Hey,

Created this Tribal Moon image some 3-4 weeks ago and finished it today. Added some effects to make it a little more interesting.

WOW, that's an amazing light beam. How did you achieve that effect?

Sorry for the delayed response...being totally new, tend to experiment and sometimes can't remember all the steps. Managed to recall this one and duplicate it...took some time tho....so here goes.

Made the tribal moon image some time ago. Pretty sure the IWarp filter was used for that then added and dim light in the backround to emphasize the lines.

With this image went to Filters>Distorts>IWarp
Settings>Deform Mode>Grow
Deform Radius>130
Deform Amount>0.40

Animate>check box
Number of frames 5

Placed cursor exactly on the inner points, clicked 4X. clicked OK.

This gives five frames, deselected all except Backround layer and moved it to top of stack.

On this layer: Filters>Light and Shadow>Lens Flare
Placed the Lens exactly center of the inner points, just touching curves, and centered between the two outer points.
Next: Filters>Reshow Lens Flare
Placed cursor on cross hairs and moved them 1/4 ball right on the same plane, click OK. Now there are two lenses married and the intensity is enhanced.

Select: Filters>L&S>Lighting Effects Placed the blue Dot in the center of my almost circle. Then, Filters Reshow Lighting Effects and under Light tab changed Types from Point to Directional. Moved the light until it was centered between the two outer points and the mid point of the two lenses. This gives the light a nice hue and stretch.

Filters>Map>Bump Map Here used default settings and click OK.
Filters>Repeat Bump Map>OK

Filters>Enhance>Sharpen set value 20, OK

Now we IWarp and Animate this image with the same settings as the original, the trick here is to click on the exact same place when expanding this image as in the first image...found the image somewhat fuzzy during playback on previous attempts from not paying close enough attention to detail.

Now we have eleven layers, from the bottom, Frame 0-4 incl, Backround (100ms), and Frame 0-4 #1 incl.

Move Backround (100ms) layer to top of stack and Rename as Frame 5 #1

Duplicate Frame 3 and rename as Frame 5 and move into position 5
Duplicate Frame 2 and rename as Frame 6 and move into position 6
Duplicate Frame 1 and rename as Frame 7 and move into position 7

The extra layer work at the end really smooths out the action.
When exporting as .gif used 200ms delay and checked box, apply to all layers.

Hopeful this explanation is clear and comprehensible. Would like to attempt something like this using GAP, just not quite ready for that step just now.

Played around with this some more and added a third Lens Flare, that intensified the hue. Found the Lens needs to be contained in a manner that will direct the hue into the Light, doesn't quite produce the same effect otherwise.
Have a good one!

Nice one - thank you.