Don't really know where the inspiration came from for this just seemed like a good challenge, which it was, as the shape was mainly done using the map object>cylinder filter. I'm sure it maybe isn't working correctly as the image you see had no light settings applied and yet shows light and dark also the pixelisation around the edge was really bad had to shrink and crop by 2 pixels just to get it looking smooth.
Just for reference to get the reflection, I created the reflection first on the flat layer and merged the two layers together, then I ran the map object filter.



Resources Used

Scissors
Paper Texture

I love it he4rty. Very cool. I remember making them years ago

Lovely work he4rty. It's hard to believe it's not a photo.

I am impressed, He4rty, The crinkles finish it off (as K1te says). Looks like, you used the displace filter as well, looking at way the lines on the paper distort. Definitely worthy of a small tut or a bit more of an explanation as this is very good indeed!

thats stunning in every way, he4rty

its a bit like minimalism executed with most technical skill

Very cool, he4rty

That is so excellent, He4rty.

Jaw dropping. I too say it's hard to believe it's all a render. Kudos he4rty; fantastic result.

Perfect background color for this effect.And the pair of scissors added to the image really makes it look great.
This looks real to me.The 3D reflections are right on.

Great work!

he4rty: - that's a great idea well realised. beautiful work, brother. i just keep trying to figure out how to fold the paper to be able to cut those...

a tisket a tasket..I love this it's so simple yet detailed! Nice work!

Thanks for all the lovely comments people, just want to pick up on some bits.

The paper itself intially used the original paper texture (Top left hand corner)
also I created a map from a satin tutorial (Top right hand corner)
I used this map to displace the paper by 5*5px (Bottom left hand corner)
Finally, and this was an accident because when I went to first run the displace filter clicked on bump map by mistake but like the results.
So using the map I bump mapped the image using the default settings, this just added the light and shadow to really lift the crinkled paper (Bottom right corner)



The paper chain people started off as indiviuals but soon found themselves following the crowd. Basically it was a case of overlapping each image slighty and just repeating until the chain was made to the desired lenght. The reflection is bacically the image inverted and the adding a layer mask and blending the mask from light grey to dark grey. Lastly I made sure the whole layer was square and the people where central to layer prior to running the map object filter, Just as a side note the cylinder option uses your selected layer as a top and bottom for the the cylinder, so you will need to create a completely transparent layer and in the tab that is called cylinder change the selected layer for top & bottom to the transparent layer.

Here is the intially chain prior to the mapping, it is half the original size.

hearty

@he4rty: Very beautiful works!
I love the works that simulate 3D stuff in GIMP. You might realize how powerful GIMP is and how smart people are.