Potential spriting project, Layering help needed

[PsychoticMarik]

Hello everyone.
This is the first sprite in a potential wip for a mugen character.

The very thought of spriting this beast all at once makes my head bleed, but then I was told its possible to sprite in layers so that things are much faster and easier.
But Im not sure how to do it. I've been told that you can use layers in GIMP, but really Im not even sure where to start, or how the process is done.

I dont want a bunch of his body parts spread all over the place so that its hard to code, but I cant animate his pieces all at the same time like a normal character. Really need some advice.