I'm pretty good at shading now. I've been practicing for months and I think I've finally got the hang of it.

I recently discovered a trick I can do using one of the filters that makes my drawings look a lot better. I use the portrait soften filter and then change the saturation to make the colors brighter. However, I don't want to rely on this trick because if the filter becomes unavailable, I won't be able to use the method any more.

I can shade well without the filter. Btu the filter makes my art look a lot better. What should I do?




My original:





Filter Trick

kinda like the original better >.>

I like the original better too. The second one looks kind of.... mushy. I suppose that's the blur effect it added. I also don't like the more heavily saturated colors.

I'm not personally a fan of the blur myself, but if you think it's better I'd say go with it.

If you're working in photoshop, those filters haven't changed since PS4 except to add new ones. The filters are a pretty stable part of the program.

Your techniques make the work bolder.
If they're good short-cuts to the effect you want, then stick with them I say.

Personally I don't use short-cuts... but then I work like a snail stuck to a glacier, so perhaps mine isn't the best way.

filters are a nice tool, but not a crutch. such a heavily filtered pic looks bad. im a fan of effects, but i think that if the effect obscures the linework, then the effect overtakes that and its bad.

heres a pic i colored then applied filters to myself...im no lynn varley, but i like it =\