Wasn't so much disappointed with GIMP as I just had problems with that particular build.  Apparently I wasn't alone.  I figured they'd correct it eventually.  For the time being I'm still using Photoshop CS5.5 Ext, though I want to migrate away from it.  I'm looking at getting Corel's Paint Shop Pro, which is a bit ironic for me personally considering PSP (back when it was made by JASC) was my first serious paint program.  They have some video software that you can get with it that I think might be handy in the future and then there is Corel Draw which has a variety of professional applications I could probably put to good use.

I would love to see the people developing GIMP move forward the way Blender has recently.  In my opinion Blender is fast becoming a challenger to 3DS Max at this point.  If GIMP did the same with regard to Photoshop... whoa boy! :-)

Back to the topic, found this tutorial on making PBMs and FBMs by Nerd3D

http://www.nerd3d.com/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=13

Now back to all these Blender tutorials I've DLed

Happy Blending/Posing!