Naima and Delphic how to you start in Gimp?  do you open as layers?  this is what mine looks like to start

https://i.imgur.com/h0MCOsS.png

My toolbox looks the same.

When I open a picture, I click file, then open, and select my horse stock photo. Then I do this process again to select the background stock photo.

Then I click file, then new and set my dimensions to 800x600 for animal graphics or 1200x900 for layout graphics. This gives me a blank canvas for my final product. Copy and paste the background stock over to here and make it to fill the canvas dimensions the same size as close as I can.

Then I use the eraser tool to erase the background from the horse stock. I zoom in and out all over it to make sure I erase everything as close to the horse as possible without erasing any of the horse. When done, right click and select the "copy visible" and paste onto the graphic canvas where i pasted and sized the background.

Then it's just fine tuning the details: smudge tool set to like 12 to smooth the horse's body hair and mane/tail (going the direction everywhere that it would on a real horse). And changing the brightness/contrast in the Colors drop-down menu from the top bar of GIMP.

I will make some tutorials for the basic steps when I have a chance :)

Thnak you both!!

I love finally having some fellow GIMP users on here to learn from!