Hi, i want to use vector graphics.

I have avoided illustrator and inkscape like the plague because i am daunted with the idea of all these hard to manage nodes and strokes and paths that get lost in a big tangled mess.

i dont know what a 'path' is versus a stroke. we're talking super-noob.

also, things seem hard to control. i want to 'snap' things with each other for example, or turn a curvey line back straight again. things seem so imprecise, is it seriously just a drawing program or does it have snapping and cad-style control of stuff?

i just started watching videos on youtube and i am impressed at some of the stuff that can be done but there are concepts that are just completely alien and things seem like gibberish. what kind of learning curve am i up against here? what was the moment when vector drawing clicked for you and you started to 'get it'?

also, why use inkscape versus gimp?

i am brand new to this, and i really dont want to click my arm off for weeks and then realize i should have just drawn the stuff with a real pen and paper.

Well, you have several questions here that would be hard to respond to in a general way. There is always a learning curve when learning anything new. And no matter what it is, the motto is practice, practice, practice! If you have some inherent artistic talent, it may go easier for you. But on the other hand, if you have no graphics experience, it will take longer, imo. Also if you have a full time job, and only have a few hours a week to work on it, it will take much longer to learn than someone who is able to spend many hours per week learning.

I took up Inkscape 3 years ago, with only very little experience with GIMP. I liked the Inkscape interface MUCH better, and once I learned the difference between vector and raster, I realized that I like the vector concepts better. While it seems most people feel more at home in raster graphics, I find it hard to comprehend and use. Anyway, I would probably not call myself an artist, although I do have creative tendencies, and enjoy the creative process. I couldn't draw a cartoon with a pencil to save my life! In this 3 years (I'm disabled, so I don't work, and can spend many hours per day with Inkscape, if I wanted to) I've progressed to the point where I am currently attempting to reproduce a photo. Of course that doesn't mean I will be able to do a good job. Plus, everyone has different interests; for example, were I a cartoonist, I might not care one bit about reproducing a photo.

If you do have some artistic talent, and do well with pen and paper, you might want to look into purchasing a tablet. It's a piece of hardware on which you draw directly, which creates paths on the canvas instantly. Since I can't draw by hand, I prefer using a mouse. But many Inkscape users work with a tablet (search for Wacom). But tablet or mouse, you still need to learn the basics of Inkscape to produce a drawing such as a cartoon.

I'll answer what questions I can. The others would be better if you show us very specific problems, once you start drawing with Inkscape. (For example, there could be many different reasons why your drawing turns into a "tangled mess", why snap doesn't work, or you can't control a curve, and it would be impossible to guess how that might happen.)

i dont know what a 'path' is versus a stroke. we're talking super-noob.

Well, if you're talking about line drawings, they're probably about the same thing. Technically you can have a path without a stroke, but then it would be invisible. It would be there, but you couldn't see it. However, shapes can have a stroke or not have a stroke, and as long as the object has a fill color, you can easily see the edges of the shape. The confusing thing in the beginning is that both objects and paths can have strokes (a closed path is usually called an object, and open path is usually called a path)(but there are exceptions to both).

also, why use inkscape versus gimp?

GIMP is a raster graphics program, into which has been built some very, very limited SVG support. While Inkscape is a fully featured vector graphics program. If you want to do line drawings or cartoons, you could probably get by with GIMP. But you would probably find that Inkscape is much more streamlined than GIMP, for vector line drawings. As I said before, I much prefer the Inkscape interface, as well as vector theory.

I hope this helps you come to a decision. If you are an artist, no computer program is going to stop you from creating art! Maybe it depends on how motivated you are? But if I wanted to convince you to learn Inkscape, I would say that this is one of the best forums, graphics or otherwise, I've ever participated in. Certainly for beginning Inkscape users, all the questions you have can and will be answered here. Sometimes more advanced questions go unanswered, because they are too advanced for us lowly non-developers

I would encourage you to jump in with both feet, and not look back

One of the best video tutorial sites for Inkscape is the Screencasters site, if you are starting off, then look at the mircrosodes first. There are 10 of them and then there are a lot of full length episodes, all very good at getting across the basics of Inkscape and most don't assume too much prier knowledge.

also, things seem hard to control. i want to 'snap' things with each other for example, or turn a curvy line back straight again. things seem so imprecise, is it seriously just a drawing program or does it have snapping and cad-style control of stuff?

Have a look at the node tool for editing the paths, ( see microsode 003)

Inkscape is admittedly a better at drawings than cad-control of images, but you can control a lot. e.g. holding down ctrl when drawing a line limits things to horizontal/vertical, and 0.48 has a snap control bar (view -> show/hide -> snap bar) although that does take quite a bit of getting use to. (to name just two ways), Oh and the Align and Distribute dialogue goes quite a long way towards laying out objects precisely on the page