Open photo, add alpha channel and remove background.
Duplicate layer twice and make top layer invisible.
Remove alpha channel from middle layer.
Filters/edge-detect/difference of gaussians followed by colour/levels and adjust detail.
Colour/threshold and adjust detail.
Make top layer visible and colour/threshold and adjust detail.
Change top layer mode to multiply and merge with middle layer.
On bottom layer choose alpha to selection and select top layer.
Select/invert followed by edit/cut and change layer mode to value.
Make any colour adjustments to bottom layer then merge without flattening.
Image/autocrop then save as PNG.

Very nice, Is this your cat Erisian?

What does removing the alpha channel from the middle layer do?

No, it's my friend's. If you scratch his back, he'll groom you - he's adorable! Difference of gaussians doesn't seem to work on a layer with an alpha channel, Molly - I don't know why.

Thank you Erisian, I didn't know that... There is never an end to learning in Gimp.

Makes good pen and wash too.

Bangs my forehead on the table...
"Open photo, add alpha channel and remove background.
Duplicate layer twice and make top layer invisible.
Remove alpha channel from middle layer.
Filters/edge-detect/difference of gaussians followed by colour/levels and adjust detail.
Colour/threshold and adjust detail.
Make top layer visible and colour/threshold and adjust detail."
how do I remove background? and what kind of detail adjustment i need to do?
I am such a noobie still!!!! lol

Please help
Thank You

Remove background with selection of your choice and cut or with eraser. Detail adj. move sliders until you are satisfied. These are things that are your choice - sorry if I didn't explain things too well.

Lol your post override mine. Anyway, cool process.

no,no worries:)
so erase background as in show the checkered part around the image i want to keep?

That's right. You can use the free select tool to plot points around your object if you like.

Interesting process. Meesa liking dis!

Excellent work. I like the subtlety of the lilac in this.

You don't need to cut away the background at the end - putting the layer on value removes it. Also, instead of threshold on the middle layer, try desaturate.

Does make a cool pen and ink like result.

I'm sure there are G'MIC filters that can do this, but it's lots more fun to do your own I think. If you're going to bake bread, don't use bread mix, use flour, yeast, sugar and water!

Absolutely agree with you on that Erisian; still, once in a while, I wish folks would share their programs with me like this guy: http://www.flickr.com/photos/9083682@N05/ (and yes, I asked; he only mentioned he used custom code to make these.

Wow, they're cool! There's a chap on Fractal Forums who uses his own code written in Cobol and he has to re-write the code every time he wants to create a new fractal image. Interesting stuff, but too much like hard work for me!

Just as a side note, Old School 8-bit (a G'MIC preset under Deformations) can give you a similar result.

Thanks, I'll have a look at that.

G'MIC Paint followed by G'MIC Old School 8-bit and then some color enhancements.