Anonymous
asked:
Thanks for the tips before! So, a more specific question would be...How do you distribute the layers? Do you use a different layer for each color or shade? What about the lineart?

[Full size here]

  1. Sketch layer: The time to ‘go loose’! Deciding my character pose, perspective, attire, rough BG (if any)
  2. Lineart layer: Correcting the sketch, such as anatomy, details. I need to be careful with this one since after I start painting, it’s difficult to go back and make big changes lol
  3. Coloring: Each ‘part’ gets its own layer here, sorted into one Color group. Around this time I also decide where the light source is coming from (in this example it comes from right), so I know where the dark and light parts go
  4. Coloring 2: Finishing up the color. I start from skin, facial features, and hair, then move onto other parts like the clothes.
  5. Shadow layer: I paint on extra shadow layer for emphasis. It’s kind of like if you look at your hand now, you can see the form of bones or knuckles, from lighter and darker skin areas. But if I hover my hand over the other, it will cast an additional shadow.
  6. Apply Shadow: Putting it on top to see how it looks. Normally I just paint it with the color layer on since it’s faster XD
  7. Rimlight layer: I like this step for some reason?! Makes the character stand out.
  8. Mood, Texture: I add extra layers if I want to apply additional color or texture filters
  9. Effects, BG: More layers for effects that go on top of the entire picture, and for simple BGs that go below the picture. Sometimes I work with the BG before the coloring stage to set a color mood

Hope this helps. Some artists might only work on 1 layer, or work in different steps, but do whatever works for you :D