Hello,
Over the past 3 years I have taught myself some of the Adobe apps (After Effects, Photoshop, Premiere Pro, Audition) and consider myself adept if not experienced with using them. Should I include this with my extra curriculars or change only include them through an essay about writing them?
include them in your extracurricular, they definitely count as one if you are adept at using them.
If you can, I would pursue getting Adobe Certified for these apps. That would really solidify them as something worth being under your ECs. Otherwise, yes you can put them, but they might seem a bit sketchy to AOs as they have no way of know exactly how "adept" you are at using them. For all they know, you could have edited one photo and called it good.
Yes, you should. This counts as some form of art, especially if you are highly skilled in them.
To keep this community safe and supportive:
Any consistent activity that you do outside of school can be considered an extracurricular. The goal should be to look like the most well rounded student possible.