Unpopular opinion: Glitch effects are ruining more digital pieces than they save

I spent 3 hours last night on a portrait in Procreate and accidentally hit the wrong distortion filter. The whole face warped into this pixelated mess and I swear I almost chucked my iPad across the room. Part of me thinks glitch effects can hide bad anatomy or lazy shading, you know? But the other half says they're just a crutch that some artists lean on too hard. My piece ended up looking like a corrupted JPEG from 2005 and I had to start over from scratch. So which side are you on? Do you think glitch overlays actually elevate a drawing or do they just mask the weak spots?

3 comments

3 Comments

craig.olivia2d ago

Used to think glitch effects were just lazy shortcuts but honestly watching my accidental filter ruin that much work made me see how they can actually be a deliberate choice when done right.

andrew_baker92d ago

Always funny how one accidental click can turn a clean project into digital confetti. Maybe it's just me but there's something oddly satisfying about watching layers get corrupted in exactly the wrong way. Kinda like when you mess up a recipe and discover it actually tastes better burned.

samreed2d ago

Buddy of mine once spent three days on a logo design, accidentally merged all the wrong layers, and ended up with this wild abstract splatter that looked way better than the original. He was pissed at first but the client actually loved the "happy accident" and it ended up winning some local design award. Now he swears by corrupting his own files on purpose sometimes just to get that lucky chaos.