Appreciation post for the guy who told me to stop blending layers haphazardly

Some random artist on a Discord server told me to use separate layer groups for shadows and highlights instead of just painting over everything. I tried it on a portrait last month and my lineart actually stays clean now. Has anyone else had a piece get way better just from changing one tiny habit like that?

3 comments

3 Comments

price.ben1mo ago

Actually blend modes work fine if you use them on separate layers with clipping masks. The problem is when people just paint directly on one layer and try to blend everything with a soft brush or opacity jitter. I spent 6 months doing that on a character series and wondered why my shading looked muddy compared to pro artists. Switched to using multiply for shadows at 20-30% opacity and screen for highlights on their own groups. My linework stopped getting destroyed and my colors actually pop now. The trick is keeping your base color locked so you can mess with those blend groups without touching the original flat colors underneath.

claire_grant341mo ago

The real game changer is flipping your canvas horizontal while you work... catches all those wonky shadows and off proportions that you'd miss staring at the same angle for hours.

beth2761mo agoMost Upvoted

Nah, flipping it just messes with my muscle memory and makes everything look wrong lol