Starting out with a picture intended as cover, don't know yet if it's gonna be used. It is for somebody else.

Nicely done, Monika.

Monikas, your squirrel outcome is very nice and artistic.
Wishing to see many outcomes of yours.

Thank you, Lyle and Issabella

I like the paper texture and the vignette. Cute squirrel pic too. Did you take it yourself?

Thank you Erisian.

Not this one; I'd have to dig on my harddisks for one This one is from a woman on LibriVox who would like to have a cover for a book she's reading right now. See https://forum.librivox.org/viewtopic.ph ... 5#p1559185 Maybe, if I am lucky, I just look at the claims list to finish this specific cover, or the pic is used by someone else for the cover
But thank you for giving me the idea - I have this pic of my old dog...

And here we go - this is a picture I took.
First the pic out of the camera:

And the outcome, first attempt:

Todo:
change the background - I don't like the background with dreamsmooth like it is now; I think I will cut the dog out, dream smooth it separately and look what to do with the background. Out of the cam it is probably not nice either. Maybe different settings of dreamsmooth? (I have a feeling that cutting out by preserving the fur is a whole lot of work...)

Monika, I really like this squirrel.

Thank you, level_0

my next try on the dog:

Now the background fits better to my taste but the colors are nicer in the other one... <sigh>

Number three - that one I like most and this will stay

Monika:
Would it be okay with you if had a go with this picture?
I think I can help with this.

Sure, thank you Looking forward to your outcome and explanations

Your outcomes are great! I really like them.

Well first, I had to do a color correction to take out the brownish overcast.
Then I applied my usual technique, I assume you know what that is.
I did not not do "canvas texture."
Then I made a custom vignette to highlight the dog.
So here it is...
I hope you like it.

Thank you

And also thank you, Peter

The one from the video tutorial, I guess - yes, I practiced it a couple of times
How did you do this one? I see that you kept the sandy structure in some places; that is exactly what I was looking for.
I do

I'll send you a video as soon as I can.

The finished cover I mentioned in the first post; I was lucky enough to be able to claim it .

My brand-new avatar that I made freely after Pat625's mandala tutorial I just love this tut because the avatars are "really mine".

I altered some steps.
First, I didn't take a black font but I wrote my name in Inkscape (first toddlers steps in that program ) with orange.
This name I copy&pasted as layer into the gimp canvas for the avatar, moved it out of the middle and then duplicated and rotated, where I played with the angles.
I applied gradient on the background, gradient also on a copy of the mandala, played a bit with selection, selection growing, selection feathering and gradient and finally cut out the pic.
And of course I didn't note down the steps But I guess that's pardonable as every avatar should be exclusive anyway

Congrats. on your book cover. I love that little squirrel! I am glad that you liked the mandala tut and personalized it to be your own.

Sadly, the dreamsmoothing filter seems to have been removed in GIMP 2.10. Boo ...