Filter problem! (Conté crayon & Cutout)

[photoshophan]

Hi!
I'm going mad.. I have been using the filters conté crayon and cutout to change pictures into comic book-style. I have made 8 pictures but now when I was suppose to do the 9th it's IMPOSSIBLE to get the same result as the others?? So I went back and tried to do the 8th again which all of the sudden didn't work?? It worked the first time.
The conté crayon filter is all of the sudden just making the picture grey and dark
Please help.

 

[photoshophan]

I can see now that a lot of other filters are just making the picture darker and grey aswell.. WHY?!

 

[photoshophan]

I reset all my settings in preferences, that seemed to fix the problem. Now the conte crayon doesn't make the picture dark and grey!

 

[photoshophan]

Okay seriously I'm losing my mind. I just opened up photo shop.. Now "conte crayon" makes the picture weirdly BRIGHT and light??? What the hell is going on? HELP!!

 

[IamSam]

HELP!!

Are you in Photoshop or Elements?

 

[IamSam]

Please post the image to which you are applying the filter.
Post a screenshot of your settings.
Post an image showing the exact effect you are trying to accomplish.

Also post an image of your results.

Also explain how you are using the filter.................are you using it with any blending options?