My whole piece turned into a weird blur after I used a new filter pack

I was finishing a portrait and added a 'glow' filter from a free set I found online. It completely wrecked the line work and made everything look muddy, like I'd smeared oil on the screen. Has anyone else had a filter ruin hours of work, and how do you check them first?

3 comments

3 Comments

patricia6341mo ago

Oh man, "like I'd smeared oil on the screen" is such a perfect way to describe that awful filter look. I swear some of those free packs are just digital sabotage in a zip file. Hernandez.brooke has the right idea with the duplicate layer, that's saved me so many times. I've also started just slapping test filters on a random sketch file first, like a digital quarantine zone for bad effects.

anderson.jason1mo agoTop Commenter

Digital quarantine zone" is the best way to put it, patricia634. I do the exact same thing with a junk file now. It's like you need a test lab for this stuff because some filters just destroy all your hard work in one click. Hernandez.brooke's opacity trick is a lifesaver too, it shows you the effect without letting it take over. Why do these free packs even exist if they just make your art look worse? Feels like they're designed to waste your time.

hernandez.brooke1mo ago

I lost a whole background painting last month to a bad filter. The trick is to duplicate your layer first, always. Then drop the filter on the copy and turn the layer opacity way down, like to 30%. You can see if it's going to wreck your lines before you commit. If it looks bad, just delete that layer and your original is safe. I never trust a new filter on my main art layer anymore.