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My GIMP Tutorial — Description

I know, still no writing on my part! I'll get to it, i promise!

This is a rough outline of my usual workflow for anybody who might be interested in doing their own edits. It probably wouldn't be of much use to anyone who already has some experience, but it might help get few more people into it - and i imagine anybody with BIID could really appreciate being able to edit their own photos to get a sneak peek on how their dream body is going to look like one day, without risking being doxxed by whoever they would otherwise send their photo to - safety and privacy is important, everyone!
So let's get to it:

1) We pick a photo we want to edit. Now, this girl is pretty, but she could be made prettier in few minute's work!

2) Carefully trace the outline of her shoulder. I use "Free Select" tool with blend radius set to 1-4 (depending on the picture resolution and sharpness. This was pretty small image so i used 1) by clicking down anchor points, creating a polyline. You don't have to be that careful with the inner edges, they will get removed later anyway.

3) Create layers like these: Background is source image, above it is main working layer created by copying the whole background (so we don't mess up the background itself should we need to bring something back from it) and top are two copies of the shoulder trace we just did.

4) Use "Unified Transform" to shape the bottom shoulder trace to desired shape. Top side might be little slimmer now, we'll adress that in next point

5) Repeating point 4 on the top shoulder trace we create the upper shoulder. It should be bulging a little from the bottom layer, simulating a shape of muscles enveloping the empty shoulder joint.

6) Blend the inner corners of the upper shoulder layer using the eraser tool with softness set to around 75 and scale apropriate for your image. This image was under 900pix tall, so i used eraser brush of diameter 30-50.

7) Return back to your main working layer and carefully trace the outline of her new shoulder and her dress everywhere where her arm shouldn't be anymore. Then, use the "Clone" tool to cover the spot with texture matching the background.

8) To clean up the dress and her now completely armless side, copy and paste a little piece of the back of her dress and the rim of her arm hole and blend it in, similar to how you just did her shoulder in points 4-6.

9) The shoulder looks good. A little too good maybe. To add a little character, you might put on some surgical scars or little imperfections. Easier and better looking scars are created by inserting from source images of actual scars. You might recognise the contours of this image from many of my previous works - there is a nice scar and a dimple, which, if applied to disarticulated shoulder, creates a nice illusion of depth.

10) Copy the dimple from the source image from point 9, paste it as topmost layer to the edited one and color-correct the layer to be as close match to the skin on her shoulder as possible.

11) Reshape and resize the dimple (or scar) to fit your image well and rotate it so the curve of the dimple follows the shape of the upper shoulder. You can play with contrast, Sharpen (unsharp mask) and blur tools as well as the layer's oppacity to get the dimple or scar to blend in or stand out just the way you want. When the layer looks just the way you want, blend in the outer edges with softness 75 eraser tool.

12) There - all done! All in 15-60 minutes work depending on the picture's scale, complexity of background and your skill and it didn't hurt a little bit! Don't forget to say your "I wish this was real" wish while exporting the image in case the Shop Genie is looking over your shoulder - you never know, it just might work one day 😉