Chapter 6 - Adjustments, Filters, & Effects

After you spend some time building your art skills and get better with drawing volumes, colors, and shadows, you still might feel like something is missing. The proportions are correct, the lighting may be spot on, but it still seems a bit bland. It doesn’t have that "pow" that gives it energy. Filters and effects might be what you are looking for. If tastefully done, they can add a great deal of interest to an image. It can help the viewer focus on a specific aspect or create new energy.

Filters are used to make color adjustments and corrections to your image. Your image could possibly use more contrast. Maybe the colors are too saturated and they need to be toned down. These adjustments can be done to the entire image and can save you time from having to repaint.

There are a couple of different ways you can apply filters. You can add them destructively via the Filter menu or nondestructively via the Layer menu.

Let’s start with the tools needed for making adjustments. From there, we will go into more detail with effects. We will go into the mysterious G’MIC filters to see some of the unique features that they have to offer. We will finally go over how to create effects on text and artwork nondestructively using layer styles.