GIMP - comprehensive tutorial I can download?

Being a poor pensioner (aren't most of us) I have found this amazing FREE photo editing software but am really struggling to understand how it works.
Yesterday I managed to do exactly what I wanted to, to "fill" a Bahtinov mask I was making, worked a treat.
Today, what ever image I "open" I just get checkered pattern, no image.
Any idea what I'm doing wrong, did exactly the same as I did yesterday 😩

Yesterday I managed to do exactly what I wanted to, to "fill" a Bahtinov mask I was making, worked a treat.
Today, what ever image I "open" I just get checkered pattern, no image.
Any idea what I'm doing wrong, did exactly the same as I did yesterday 😩


Thanks chavender, I'll work through it. I'm trying to separate a Bahtinov mask I generated on line which downloads as a .svg file and GIMP is the only program I have that will open it.
When does open it it appears as a "tablecloth" with the mask faintly showing through. What I need to do is remove the tablecloth!.
I'll get there, at 82 I'm a tenacious old bugger!!😎😎
When does open it it appears as a "tablecloth" with the mask faintly showing through. What I need to do is remove the tablecloth!.
I'll get there, at 82 I'm a tenacious old bugger!!😎😎

Thanks chavender. I have got Pixillion which converts anything to anything so been doing that but I really want to get my head round GIMP as it is a useful stacking tool for my astrophotography images.
Someone suggested Inkscape as a tool for processing .svg files directly. It does work very well I think. I managed to do what I needed to do to the .svg file and have saved it as a .tif which I can now print out.

Someone suggested Inkscape as a tool for processing .svg files directly. It does work very well I think. I managed to do what I needed to do to the .svg file and have saved it as a .tif which I can now print out.
