The GIMP project, while powerful, personifies all of the worst parts of OSS culture.
A needlessly polarizing/antagonizing name that they've refused to change? Check.
A user interface that no one but the developers could love or understand? Check.
A focus on knobs for users to tweak and being far behind the rest of the industry in basic usability improvements such as "auto levels" that have been table stakes for many years? Check.
Deflection of any criticism by saying "there's a plugin for that", when the plugin is probably locked in a filing cabinet in a basement closet with a sign saying "Beware of the Leopard" and another saying "only supported up to <6 versions ago>"? Check and check.
I use Gimp and Inkscape a few times per month, not professionally. But for silly graphics, I prefer Paintbrush[1].
I agree that for complex drawings where you should align multiple objects and be able to adjust the width and other properties of the color, it's better to use Inkscape.
But for throwaway screenshots with a big red arrow or a circle around the part I want to highlight, I prefer Paintbrush.
Is it possible to add to Gimp an option to draw simple forms like in Paintbrush? Perhaps as a filter or a tool. Gimp looks very customizable, but I never went into that rabbit hole.
[1] MS changed the name to "Paint" like 20 years ago, but I never got the memo.
> But for throwaway screenshots with a big red arrow or a circle around the part I want to highlight
On KDE, the Spectacle screenshot tool comes with an "annotate" button that does exactly this. I agree this kind of stuff is very convenient, bonus points with a touchscreen.
Pretty sure that program that is useful and usable, but not as much as you want, does not qualify for this description.