
So, what say you?
I’ve used both a lot over the years. Back in the day, my choice would have been GIMP. But the last several years, Krita has improved exponentially. At least in my humble opinion. It’s turned into my image editor/manipulator of choice.
My first reaction was gimp, but after taking a look on the krita website, I’m about to take a closer look at it. Looks promising.
Image Editor (cropping, manipulation, graphics, enhancement, etc.) - Gimp
Image Creator (drawing, painting, sketching, etc.) - Krita
Graphics Editor/Creator (shapes, symbols, text, etc.) - Inkscape
PS: This is not an open-ended poll if there isn’t a choice that says “Other…”.
I meant open ended as I’ve included no end date or time limit on the poll.
In that case, it’s better to just say there is no time limit on the poll rather than say “open-ended” and add an explanation.
Something like “A poll with no end date” or “A poll with no time limit”.
Edited poll post. 
I see another issue, but I’m gonna leave it be. Everything is clear. That’s what matters. 
we use the Krita + Darktable combo for all professional post production.
My guess is that all clients are under the impression we use Photoshop/Lightroom, but nobody ever asked and everyone is happy with the results.
On a side note: when Krita didn’t exist, we did everything with GIMP.
Krita. Gimp still feels like something that different generations of NASA engineers have hammered together. Krita on the other hand is usable if you’re somewhat familiar with any other major image manipulation program.
I like them both. . . . Gimp 3.0 isn’t out yet so I’m not going to just go along with the Krita crowd. Both are excellent for different purposes in my opinion. Photography and the Gimp is still number 1. Krita is more of an art program for using a tablet and pen. Both have their strong points.
Rich;)
What app do you recommend for adjusting photos, color balance, crop/rotate, etc.
A package that has features similar to google photos?
You could also try Darktable or Rawtherapee if you edit lots of photos. Gimp if you only edit once in a while and may need other features.
darktable: https://archlinux.org/packages/extra/x86_64/darktable/
rawtherapee: https://archlinux.org/packages/extra/x86_64/rawtherapee/
I’m much more familiar with G.I.M.P, and the development builds (2.99) have been fantastic. To be clear, though: I do a lot more design work than illustration. It’s objectively inferior on its own, but there are tons of add-ons and plug-ins. I’m voting +1 for that, but these replies have me curious about using Krita in its place.
We had a photography project in a class this semester requiring Lightroom. I submitted edits made on rawtherapee without any issue. It’s great
Because Krita has a good number of image enhancement features, adjustment layers and access to G’Mic, it may be enough for light editing. But Krita shines as a drawing/painting app.
If you’re already used to Gimp, then the only thing you’d probably find useful are the superior brush-related techniques that you can combine with the features I mentioned. It’s actually a huge thing if that’s the way you edit photos, especially for professionals.
But really, if we are talking about photo-editing, a combination of 2 or 3 is probably best.
Example setup: Use the individual strengths of Gimp + Krita + Rawtherapee/Darktable in combination.
