This is a story about a 23 year old artist from Germany who studies Integrated Design and is currently doing his bachelor thesis at the Anhalt University of Applied Sciences. He's inspired by nature, technology and abstract art, and appreciates creative freedom more than briefings. And he made almost a hundred great high usage filters. Where did he start and how did he become a master of the Filter Editor?
Martin Naumann
– How long have you been using Filter Forge?
I think for 5 years atm. I started in 2015.
– How did you learn about it?
I was searching for Photoshop plugins and found a recommendation on some online blog, it might have been CreativeBloq.
Laroché Chocolate Packaging
– What did you need it for at the beginning? How did you start to do album covers and abstract art?
I started as an amateur graphic designer by doing unofficial covers for the songs I liked. Together with a few friends, I created a Facebook page to show the results and it became pretty viral with the EDM Bubble.
Bazaar (Official Sunburn Goa 2015 Anthem) Song Cover
After that, I've done a lot of real album covers and banners for DJs and music producers and later for some known labels as well. I was a beginner then, I tried to learn how to make my own textures and effects, and Filter Forge seemed to be a great tool for this. The first things I've done there were definitely glitch effects.
TENSION artwork series
– What are your favorite filters?
Usually, I use my own filters. But there are so many filters I really like, even if I don't use them. But I think Digital Glitch 04, Sketchy Painting, and Skyscraper have definitely been my favorites right from the start.
– Why did you start to make your own filters? How did you learn to do this?
I learned it on my own. I began by downloading and editing other artists' filters. During this I learned a lot about the editor and how the nodes work. Making my own filters gave me way more opportunities to visualize my own ideas.
Weekly Work Pieces 2019 series
– What filters and features are you missing in Filter Forge?
I would love to do animations with Filter Forge, which isn't possible at the moment. That would be the best feature I can imagine. GPU support would also be nice for larger files.
36 days of type 2019 series
Martin, thank you for the answers! Find out more about him and his art on his Instagram or Behance pages.
