Matt Mills

Professional developer and amateur abstract artist, Matt once learned about Filter Forge when he was working at Disney. Now his art gets thousands of likes, appears on album covers, and even beer cans. We’re proud to hear that Filter Forge gives Matt's designs "an added level of detail and uniqueness"

Matt Mills

— How and when did you start your way in abstract art? Do you work in any other styles?

I've always been compelled to create things. When I was young, I would spend hours drawing. After studying computer science in college, I became obsessed with 3D modeling and spent several years honing my skills to create high poly characters and worlds. I even got my foot in the door at one of Disney's video games studios here in Austin but ended up working in IT as a developer instead of an artist. I continued to create art in my free time but really fell in love with programming as a career path. I started creating abstract artwork about 6 years ago by playing around with some new iPhone apps that had come out. I saw other people posting images of edited photos and abstract designs on Instagram and wanted to give it a try myself. So, I dove in and started creating every day. I was already familiar with Photoshop so I started attempting to re-create a lot of the effects I found in those iPhone apps with Photoshop. Although I'm still a full-time software engineer, in my free time I pretty much exclusively create abstract artwork. But I do like to dabble in 3D when I get the chance.

[Entanglement] 2020. Filters: Prism Effect by inujima, Twirl by Vladimir Golovin, Fish Eye Extra by andyz

— When and how did you find Filter Forge?

I started using Filter Forge in the creation process of my artwork about 2 years ago. I had actually learned about it when I was working at Disney in 2010. The texture artists there were making crazy tiled textures for a video game we were working on, and I was impressed by Filter Forge's abilities but never really had a use for it at that time. I happened to stumble upon it again a couple of years ago while researching Photoshop filters and decided to give it a try and see if it would be useful in my workflow. It was definitely a game-changer.

[ANXIOUS] 2020. Filters: Directional dispersion by Tim2501, Bad Trip by Vladimir Golovin

— How do you use Filter Forge in your workflow?

I use Filter Forge pretty heavily in most of my recent work. I feel that it gives my designs an added level of detail and uniqueness that I would be unable to achieve otherwise. I'll typically start by creating some basic shapes or lines over a background color or gradient in Photoshop. Then, I'll merge and duplicate those layers so I can open Filter Forge on that layer. I'll then start to go through all of the filters I've downloaded and see what looks cool. I typically play around with the settings of each filter to try and create something I've never seen before. It makes the process very free-flowing and I am constantly surprised by the amazing effects that can be achieved using the tool. After applying one filter, I'll add some more detail in Photoshop. Occasionally, I'll go through the process of trying out additional filters in Filter Forge and continue to push the design even further until I come up with something that I really like.

[Look Alive] 2020. Filters: Echo In by Rick Duim, sphere town by voldemort, Directional dispersion by Tim2501

— Can you make up a list of your favorite filters?

1. Prism Effect by inujima
2. Ripple by Crapadilla
3. Directional dispersion by Tim2501
4. uberLENS 2.5 by uberzev
5. Inside Out by Quasimondo
6. sphere town by voldemort

[RECOILED] 2020. Filters: Directional dispersion by Tim2501, Ripple by Crapadilla