That moment I realized my layers were backwards for 2 years

I was working on a character piece last Tuesday and something just looked OFF about the shading. I kept layering shadows ON TOP of my base colors, then wondering why everything got muddy after 3 passes. A buddy at a local art meetup glanced at my screen and said 'dude, your multiply layers are below the color fill.' I had been doing it WRONG the whole time and never bothered to check tutorials. Has anyone else had a dumb workflow habit that took way too long to catch?

2 comments

2 Comments

holly_flores798d ago

Oh man, that's a rough one! I had the same issue with clipping masks for like a year before someone pointed out I was using them completely backwards. Once I flipped my layer order around everything just clicked and looked way better.

joseph_lewis928d ago

Ever notice how most tutorials skip over the actual logic behind why layers stack the way they do? It's like they expect you to just memorize steps instead of understanding the reason. Once you get why the base layer has to be the one getting clipped, it almost becomes second nature. Kinda makes you wonder how many other tools we're all using slightly wrong without realizing it.

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