Stop Using TOO MANY Layers in Your Art! (Downsides of Digital Art Layers) || SPEEDPAINT + COMMENTARY

[@DuchessCelestia]

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[@ggun4550]

For me it's always two rules: - as little layers as possible - merge everything that could be merged I just HATE having a lot of layers.

[@AbsoluteSolver_98.7]

Same here! Having lots of layers looks messy, and it's so hard to find anything. I also often name layers if I have more than five of them, lol.

[@chinkram]

as someone with ocd i do the exact same:P

[@theeldritchfanatics]

I merge most if not all of my layers before color and shading. So usually I'm left with 2-3 layers

[@Eldritch-weirdass]

same here! my brain stops functioning at 10+ layers lol

[@ChasingSensei]

SAME I absolutely dislike various layers, i already get confused with 10, imagine 100 like these people 💀

[@professionalshnitzel]

i couldn't possibly use more then twenty layers in my drawing and that's an overstatement it just makes a mess of my brain. you actually made me realize why so many artists use so many layers

[@what_the_actual_hay]

Same. The most I've *ever* used were 15-20

[@ftg-n8n]

true true, i used to be one of em but i just grew out of the training wheels

[@faivana_]

I’ve been using at least 40 - 50 layers… its pretty bad but I’ve switched it up to only using 10 or less (i merge it all tgt)

[@infiniteX3]

@@what_the_actual_hayI used 10 , I used too 😭

[@NUCLEARxREDACTED]

Getting in the habit of renaming layers has made a pretty big difference for me. 5 seconds at the layer creation almost always ends up saving me minutes of search time later. And that's with like 20-30 layers at most. I couldn't even imagine 200.

[@riellechristine3806]

Ah, If only... I am a Live 2D artist and rigger so I will be stuck making a huge amount of layers. I love that just to make a hand I need min 6 layers and that if I don't seperate the color, shading, and lineart.

[@Stratelier]

The important part is to only use as many layers as you functionally need. If you're rigging up an animation node that ends up never being _actually_ used (in one way or another), then maybe that layer is being one too many. Similar arguments apply in 3D modeling, too. Sometimes it's more efficient to have the engine swap between "prebaked" elements rather than trying to actually _animate_ said elements on a rig.

[@pairofbutterfliesRG]

5:06 holy shit, no square space sponsor, blink twice if you need help

[@lcgl09]

Phfff 🤣

[@meronyach.]

Honestly, layers are one of the reasons I choose to paint traditionally. Layers and blending modes are so fun, and easy to get carried away with, that I find myself with a disorganized mess😂. Using watercolor forces me to work a bit more of a restrained way than I would digitally.

[@sunhopii8534]

me 2 years ago would feel insanely called out, but now I'm so unbothered I literally colour on my sketch layer ☠ any art over 3 layers is just too much work

[@AlfredEiji]

Sounds like you made major character development over two years.

[@idoyoutube2019]

same

[@RetroAdventurer-k3m]

When I first got into digital art I used to use hundreds of lays but these days I use 2-3 because I prefer to blend colors manually. I use a layer for lines and sketch then one layer for color sometimes a layer or two for effects. I dislike the look of art work with too many layers, also using so many layers makes me not stick to things and change stuff too much and it made me reliant on the tools irl I was struggling to draw and understand color.

[@aikoheartblossom]

as someone who is learning art in general, i love using layers. i do have hundreds. i am using them as part of the learning process though. most of what i draw are characters on a blank background, so environmental lighting is difficult to establish for me. having a bunch of layers helps me go back and revise things I did earlier in the process if I learn how to do something better later on, or if i discover a new beautiful color or way to shade and decide i would like to do that for the entire piece. i'm not committing, because i havent reached the point where i even HAVE a style to commit to just yet. i'm using layers to help me discover that. if you are an established artist, i can absolutely see using less layers because you should be more confident in what you've learned so far, but i find in the learning process, it IS easier for me to have a lot of layers so i don't feel the need to scrap an entire project just because i learned something new and changed my mind about something i did earlier and have no way to fix it.

[@photogenicBlur]

i: -sketch -paint over sketch that's it. but i use layers to keep a timeline of sorts of every piece i make. every now and then, i will put everything on a folder, copy whats visible, and keep working on the copy. i love looking at the progress of my work, so this works for me. i end with less than 15 layers tops

[@mercy5004]

I think the tricky thing with layers, as its kind of brought up here, is that they are not a substitute for fundementals. They are a tool best used alongside them. An approach I use, and always recommend comes from traditional art, specifically "glazing" with Oil Painting. Thin, transparent layers upon layers of color used to subtly add richness and detail to a work and create the sense of form. There are glazes placed specifically on one object or area of a particular color (like skin) to deepen it, and there are glazes that are spread across the entire piece to harmonize it. Very different from the approach of Acrylic Paint, or even Gouache painting, which is very similar to the single or just a few layers approach to painting, with an emphasis of solid blocks of color and blending colors manually with the brush. Studying why each approach works, and finding which one suits you (I've always enjoyed oil painting over acrylic because I desire near total control over the work, and acrylic dries before I can even think of blending anything) as well as all the art fundementals and skills that go into painting in either medium, will carry someone *very* far when it comes to how to best use layers.

[@Kaito57]

*(reads title)* ... You better have a darn good argument or hands will be thrown with an E Rating lol

[@Idlydonte]

another downside for the large amount of layers that the program you using will crash eventually. I mostly prefer up to like 1- 4 layers and eventually merge them into one

[@mercy5004]

@@Idlydonte Though this largely depends on what program and hardware you're using. I can and have had, literal dozens upon dozens of layers before on a single file with a variety of masks, folders, modes, etc enabled. No lag, crashes, or bugs. I shouldn't, but have, accidentally left said files open in my painting software overnight.... and they were still there and waiting for me. Which is good because I often forget to save lol But I have both a laptop and desktop designed with gaming in mind, with lots of storage, RAM, and a good graphics card put in. (one of which is nearly 10 years old, still running on Windows 8) Not that I've never ever had a crash before, but those have happened with sometimes very little correlation with layer amounts considering how much I've continued to abuse it lol. Just something to keep in mind for any artists who do like to work in large/layer heavy programs. If possible, upgrade the hardware. It's a lifesaver and with the right maintenance, can last you a long long time.

[@Tyrannee]

Meanwhile, me using 15 layers for a character for no reason...

[@LLdeduction]

I have the exact same problem with making too many base layers and shading/rendering each thing separately. Makes sense why it was never coexisting well and clashed with each other. This was an eye opener!

[@randomhuman_05]

3:10 Ok- that made me feel a LOT better about my 20-30 layers in folders 😂.

[@MoonDream249]

As someone who, even after a bit of introspection, doesn't really have a problem when it comes with having too many layers, I find this video very interesting, at least not to the extent that Paige describes lol. I think it mostly comes down to your style and general art process outside of layers, generally speaking a very simple style with very little details, might still take more layers then an ultra realistic painting, because has it's line art, base colors, shadows, and highlights are on separate layers, and another ways made on one layer with various brushes. My style is generally speaking, simple, and so is my art process, all "grounds" are separated into it's own folders, all main line art is merge respectively and then everything that is the same colors (and sometimes material) and then typically I use no more then 4-6 blending modes (depending on the piece) so they usually end up under 50 layers.

[@analudraws]

This is so true! I had such struggles with digital art and not having any confidence to commit that I just went back to traditional to just limit myself and focus on improving my skills and not fuss with 200 + layers.

[@SnoFitzroy]

Something that really helps for me with keeping my layer counts down is biting the bullet and merging a bunch of them in late stages of the work - I use Ibis for all of my art, which has a feature that lets you Duplicate a WIP - So what I do is make a dupe, then on the new version, merge all of my lineart layers (for example) before then moving on to the color phase, where I can now use a bunch more layers without having a high total of layers. Also, if two things I have on separate layers affect totally different sections of the image, such as details in lineart or color that are on opposing corners, I usually make sure to merge those too - anything I'm doing to edit one of those parts should not go far enough across the image to affect the other, so keeping them on the same layer is fine :)

[@acidicchoco]

Great video! As someone that is way too lazy to name any layers, I refuse to actively look for layers too. I don't know the shortcut for procreate or other ipad apps but if you're using clip studio you can easily do CTRL+SHIFT and left click to a certain piece on your image and itll immediately direct you to the layer you're trying to find

[@commentslaveaccountlol2524]

procreate has smthin like that too, where it shows u the layer that a line is in when you click on it (and leading you to that layer if u click again) altho tbh it sometimes gets annoying when it lets you into a different layer without you noticing so mine is closed lol

[@thebroccodile7099]

I never thought of to many layers as a problem I default to 3-5, sketch, lineart, color, shading & higlights, the last two being optional. The most I've gotten was a project where I designed 14 characters in one canvas where I've used 2 folder within which one forlder for each character and within each the folders were 3 layers for sketch color & lineart so basically 42 layers & 16 folders. The only problem I've had was when I had multiple layers on clipping and wanted to merge them together but the program won't let me, but that's pretty easy to fix.

[@luhan5123]

There was a time when I worked in a studio (no big deal, it was a studio where managers would get us commissions, and artists would just have to work, and we all had different stages of the commission incoming), I was good at most tasks, lineart, base colors, shading whether it was by color picking or multiply layer. I even developed a technique for painting fur, I showed them how to do it too, but what I learnt from them is that no matter what your painting procedure is, you can always, still, merge all into a new layer and start using filters and reshade and resignify everything even after it looks finished and even imperfect. And I adopted it and it became one of my signatures now, nobody will know how I do it unless I make a video of it, but basically what I do is: draw,lineart,base and then for things like hair and skin I may use a color picking for things like blush, stuff that need a particular work, then I go multiply layer shading for overall work, sometimes it's like filling the layer with the shading color and then "cutting the lights" but not really erasing but more like using a color that looks harmonic with the overall piece, sometimes it can be blue with a desaturated and light yellow, sometimes it is a soft purple with a pink and then the same yellow, it depends on what I wanna achieve. Then I may add highlights if needed. Merge into new layer and use filters, if I like how it looks, but I feel like I could do some more things for like hair and stuff, I make a new layer on top of that one, and draw what I need and paint/shade using the merged and filtered image as palette for final details. This is my fullcolor procedure, it takes around 10 hours to finish a piece but it's worth it. Then there's my soft color procedure, which is much easier: after base color I only do a color picking of the LEAST necessary to give it spice. Proceed to multiply layer and (this step may be like in the fullcolor about the colors I pick or it can be like:) just fill it with the shading color, and go right next to the highlight layer (add glow), and all the lighting is made there. Merge, add touch ups, and that's all. Lineart is super softened, like a 30% on multiply. Filters are what make most of the harmonizing about the overall colors. I use around 30 layers max and 10 min, but I can perfectly just use around 3 or 4 if I wanna make it light, but that's another procedure, with textured brushes

[@luraymoondust]

After watching this video I checked how much layers I use and based on 2 pictures I use somewhere between 40-70 layers. probably less when it's not a full body and bg piece And I use lots of folders but I don't usually name the folders or layers bc my tablet setup makes it difficult to do so. Also I didn't know layers can make your pictures take more space.... No wonder mine always takes up space... 😅

[@Stratelier]

The primary technical hurdle to having too many layers is that the more layers you have contributing to a given final element, the more difficult it becomes to make deep adjustments TO that element. For example, if you need to just scrap and resketch a minor detail, you may _also_ need to redo any layer effects that modify it, else they'll look inconsistent. As a specific example, GIMP 2.x doesn't support text as a vector object, its engine necessarily rasterizes them into a layer. This means that _literally any_ change to the underlying text must necessarily force the engine to re-rasterize the text from scratch, potentially discarding any other changes that could have been made to that layer, even changes that would be considered non-destructive if it were being edited in a purely vector context (as in Inkscape).

[@terrenceanimates277]

As a victim of multiplied purple shadows, trust me learning color theory was the best thing ever for my art 😭😭😭🙏🙏🙏

[@magentialice]

me who only uses three layers for most of my art: lol, imagine.

[@L1_1XX]

Ikr I use 5 layers

[@Perilous_perils_forrest]

I use like 10-15 if I’m shading, if not three of em

[@gomibear.]

I use 4 layers max because my phone can’t handle more than that without becoming really laggy

[@Atomic1212]

I only use a max of 7 lol

[@hypetrail]

I always try to use a bigger canvas and it restricts me making more layers but there are also several tricks to counter some of the "problem". Overall, you shouldn't use too many layers unless it's for a project and it needs constant revisions or supervision by other artists or clients.

[@Iheartdriftwood]

I dont usually comment stuff like this but your actually such a big inspiration for my art. I adore your style and your voie always inspires me to draw. As an autistic kid, i find you very relatable too. Tysm for continuing to create awsome videos celestia :)

[@MusicFreakKatz]

I started making my art digitally back in 2021 and I'm still learning things. This video is very helpful, thank you! 🥰

[@AdorableFennec]

Shrek in the thumbnail is gold

[@ray-ze8vf]

right!!! when i stopped drawing lineart for each individual piece of a drawing it made me so much more happier and confidence in my skills

[@flickerwizz233]

This is a great example of what I like to call digital art brain rot (not derogatory lol). I've personally experienced that when I only draw digital art for an extended period of time, these bad habits of relying on shortcuts like layers really fester. I think a great exercise for any digital artist is to just take a pause and do some traditional art or to limit yourself to only using maximum three layers for a piece just to gain some artistic confidence and practice doing things like shading yourself. Also a technique I've been using for lighting quite a bit recently that's worked wonders for me personally has been just fill bucketing all the base colours real fast to pinpoint the general colour pallette of the piece, then taking that pallette and using overlay layers with the general room's ambience to give the colour some cohesion, then using some different overlays to establish highlights. Then I take that new colour pallette and make a very rough shading "guide" where I establish where most of the shading and highlights go. Then I move on to detailed rendering for each colour layer and this makes the process a lot more streamlined and has improved my lighting a lot.

[@emilianojaramillorodriguez8351]

Time to De-Shrekified my job

[@thepuzzlemaster64]

I feel like because I started-out drawing with pencil and paper that I never really had any problems with layers. Honestly, the best thing to do if you have a layer problem is to either go back to doing pencil drawings, or use a drawing app on some handheld system (like Colors 3D on the 3DS, Colors Live on Switch, or the Art Academy games on DS, 3DS, Wii U, and Switch) where you either have only a handful of layers, or only one layer to draw on. It makes you get into this "planning" phase of drawing that not a whole lot of people do, where you make sketches with your mind before sketching on paper. It also gets you to deal with what I call "micro mistakes". Mistakes that are so small that only you (the artist drawing it) will see them, and no one else. It turns art into a sort of puzzle (which is probably why I like doing it).

[@nyx8642]

As someone who tried different rendering processes I totally agree with you on this one! I found that me sketching and then painting over it as well as rendering smack dab on top of it took less time and it was one of best pieces I've ever made compared to that one art piece that I made that took so many hours and even months to make just because I did lineart and had so many layers on it 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭 it was so tedious

[@Kuso_Ouji]

This is a cute video, thank you Celestia~ I know a lot of artists use a whole bunch of layers, so seeing the title intrigued me a lot. I also used to use many layers, max 80 I think. But now I just really can't be bothered. In fact I often go out of my way to gut myself by merging literally everything together, sketch, colour, layer modes. And I do all this without thinking because if I mess up, ik I can basically just draw over top of it like nothing happened. Feels pretty good honestly. Edit: Oops forgot to mention your lineart here is so beautiful! Edit 2: Ah and I think your message about how the overuse of layer modes and how that affects your confidence is very important. I'm sorry you had to go through these things, but it's super cool that you've made a video trying to help others with similar problems. Trust me, there are many people who needed to hear your message :')

[@darkwaterseraphim]

I got into digital art well into my artistic journey, so I had the opposite issue - not enough layers. At least, not for the methods I was using and what I wanted to do. I did have a lot of common issues, such as putting that one little mark on the mystery layer and having to hunt it down. But my brain had trouble with which layer needed to be in front when creating new layers, a problem I'd never had in traditional media. That said, I sat down, analyzed what I wanted to do, what was/wasn't important, layer order, and built a "template" file. It's got about 30 layers that have been pre-named and organized into named folders. I also made rules about naming new layers as they're created and merging extraneous layers as they're created. Otherwise, I get overwhelmed with the number and it makes me set down the medium. Frontloading the organization and having ground rules have brought digital art back into an intuitive realm for me. When I was solely traditional, I used the mindset "if I hate it, redraw it" to apply to my art. Because if you "mess up", you often have to start over. But I had the added rule of always trying to finish a piece to about 85 - 90% of the way even if I "messed up". This forced me to learn the "trust the process" and "happy little accidents" lesson. Sometimes something looks terrible midway through. And sometimes an actual mistake like tea on you watercolor piece can turn it into something you'd never have tried on your own. If a piece really is terrible at a finished stage, I try to use it to determine what I do/don't like about it and how I can do things differently. Then I remake the piece over until I'm satisfied with it, sometimes turning to other mediums until I am. My own harsh methodologies aren't for everyone, but they helped me work through commitment anxiety, curated a mindset of mistakes being growing opportunities, embracing experimentation, and turning an idea on its head.

[@5TR3TCH3Z]

Hearing you talk about rendering each individual detail on separate layers felt like getting sent to the past. I remember being so frustrated sorting through hundreds of unnamed layers because I would use a different clipping mask for each part of a character (hair, eyes, skin, each article of clothing, etc.). Watching Thestarfishface's coloring tutorial changed the game for me. My layer count dropped from 70+ to maybe 30 at absolute max. That video also introduced me to auto actions in Clip Studio, so now with one press of a button, I have all my layers created, named, & stacked into color-coded folders. Could not recommend her art tips highly enough.

[@3lue0ne]

I usually split my every drawing into part of a piece like head, hair, dress, shoes, background etc. Usually I merge when I know that I don't wanna come back to this part of the artwork. Other layers are shadows, filters and blending modes. I also group my layers so I can faster find layers easier. I wanted to use less layers but it's really hard for me to draw on my phone using less layers. A few times I had to finish the artwork on my PC, using ibis Paint on PC is literally a torture. It works so bad on PC and I can't turn the ibis Paint artwork file into the Krita file.

[@actualegremlin]

my process usually sees the following layers: 1: base sketch (the base figure, no features) 2: optional refined sketch (usually putting clothes on said figure) erase parts of 1 covered by 2, then merge both 3: inks 4: optional extra layer for details of the inks (ie earrings, tiny details, or if i'm drawing tails and such so i don't take the rest of the lineart with it when i go to erase it) 5: flat colors (this is usually only one but sometimes i have 1-2 more if i want to experiment) 6 and 7: rendering highlight / shadow anything else after that is usually corrections / adjustments for funsies and my signature, plus any background layers (which is usually only 2-3, i hate drawing backgrounds). I don't understand some of my friends who insist on using layers for every different color, and like you said, it looks insecure and something about that irks me to no end

[@dataexpunged2585]

At first I used way too many layers, not nearly as much as others, but 20 is still quite a lot to me. At some point, I went to the complete other direction and sketched and painted a whole piece on a single layer. And now I am comfortably in the middle where I only split things up based on whether its positive or negative space, i keep old sketches in an "old stuff" folder, i keep references in a reference folder. And the actual art itself is usually around 4 to 6 layers. If there are multiple elements in positive space (say 2 characters), i put them in respective folders. I always keep things named and organized as it's something I learned from game design, where it is not just far more important, but absolutely necessary to be organized.

[@rymaix]

6:37 ERU FROM SHINGEKI NO AWAKE!!!! I LOVE HIM I LOVE SNA!!! VISUAL KEI MENTIONED!!! seeing an interest of mine here is making me go insane ohmygod

[@ReiShs]

To be fair: it heavily depends on how detailed the images are. Sometimes, I create paintings that have a very high degree of detail, including background. You won't be able to do it without a lot of layers unless you are so pro you need no adjustments in the piece. I do use blending modes for final retouches. Coloring/shading is mostly done one 1-2 layers of each major object (e.g. skin, coat) without blending modes. Definitely agree that relying on blending modes all the time can lead to a certain block as far as improvement of skills goes. Usually, I don't do lineart at all, just initial sketch. IF I do lineart, it is merged to 3 layers before coloring. However, back to point 1: I can imagine many layers would be necessary if image is highly detailed. As for organization: funny enough, over time I got so used to organize layers in the same way (bg -> skin-> clothes -> hair) that I don't need to search for layer most of the time even if I didn't name them.

[@melodywitch8627]

for me my layers are sorted by sketch and color or sketch, line art color and occasionally ill add an extra layer to shade on before merging it down onto the color layer. i then merch the entire piece once its 90% of the way done and paint over it to correct any obvious mistakes, or to add special effects. The only acceptation to this is when i draw objects or backgrounds i will paint it all on one layer as its what im more used to thanks to the wait my art teacher taught me how to paint in high school. granted iv always drawn in similar way even traditionally. I'd use a light box to line my sketch on a new bit of paper and regularly make use of masking tape and masking fluid when painting or colouring to make sure the color only went were i wanted it to go.

[@mikoevelynn111]

Honestly I use a LOT of layers but I ALSO frequently use folders to combine things like the coloring for the hair, clothes, skin, etc.

[@elisaelisaross]

Interesting! I only draw traditionally, and it's the first time I have seen layers and how they work explained so clearly! I guess you only showed some of their functions, not all of them, but it was still more than what I knew before

[@bilabbiboyfilms9558]

Funnily enough I used to be someone who used as little layers as possible - I think it was mostly cause I used ibispaint cause it would crash if I used too many - I was very conscious of the amount of layers I was using and wanted to use as little as possible, and from what I remember it was always at least up to 10 layers Now that I’ve seen artists have an ungodly amount of layers and I’ve also started taken my art more seriously I now use up to 30-40 layers each piece- and that doesn’t even count how much layers I use when I’m sketching (I usually merge them down anyways) and oh boy do I love the existence of folders they are an absolute LIFE SAVER. I think I will try and practice using less layers again, but boy am I glad to know I’m not the only one who uses so much layers

[@L0rar3]

I am SO guilty of this, it's like closing the 999Tabs I collected over the past years of owning my smartphone 😩 I need to actually pay attention to how many layers I'm using to avoid overusing it. I got already better at this but well 😅 One thing I like to do is only have the sketch and base color on a seperate layer and then use one layer for the rendering. When I'm unsure abt something, I'll duplicate the layer and move on. Having almost everything on one layer really keeps me from creating a seperate layer for every single part of the image and I can get more lost in the progress of drawing This video is too relatable 😭

[@Moka_Peach]

The best thing I ever did was to put all of my base colours into a folder, and then have my render layers clip to the folder (aka all of the base colours). This means I only ever use 1-4 colours for shading, and 1-3 for highlights and everything looks cohesive as well as minimising time spent on the layers. Once I'm happy with it all, I will save as a PNG and do my final bits of rendering, colour management, etc, in a new file which ends up being so much smaller and manageable.

[@ProfessorSpacecakes]

I used to put each color and the shading for that color on their own layers. I've gotten a lot better over the years, and now my average finished piece has about five layers: inks, color & shading, add for glowy bits (i draw a lot of robots), overlay for extra warm/cool toning, and sometimes a multiply layer if I need to push some shadows a little darker. When I do a Live2D model however... Dear god, it is layer hell. I think my last one actually had over 1000 layers with all the parts separated out.

[@N-I-N-A-]

i just wanted to say i love the luka art AMAZING!!!

[@Hatsune-Miku_Fan]

Love the Luka fan art you are drawing my lovely tuna lady 🐟

[@DarthBiomech]

I'm wathicing this video and it made me realize that I probably don't use _enough_ layers. My process for characters is usually line, flats folder, five shading layers ontop of it (flat color fills with masks and different blending modes) and that's all. Backgrounds receive two to five layers max, because they're, well, _backgrounds,_ they aren't important.

[@RailRide]

I've seen so many speedpaints (from artists way above my level) where the layers panel clearly shows that the layers are unnamed, that I felt like an odd duck for always naming mine. I tend not to generate more than a couple of dozen layers on a finished piece if it's a comic page with word balloons and such, half that for a simple pinup. Naming layers, _locking the ones you'e not using_ and paying attention to what ones you're switching to, reduces the bane of drawing a bunch of stuff...and realizing you've drawn them on _the wrong layer_ 😳‼ I know it's a common enough misstep owing to the number of 'wrong layer' memes floating around (my favorite is the one based off _El Dorado_ ).

[@KatsRule690]

i used to have a million layerz in my art and i agree the moment i deliberately started using less layers i started improving a lot in my colors and rendering, and it was actually so less stressful when i made mistake and needed to adjust something in the drawing when it didnt involve adjustin lik various other layers on top of that.

[@CrimsonStudioz]

I draw both traditional and digital, whenever I'm drawing digital I see no harm in fully taking advantage of the tools in my disposal, why make my life hard ¯⁠\⁠_⁠(⁠ツ⁠)⁠_⁠/⁠¯

[@CrimsonStudioz]

This really is just skill issues not layer issues, layers are really useful, weather for organising or to add certain effects I can achieve otherwise in traditional media, using layers to only avoid mistakes or to used multiply and luminous or add glow is such a waste my dude. It's not the layers fault it's the user's honestly. Art is about choice and experimentation and layers makes it easier to experiment ¯⁠\⁠_⁠(⁠ツ⁠)⁠_⁠/⁠¯ use that to your benefit

[@v-nus7718]

Recently ive started easing myself off of this slightly by saving multiple .clip files along the process, with the files still having layers, while i proceed with a version thats merged. helps me commit while still having a backup in case i mess up

[@charlieyipeee]

i actually use folders a lot, but at some point in my process i end up with multiple folders, but also a mountain of misc. layers for rendering and it still ends up a big mess.

[@CrescentiaFortuna]

I use a lot of layers, one layer for each colour, but my shading (linear burn, 55% opacity in a tinted light grey tone) and lighting (either normal, overlay, or add glow) is on top of all of the base colours, so it affects them all evenly. (also a bunch of layers are added and kept in folders for variations, like diffrent expressions or outfits on a character). My avarage artwork takes something between 6-7 hours^^

[@missedthebandwagon976]

60-200 layers?! Okay, now I don't feel so guilty about my 15-25 layers.

[@takendruid]

What I personally do is duplicate the folder my colouring is in and then flatten it to render all together. That way, I still have the original folder with all my colours in in case I need to change any colours in the middle of rendering. But it also means that I can render my subjects as a whole and not just as individual pieces of one whole.

[@roobbllle]

I never liked using lots of layers. Some artists add new layers almost as often as they press undo, ending up with hundreds of layers. Watching that causes me second-hand stress, lol. I basically only ever use 2 or 3 layers: 1 for sketch, 1 for lineart (if there's even lineart), and then 1 for toning or painting. Sometimes I get lazy and just use 1 layer, directly painting over my initial sketch. Sometimes I'll use more layers for setting up printing guidelines, and perspective guidelines if needed. I know in concept art and animation it's common to use tons of layers. But that's a production environment where studios want as much control and ability to quickly edit things at the last minute as possible. For personal art, I feel like it's usually best not to do that, and to concentrate more on what you want to say with your art. Worrying about maximum efficiency can take much of the fun out of making art.

[@cassielcruzchavolla809]

I thought I'd get called out in this video, but I only use like 7 layers max . I had no idea people used so many layers.

[@shatteredprism]

This video made me realize how many layers I use and that after I've gotten a part lined/colored, I should merge it down and move on instead of letting the layers sit there for all eternity because "What if I decide I don't like it later?"

[@bijective]

I have a set template that I reuse. I highly recommend that one create a template with layers + folders w/names and even layer blending modes. This will cut down mistakes.

[@chok1169]

Me watching my 200 layers lmao

[@CloudsAndDays]

I almost never merge my color layers and I make one for pretty much every color on my drawings. Usually by the end of a full render, I’ll have somewhere from 60-100 layers. But I am very good at organizing. I utilize a lot of folders, I color coordinate them, and I label them. I do merge my shading layers, my highlight layers and most of my line art. I usually keep the face separate because it’s easier to color the faces. And I figured out how to shade manually before I figured out layer types existed. So I guess I win actually.

[@Ren.d3r]

The most layers I had was around 800 before my laptop and photoshop couldn’t handle it anymore lol. In my defence i was in game development and was using that file to plan, make, and store assets (much more convenient to access everything when they’re in the same file, just toggle the layers on and off). I named and grouped all layers accordingly, so when it got too laggy I just copy and pasted each group into their own file once the art direction was stable and I didn’t need cross reference other assets for every little thing :]

[@ridwanjodi1429]

Yeah, I always naming layer, it's a bit annoying if you have layer with some numbers included. Even if I lazy, I just name it as "Raster Layer" (as I have put linearts on "Vector Layer") or just "Ref" for references. Or, if you work in Clip Studio Paint, you can attach layer with name and attributes to Material. Or even a folder with some layers. It will save you from renaming and setting your layer.

[@thepuzzlemaster64]

To me, in general I don't use a whole lot of layers. It's usually 4 or 5 per object. So like the BG will have a sketch, colouring, and 2-3 shading layers depending on how complex it is, and each character will have a sketch, lineart, colour, and a few shading layers that I merge afterwards. Sometimes I even merge/delete most of them if my laptop is slowing down to a crawl. Ironically enough, sometimes adding layers, and breaking-up parts of the drawing into smaller chunks can help save ram space. Though, since I work with vector based graphics, my entire art workflow has changed entirely from being as efficient as possible with my layers, to having a couple hundred layers for one background. OK, well in "vector land" there's no "layers", but they practically behave like them. Let's just say that I've gotten used to naming my layers pretty quickly after going into "vector land"...even if it takes like half an hour just to do so. Also, am I weird for not using filters, clipping masks, and alpha locks when I draw? I feel way too "traditional" with my digital art sometimes.

[@amelieh9499]

i'm one of those people who name each layer and use lots of folders whenever i make a piece with full color, shading and lineart :) definitely use a bit too many layers (around 50-100 depending on the piece) i paint with real life watercolors which is a fun challenge so drawing digital is like taking a break from the stress for me haha 😂

[@clownstop]

I use a max of 6 layers, sometimes 10 or more, depending if I feel like detail n stuff. 1 layer: the sketch 2nd layer: the line art (extra to draw certain other things but merge it with the 2nd) A layer for reference Another for color and shade/bg I always hated using a ton of layers. Maybe that's why it takes faster for me to complete a piece.

[@SpringStarFangirl]

My process usually winds up with about fifteen to twenty layers all told, depending how many sketches I did. Turns out having multiple layers of blushing makes my characters' skin look a lot more lifelike.

[@emotionalkryptonite1161]

I usually only use like....maybe six layers (Background, sketch/colors, line art, shading, highlight, and then duplicating the collapse piece and gaussian blurring it a little bit)

[@spottysneeky8567]

I typically make a lot of layers as a go, even for line art. but theyll always be merged with the same respective layers. like all lines will eventually be merged (unless there's good reasons to have them separate), all base colors will be merged into one. the only things i wont merge if i have multiple layers for it is shading and highlights

[@takendruid]

At least in Procreate and Clip Studio Paint, there are ways of easily finding a layer. In CSP, that’s through the tool that has a square and mouse in the image in procreate, hold down the square in the middle of size and opacity, and then tap or click on whatever it is you’re trying to access

[@whoahanant]

I don't have too much issues with layers at the end because I delete or merge layers together that I need. Majority of my layers are during the sketch phase, once that is done as I want it well I only need 1 layer of the finished sketch so I create 1. The lineart, coloring, shading, ect have their own layers but not nearly as much as the sketch phase before I make the final sketch. I also put all those into labeled folders. So eventually there should only be 1-5 in each folder by the end because I'll merge majority of what needs to be there. The folders are all labled Sketch, Lineart, Color, ect. So everything is in it's proper place without me looking through a million layers.

[@kleo6868]

The highest layer count i have gotten to was 23 HIGHEST. And thats for art that takes me 3-5 hours, usually I get to around 6-12 layers and 3 at the least

[@archimedeis]

I don't think I've ever gone past 70 layers and even that feels like waste to me. Ideally I strive to keep it under 50. Not only does it look better but for those of us with lower end devices, it helps the program run smoother

[@bunilla3856]

literally the reason of time is why i stopped seperating everything with layers. it took so long and i didnt enjoy it. so i stopped and god it felt so much better HSHSVD

[@MikaMikaMii2211]

I personally didn't start with confidence issues though I do like having options which can be restricting since I can get pretty indecisive. My high layer usage doesn't really come from a lack of confidence though it comes from never knowing if I'll want to animate my piece I do like being able to edit everything easily later in a piece though & I may not recognize it as easily because I started using lots of layers to animate. I also am an undo spammer mostly with lineart when I do it cleanly so that's partly due to a lack of confidence but is different than layers & it's in most cases me immediately recognizing that something is just wrong not me experimenting with it. I like to just post the different options in multiple image posts/slides or in videos. I'm also a very sentimental person even when it comes to my layers so I often want to keep them there even if I didn't like how they turned out. I like to have my artworks be riggable though I have started using work arounds to make it towhere my art can be riggable with less layers or separation that comes after the sketching, lineart, base color, rough rendering/draft colors, rendering, & or refinement stages in my workflow. You mentioned working separately then combining layers in the video but you didn't mention working on layers combined then separating later. There are limitations to separating stuff out later on of course but it also allows you to have your colors interact more in animations. The amount of separation I use in my illustrations is often too much for the animation programs I have access to to handle anyway. It's good to think about how you what the piece to move & what layers need to be separate for it to move like that when you want to rig so that you don't separate things more than you need to especially when you use programs that can't handle as many layers as others. It can be good to make a storyboard to help you visualize how your final piece will move too. I do understand that you don't rig things or set up art files to be rigged though so you of course wouldn't understand how that impacts layers from personal experience.

[@jaylaurens-hamilton4296]

I had this issue when it came to time and data. Normally I use a SHIT ton of layers during the line art process cause I choose the individual colors of the different aspects like hair, clothes, skin, etc. Ibis can only handle 15 hours per piece without crashing (something I learned the hard way) so for me, I always keep the different steps on one layer. But if I exceed 15 hours on my piece, I export the layers as transparent PNGs, I then don't have to worry about the layers merging together.

[@MistyDarka]

I don't have to bother with too many layers; I only use up to 30 layers per character on a drawing anyway. sketching you can work on if you need to draw poses, but one is everything final before drawing the line work and leaving a layer for simple coloring before the shadowing the layers. and a layer for highlights that why you need to plan the drawing in advance before hand take it from me i do draw both traditionally and digitally art there still a lot to learn about on art hope this make it easier to understand . to everyone out there bigger isn't always better. less is more

[@zenrpg2336]

my internet went out for a moment literally right after you said "pause for laugh-"and i thought you were just giving it an uncomfortably long amount of silence to imply you were so funny that you'd have people laughing that long and it made me laugh really hard the longer it went on but then i realized no its just buffering

[@kyupiangel90]

As a mostly traditional artist, that just until recently started digital, this is so funny to me… I use 1 sketch layer 1 lineart layer(if i separate anything, i merge them all when i'm done) 1-3 layers for the bg(mostly 1) And use 3-5 base color layers, and 1-3 shadow layers. Watermarks and socials on their own layers If needed, a separated layer for text and other little details, but if not, i simply slap them in other layers And i name everything out of paranoic stress avoidance, same with the folders. So i rarely do more than 30 layers, like, are you guys insane??? I would understand if you all are doing over 10 characters on a piece, or making a very complex hiperealistic scenario with +5 characters the size of a cinema screen But like, 300 layers FOR 1 OC ON A POSTER SIZE THING??? I could never, you digital artists are insane😂😂😂 Working on trad for so many years taught me to accept that i'm gonna mess up so i literally use 2-3 layers on any lineart piece, and if i'm okay with how it looks, it's good to go😂 And i mostly keep my messy af sketch layer out of pride, seeing only that layer and then looking at the finished piece is like drugs tbh, i'm very proud everytime i sacrife my soul to just do a finished piece, i think it's worth it to keep, in irl i would have thrown it out if it was separated from the finished piece😂 Edit: I just realized that i actually do "delete" it, in a way? Using the eraser once i'm finished with the inking. I would literally work with 1 layer in digital if it wasn't a nightmare tbh, but in trad, it is what it is😂

[@Zelda_Catt]

Omg Lukaaaaa :3 As a Vocaloid fan,I am noticing a pattern here that I really like

[@alicejungdesign]

I made a template for my comic process. Its really helpful because I have always the same folders and layers I need.

[@SilverHunterN]

To be fair, the only time I'd say its okay to have 20+ layers is if you have a group of characters in a scene. I've done that before with a canteen scene with 6 characters. But if its one character and a background, I'd say 5 to 10 layers, depending on detail and if you need to lip sync or eye blink a character.

[@Macho_Nacho_08]

Me, a traditional artist/drawer: uhm yeah, interesting...

[@MilliLoafsBegals_Official]

I used to have this problem. But now I only have a few layers. One for sketch, one for lineart, and the other for color. Then I make more layers for lighting and shading. My art has took so long with the amount of layers I make. I would have like over 200 of them

[@dominic_19077]

Layers can be named. ;-) Also in at least sone programs, you can click on an object and jump directly to that layer (I use it all the time, because I have an issue with a random dot ending up somewhere - screen's too sensitive).

[@tobywood00]

the only time ive had too many layers to keep track of was in college, because during a project we werent allowed to merge layers for some reason. made it awful to keep track of

[@hogamanyokin8301]

Awesome drawings! Please which brushes do you use on procreate and what is your pressure and smoothing settings ? Thanks so much.

[@Blademanunitpi]

So i was working on a drawing while inking a piece on my ipad. I was using more layers then i normally wood. i was feeling almost called out. BUT THEN, you said you dropped the number of layers to like 20... using a lot of layers to me is getting close to ten totle layers.... i guess i should share my process.

[@sans5548]

Using folders solve alot of my problems with the technical aspect of layers

[@lcgl09]

Speaking of layers, everyone has the shared experience of drawing on the wrong layer and for me… well that was not fun You see I usually animate and one time after I noticed the mistake, after I’ve drawn multiple frames, I went insaine

[@hourless1211]

I draw digitally the same way I would draw traditionally. I can finish my art using 2-4 layers but an hour later I'm scared and confused because I'm on my 35th sketch layer. I heard some artiest refine their art by making multiple sketches. I tried it and now its just turned into a bad habit.

[@ugtheperson]

Cries cutely in genshin fanartist

[@Dekkard5]

Don't tell me this. I need my layers. Layers are life. There is no such thing as too many layers.

[@trixxart777]

Personally use a tone of layers because I have used a tone of layers for tweening soo I aways put a tone of layers even if I am tweening or not a pluss is if I ever want to tween a picture can always do that later and I have all the layers I need

[@Star-go2nj]

I hate layer modes because I am locked out of merging certain groups if that layer mode is among any of those layers. If you merg a layer mode to a normal layer below - the layer mode automatically disappears. So using layer modes automatically means you’re gonna have more layers. I try to use them near the end of a piece, after merging larger groups.