Using Layers In Photoshop for Coloring and Effects Painting on Layer 1 in Normal Blending Mode Blending Mode and Opacity You'll notice that the Blending mode is set to Normal by default. That means that if you highlight Layer 1 and paint on it, it will block out your lines like the image on the left. Now, obviously this is a crappy painting job, but that's not exactly the point. If you click off the while Layer 1 is highlighted, you'll see that the original Line Art layer is unharmed. I can paint or erase on this layer (or any other layer) and not harm the others. It's a great way to experiment with different color combinations or approaches without losing the ability to change it or discard it. If I don't like the way a layer is working, I can easily delete it by clicking the trash can icon or just use the eraser tool on that layer. It gets much better than that. By clicking on the triangle by 100%, you can control the transparency of each layer to create ghosting effects. As well, by clicking on the triangle by Normal, a list of various blending modes comes up. Each mode has a variety of uses, but I'll just list off the ones I most commonly use: Multiply Mode Normal: The default mode. With this, you can paint over top of mistakes without changing your original work. Use white here and lower that layer's percentage of opacity in order to create glowing, washed-out effects. Multiply: The mode I use the most. Put your shadows on separate layers with Multiply and they'll blend together with your line art without wrecking the original lines. Most of my shading is done through several layers of the same color, each put on Multiply mode. It gives me total control of how much intensity I need for my shading, in as many stages as I want. Darken: This mode places your colors only in areas where it is darker than the other layers. Another way to do shading or to darken areas without needing to be precise while you color. Lighten: As with Darken, only Vice Versa. This mode places colors only in areas where it is lighter than the other layers. You can scroll and try all sorts of different modes. If you don't like the effect it creates, scroll to another and try it out. The nice part is that you can always go back and change elements without being afraid of ruining things. Experiment! Try color combinations and blending modes to your heart's content! That's the great part about Photoshop. Remember to save your work often (with layers intact, Photoshop will save it as a .psd file). Once you're finished and you like what you've got, go to Layer>Flatten Image and save your work as a .jpg file in order to upload it to the web. Remember to have your final web image at 72 dpi (which you can check and alter under Image>Image Size). If you've got Photoshop 6, go to File>Save For Web to make sure your image is a balance of quality and small memory size for ideal web loading. On the last page, we'll analyze one of my panels and see what layers are used. Head to Page 3 of the Tutorial