Re: Gimp
I use the Gimp infrequently, but enough to know that you can draw with it, but the tools you have are quite primitive compared to a real drawing package. You can get stuff done, but it's a bit clunky. Not sure whether there are any plugins that make this easier.
My biggest problem is that every time I fire it up, it looks different from the last time (this could be my memory at fault, but I do keep my computer quite well up to date, so it could be updates).