Best way for filtering photos?

[leviathanimation]

What's the best method for filtering real life photos? I'm using gimp, which is close enough to photoshop and I use pictures of real life scenery and filter it to fit with my drawings. I use selective gaussien blurr and then I oilify it a bit. I was wondering if there were better ways to filter a real picture, wether with other filters or just with some other software completely. I need good recommendation

[earthpow]

Yikes, most photo industry use Photoshop for picture cleaning. You may be better off using a phone app to adjust a photo.

[briarbun]

I really enjoy using Pixlr's stylize->watercolor filter after I touch up the photo to remove anything I don't want. I think it gives really nice results. Here's one example of an Unsplash picture.

[leviathanimation]

Wow your results look really good! I tried pxlr online editor but I can't find the watercolor filter that you're talking about?

I really enjoy using Pixlr's stylize->watercolor filter after I touch up the photo to remove anything I don't want. I think it gives really nice results. Here's one example of an Unsplash picture.

max-frajer-VZFHWCaVBqw-unsplash.jpgCafeteria.png

[briarbun]

Hm, I can't find it on the online version either. I always use my phone app though.

[hachi-mitsu]

Clip Studio Paint's new artistic filter feature is really good for filtering photos to look like backgrounds. This function is available in both versions of Clip Studio!

The results can look like the image briarbun posted, and you can alter the weight of the lines/amount of colours/colour blending too. I personally suggest to keep the lines and colour blending as low as possible. Here's a good tutorial on it with pictures: https://tips.clip-studio.com/en-us/articles/2384

Doing this + some paintover corrections + effect layers (exaggerated mood lighting, particles, etc.) can give some really satisfactory results. Good luck!

[qirien]

LunaPic has a lot of nice filters https://www8.lunapic.com/editor/. I'm using Fairy with a lot of my backgrounds for the game I'm working on (though not at full strength).

Sometimes I run them through GIMP's oilify first to get rid of details.

Example:
Original:

Filtered:

[leviathanimation]

Wait the Fairy filters gives crazy optical illusion like results haha. How do you get it to look like with your picture?

LunaPic has a lot of nice filters https://www8.lunapic.com/editor/. I'm using Fairy with a lot of my backgrounds for the game I'm working on (though not at full strength).

Sometimes I run them through GIMP's oilify first to get rid of details.

Example:
Original:
acequia.jpg
Filtered:
irrigation.jpg

[leviathanimation]

Thank you!

Clip Studio Paint's new artistic filter feature is really good for filtering photos to look like backgrounds. This function is available in both versions of Clip Studio!

The results can look like the image briarbun posted, and you can alter the weight of the lines/amount of colours/colour blending too. I personally suggest to keep the lines and colour blending as low as possible. Here's a good tutorial on it with pictures: https://tips.clip-studio.com/en-us/articles/2384

Doing this + some paintover corrections + effect layers (exaggerated mood lighting, particles, etc.) can give some really satisfactory results. Good luck!

[qirien]

Wait the Fairy filters gives crazy optical illusion like results haha. How do you get it to look like with your picture?

There's a slider at the top where you can adjust the strength of the filter. Then click "Adjust" and it will give you that image.