UPDATED 12:23-2008

This is the best freeware rastor graphics editor available. If you need a free solution for painting items for use in There, this is an excellent choice.

Typical uses include creating graphics and logos, resizing and cropping photos, altering colors, combining multiple images, removing unwanted image features, and converting between different image formats. GIMP can also be used to create basic animated images in GIF format. It is often used as a free software replacement for Adobe Photoshop.

HELP: http://www.gimp.org/docs/
TUTORIALS: http://www.gimp.org/tutorials/