The end result looks fine.
The way I see them, with more blur, they look more like an actual cat while with less they look more like a manga/anime one 😉
For the record: I used like four layers of blur in order to reach the effect I was looking for but I used the blur tool, not the general blur filter, and then I controlled the layers transparency where appropriate. This may not be possible in ePic without merging the layers, never got into the developper program ^_^
I guess, the answers all depend on what you’re aiming for. Both your kitsune look fine to me. As I see it, just two ways of drawing the same idea 🙂
You can increase the manga/anime effect using GIMP’s appropriate artsy filters.
I worked on providing the “roots” for the ears because I’m still the supers guy, my characters don’t always got visible hairs, they may wear hoods or such, so, well, you get the idea. But I didn’t have the developper program in mind, I was more like having fun with GIMP while trying to be useful. ^_^
Thanks for the link 🙂