Adam lives in Siemianowice Śląskie in Poland. As a child, he really liked to paint with crayons, paints or felt-tip pens, which is probably why he became a graphic designer. Now he is interested in Christian theology, healthy lifestyle, cooking, modern technologies, and computer graphics. Once we found Adam's stunning artworks on Instagram, we decided to ask him about his art and workflow.
Adam Plewa
– How and when did you start your way in digital art? Is it your work or your hobby?
I started late, when I was in my thirties — a dozen or so years ago. I have been a professional graphic designer for over 12 years, I am self-taught. I started with a free computer graphics course, then two internships as a computer graphic designer, and for 11 years I have been working from home.
– When and how did you find Filter Forge?
I found Filter Forge by accident when Instagram showed me @mattmillsart's work. I saw that he has #filterforge in his hashtags. I found filterforge.com and downloaded the trial version, I didn't wait until 30 days passed, after a few days I knew this was what I was missing. I always loved abstract art but never knew where to start from. My dream was to create album covers.
– How do you use Filter Forge in your workflow? What other programs do you use?
3 years ago I left my Adobe subscription and bought the Serif Affinity software suite (Designer, Publisher and Photo). Not long ago I bought the update to version 2. I am very happy with this software. I use Filter Forge as an Affinity Photo plugin every day, both in my professional work and hobby.
I often start with a few basic shapes in Affinity Designer, then go to Affinity Photo, rasterize layers and use multiple Filter Forge filters, sometimes the same filter several times. I often use filters from the Distortions, Photo, and Creative categories. I also have a lot of modified filters, e.g. I have several custom modifications of the Polar Distortion filter. Sometimes I use several layers: after applying a filter I copy a layer and apply another filter on it. Then goes post-production and color correction.
Sometimes I make backgrounds for social media banners, and sometimes I create graphics as a hobby in my spare time. I can't imagine not having Filter Forge now.
One of the social media banners, where the background was done in Filter Forge
– What filters do you like most? Can you make a list of your favorite filters?
There are really a lot of them. Bad trip, Black Hole, Blur Shift, Bumpy Glass, Infinity Mirror Tiled, Kaleidoscope, Modified Polar Distortion, Noise Distortion, Ripple, Rotation, Prism Effect, xPro, Lomo.
– Have you ever tried to make your own filters? If yes, which ones?
I have modified many of the filters mentioned earlier but have never created a filter from scratch.
– What filters and features are you missing in Filter Forge?
I really like the Realistic Vinyl filter, so I think there should also be realistic CD, DVD, BR, Book mockups. I really miss graphics card support, rendering uses CPU from what I've observed.
Adam, thank you for the answers! Find Adam Plewa and his artworks on behance.net: https://www.behance.net/adam1762
and Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/adamplewa.official/,
or visit Adam's shop here https://www.redbubble.com/people/adam1762/shop
