Hey guys, I'm Bladesonic. I've been using GIMP (yes, I did just say GIMP) for about 3 years now (sad part is, I still qualify as a noob). Anyway, I look forward to increasing my skill and getting some more advanced critique while I'm here.
Let me be the first one to welcome you then. And I don't see a problem with GIMP, we have quite a few talented GIMP users here so no one's going to give you crap for that.