Using Layers In Photoshop for Coloring and Effects Okay, here's a panel from Makeshift Miracle page 14. I'll go through each layer, from the bottom through to the top to explain what it's for: A typical panel in Makeshift Miracle with all the Layers. Sky: I keep the background (in this case the sky) on a separate Multiply layer from the characters. In some cases the ground, sky and other background elements are all on different layers. That way I can color and change each without interfering with the others. Shadows01, 02 and 03: My shading is created by putting several layers of flat color on Multiply mode over top of each other. Even if each layer has the exact same color, the Multiply mode adds them together and creates stages of shadows in the picture. Highlights: The highlights on the girl's legs are created with this layer on Normal mode. By painting white and carefully erasing the right edge of it, it makes a blended white highlight that is over top of the Shadows because it's on a higher layer than the Shadow layers. I've also lowered the opacity a bit on this layer, so that it isn't as harsh a white tone as the one I started with. Line Art: Notice that the Line Art layer sits in the middle of all the layers. It's on Multiply mode, so that the Sky, 3 Shadow and Highlights layers show through. It's placed above those other layers so that I can insure that the line drawing shows up over top of all the other coloring. I only place coloring layers above the Line Art layer when I want to wash out the lines with a glowing effect or correct mistakes. Word Balloon 01 and 02: These are obviously the word balloons. They're in Normal mode, so that they sit over top of the other artwork and coloring. By separating them, I can adjust their placement precisely until I'm pleased with the layout. Text Layers: These two layers are the dialogue in the panel. Photoshop 6 is great because you can go back and edit text at any point. Many times I'll change the wording several times from my original script and see how it looks before finalizing it. For Makeshift Miracle dialogue, I use the 12 point size DigitalStrip font from Blambot designed by Nate Piekos. Borders: This panel contains the black borders on my panel. I place it at the very top on Normal mode so that it sits over top of all the other elements. Whew! That's the layers... I hope you found this informative and helpful as you make your own web comic or do any other coloring in Photoshop. Photoshop is a bottomless program with tons of features I'm not even aware of. Never be afraid of just opening a blank page and experimenting! Most of what I learned about Photoshop was through on-line tutorials and my own curiosity. The last thing I should note is that Photoshop is just a tool. Good drawing and coloring isn't created by the computer. In order to create strong work, practice with pencil and paper first and learn how to draw away from your computer. Don't expect Photoshop to make a bad drawing look good. Start with good line artwork and the rest can only add more strength to it. Questions or comments? Feel free to E-Mail me.