ImageMagick is what I use most. so that's my vote.

TG

Gimp despite i hope for the future in a binary version "similar" at firefox, i speak about something capable to run on every distro linux and eventually capable even upgradable.
Ok i'm dreaming!

Note:
It's a real pain when the more recent version of the package isn't present on your distro ...

I read that GIMP is getting, or recently got, single window mode. This excites me

GIMP

Got To be the GIMP!

Randy SkaMan

I voted, GIMP. I used it back on Windows too.

However I'm very new to Linux, I've only been using it full time for 2 months and occasionally for the 6 months before that.
The GIMP is generally too advanced for what I need.
Can you guys recommend another Linux graphics app that is lighter and easier to use? The closest it is to MS Paint, the better.

Krita, which is part of the KDE desktop.

I use Ubuntu with the GNOME desktop, can I still install Krita even though I don't have KDE?

You can, yes. But it will also download a tonne of KDE libraries that it needs to run.

As an example of this: my roommate runs Ubuntu with Gnome, and she wanted to try (if I remember correctly) the Knemo network monitoring tool, which is *maybe* a couple hundred Kib or so installed size. So, using apt-get, she installed it; the result was that it brought with it almost 300 Mib of KDE libraries (dependencies). So, short answer: yes. Long answer: yes, but it will come with a lot of other stuff you probably won't use, and will consume space.

Sasha

blender ftw.

How about Xfig? I know it looks ugly, but it's powerful and highly functional for creating illustrations.

-A

What about mtPaint and Dia?

I voted for tuxpaint. It does exactly what you want it too, let little 4 and 5 year olds mess around with the computer. My niece and nephew love it, especially all the "magic" effects and sounds. All this and you can save it too! They even remembered to put in big buttons so they are easy to click!

Inkscape went a long way up in features, yet remained easy to use from simple "on sale" up to breath taking masterpieces.

This year i vote Inkscape (0.45 to 0.47) for "clay" effect and outline blur i missed before

Blender is exposed enough, the same applies for "good old" (yet all new) GIMP

I'm not voting for the simple fact these should have been separate votes categories .
I like Gimp,inskape. For 3d blender ImageMagick is used by Gimp iirc the other 2 also.
Plus cinellera .