Too Many Layers 

Adobe Illustrator vector artists where every single shape is its own layer: And I took that personally

Having many layers is my version of hoarding. I don’t want to remove one because I’m scared

i was forced out of layer decluttering when i switched to a device that literally wasn't powerful enough for that many layers and god, it saves SO much time

I always merge my line arts when its time for coloring but i also save the separated line art in a invisible folder at the bottom of everything because sometimes i like to make multiple versions of an image and having that choice at my disposal is just convenient

It may go without saying, but the overabundance of layers is ultimately derived from a lack of confidence. It becomes a crutch and eventually a hindrance. I eventually gravitated towards using less layers the more confident I became, but I could probably still cut down a bit more. ^^;

I either have 4 layers or 160 layers, there is no in between BTW in CSP, holding CTRL + Shift and clicking can allow you to select a layer, jumping to whatever item you click, while ignoring adjustment layers and locked layers. Same goes for the object operation tool (though that one has the caveat of potentially moving the layer you select if not careful). Useful with any layer count, but especially for finding which layer has that stray pixel.

What i always do to keep my brain relaxed is put everything in an appropriate folder and collapse every one that I'm not currently working on. For example if im coloring, i collapse the background and line art, and if I'm done coloring the part, i collapse it and only keep the ones that i still have to work on open.

There was a time when I started using too many layers and have them not be in folders and UNNAMED (always name your layers, kids!). Gradually I've managed to reorganize myself and now, although I still work with a somewhat considerable amount of layers, for now it feels alright. So long as I keep them properly organized, of course. Giving a name to each layer and sorting them in groups (folders) is wonderous. And of course, also merging down any layers that no longer need to be separated, as suggested in the video. Though currently I feel being strongly held back in many ways by my method of shading/lighting and that impacts the number of layers directly. I've been stuck for years with relying heavily on the Dodge and Burn tools (Photoshop) for the vast majority of my shading and lighting. It gets the job done, but at the same time it's much more limited than what I know can be accomplished via other methods, and due to how Dodge and Burn works, I often am "forced" to use some more layers so the effect being applied won't affect areas it is not supposed to (Lasso/Pen often don't help much with this method). So far I've never been able to teach myself other and better methods for shading and lighting. ;-;

I had to stop with all the layers because it was making art tedious and I drew less. I didn't have a problem finding anything, I was very organized, but I also stopped every 2 seconds to make a new layer.

I do what I call “one painting” one brush, one layer. No filters. No blurs or smudges. No erasers.

When I draw, I only use solid color layers with masks. If I want to break something lile lineart into multiple layers, I'll put them in a folder and use the whole folder as a mask. Even for vector layers, I just use them as masks for solid color layers. It means I can change a color really easily but can look pretty chaotic

As a traditional artist, my overusing of layers has become a problem. The amount of transparent sheets I layer on top of each other when drawing is absurd. Thank you for this wake-up call.

((panic breathing and spamming the Add New Layer button before the Layer Inquisition gets here))

love this. should also mention some CSP exclusive features that make life easier, ctrl + shift + click lets you single out the exact layer something is on just by clicking that area. if you select a color adjustment layer on top or something, you can make it invisible and repeat until you find what you're looking for. also select -> select color gamut is an actual god send

one thing i always gotta separate is colors touching eachother especially when patterns because making tiny color adjustments on already merged layers is annoying as SHIT especially if its older art and you wanna adjust it to an updated oc design or something like that (i remember the agony of updating my oc peps emojis a while ago where i merged all the color layers for some reason and it took so long to redraw them all just to slightly change the colors to his newer design :sob: )

for me its just a matter of touching, as long as two objects arent directly touching eachother im gucchi cause ik ill always be able to separate them again if i need to

Literally yesterday I was editing a piece and had to sort through the probably 20 layers to figure out which "jacket" layer I needed, definitely glad I saw this now

I've actually found drawing on very few or one layer to help me a lot. I sketch, layer over that with cleaner sketch, then an under layer for broad colors. Then I combine the clean sketch and colors into one, so I can paint everything together. It makes it way easier to adjust everything and change elements on the fly, because otherwise I'd have to keep re-doing this or that part over and over.

you are too good a teacher to be a free one on youtube

I’m still new to Digital Art myself honestly. I’ve actually been wondering how many Layers is just the right amount. Especially since I want to get into making my own Webcomic Series. As a long time subscriber I always Loved coming to your channel to get tips and tricks. Now hopefully I can actually use them to better my Art and actually make my Visions come true. And Thank You for this video, it makes me feel like only having 3-5 Layers currently on my projects isn’t a bad thing! 💛😸💛

You can NOT stop me. I am the prince of layers. I have krita, I can name, them put them in folders, color code them, my layers are more organized than my room. And if I get lost I select the layer I'm looking for directly from the canvas using a key shortcut, I have no such limitations mortal, MUAHAHAHA.

I spent years on digital art and this still helps! Thanks a lot!

I usually stick with 3 layers; Sketch, Lineart and color. It makes everything so simple.

I remember when I was starting out, I had this strange *refusal* to use layers, everything had to be done on only *one* layer I don't know where I got the mindset from, but it luckily died out when I started popping into base art and realized that a color layer is *extremely* helpful Now I use layers all the time, and normally have about six in total for pieces

Layers are amazing for drafting, testing, and playing with changes. Also for keeping certain items separate from others. But yes, making a layer of “just yellow highlights on the nose” is kind of silly. Layers are amazing, but the MERGE button is just as amazing.

I used to have like 40 blend mode layers to shade one character, and now I'm at a place where I use 2, maybe 3 layers for rendering. You'd be amazed what you can accomplish with one multiply layer, because it's more than just shadows. I've also realized that previously I would heavily rely on a billion overlay layers to correct my colors, whereas now I don't need them to make my art look vibrant. Eventually I'd like to get to a place where I can reasonably render without the aid of blend modes, but I'm certainly better off now.

i have a really rough sketch, a sketch layer that i erase and fine-tune into lineart, a color layer, a shading layer (can also be the same as the color layer depending on art style) and a couple of overlay layers to make it look pretty

i find i like the clipping feature. i keep all my linework on one layer, but my emerging tactic for keeping layers down is to have individual items that don't touch all on the same layer. no need to create a new layer if it doesn't overlap with something i want it isolated from. I also use folders mostly for alternate versions of the same image, rather than creating a whole new project, so it can still get pretty crowded so far.

I've generally just done line, shading, and flat colors, for each of foreground and background, except for very specific situations like patterns which are a lot easier to do layered (such as plaids), which I still allow to be sloppy and just use masks on the layer group to keep things tidy.

This is why I use a basic drawing program like Linea Sketch. It’s free, and five layers max is more than enough! Plus, learning any program more complicated ruins the fun for me.

i used to draw on a very janky, very old tablet with the sketchbook app (previously owned by Autodesk) and I learned how to do pretty much everything within 3-5 layers, 1 each for flat color, lineart, shading, and highlights. this is great for reducing lag but now I struggle using any more layers than that 😅 which would definitely help speed up my process

I average about 28- 56 layers, however, I organize everything into folders. Line Art_ Color_ Cloths_ Hair_ Skin_ Background_ Sketch. It helps keep things organized and I never lose what I need. I highly recommend using folders for big, detailed art projects.

OH BTW idk if i commented this before? but saving old separate versions of art projects can be a huge help for this! so you can merge layers freely BUT if you ever go back and NEED something separately that would otherwise be a huge pain to edit, you can take those pieces from the older more separated project file! ^^

Thanks for the Layer help

It’s my emotional support pile of layers tho I need it

Can't relate, I organize my layers better than my life.

For a solid year I had trouble drawing ANYTHING because I couldn’t find an art style I was happy with, so I decided to just try EVERYTHING different, which happened to include going from about 50 layers per drawing to only 5. While I’m still struggling with the style part, ( literally only the head of characters, the body I’m fine enough with lmao ) im so much happier and faster with less layers. I’ve tried one layer before and it was nice but I always will end up/default to around 7 layers for the background, sketch, color, lineart, highlights, and shading. The sketch I either delete after the lineart or merge those two, highlights and shading either get merged together or all onto the color layer depending on program, color swatches and whatnot go on the color layer and get erased after, and when I’m done I end up with around 3 layers ( with maybe a 4th for an unmerged watermark )

DO YOU REALIZE HOW PERFECT DIS IS?!!!!

What’s worse is when you’re drawing on the wrong layer and don’t even realize it. I’ve drawn my outlines on top of my hand sketched scan layer more times than I can count, simply because I turn the layer on and off to and remain selected on it.

This is a hard truth every digital artist needs to hear. We all go through the same cycle of I should use layers > I like layers! > Which layer was that one detail on? > I need to stop using so many layers > Found a healthy balance.

I usually only have 3-4 layers per piece. Sketch, lineart, color, and shading. Max I'll have 8 or so for extra effects like layers with layer effects, background elements, or foreground elements. It really makes drawing so much easier.

Honestly the three things that helped me most with minimizing my layers (other than organizing them in folders)is practicing drawing or papercraft or painting on actual paper (because it teaches you how to work with one layer, or in the case of papercraft use the layers you make creatively with other limitations like not being able to use opaque paper), merging or deleting layers as I get done with them (sometimes I reuse the sketch layer as the color layer but if I have multiple sketch layers, I delete them) and I try as often as possible to have my texture layers be the same as by color or detail layers depending on what I'm working with. My digital art rarely exceeds 12 layers at a time but even then, much of the time I'm both a lazy and easily forgetful artist.

Loool I love how I got called out so hard without being mentioned :D the struggle of finding the specific layer is real

I've recently started making things complicated enough to justify multiple layers, and typically what I'll do is this. One layer for linework up top, a layer of flat colors at the bottom, and two to three layers for rendering and detail work. It's not perfect and I still occasionally start throwing too many down, but that's what the merge button is for.

Organize your chaos, or go for a "Less is more" approach :D

I just have a layer for shading, lining, coloring, and background. Clear, concise, and easy to follow for me. Sometimes I use extra layers for entirely different characters or set pieces, and they end up in their own entire folder for sorting's sake (and so I can move the entire person if there's too much negative space). I think the only time I've had an impossible amount of layers was when I made a size-comparison sheet, because I was moving a punch of separate pictures into the same file.

Holy heck, I did this alot when I was running Krita on a 4 GB RAM laptop. I actuallly like my art from then better than my art now where I am spoiled for choice on layers

I learned to merge layers of the same type and not have a layer for a single tiny detail when I started losing track of what layer was for what.

I do my best to have less layers when doing my artwork, but my issue is usually not paying attention. Having it done in the wrong layer and then having to figuring out which one you did the mistake on then putting it on the correct one. Plus, Crowne Prince is right its best to have your sketch all in one layer. When I do it, I start off having them separate layers once I'm done having it the way I want my art to look I put it all together. It makes it easy for me to keep track. Love you videos and advice Crowne Prince your the best ❤️

Scrolling through a phone book of indiscernible layers is mind numbing, I've gone full scorched earth and only use a sketch and a coloring layer for illustrations.

In my painterly work, things get merged as I go. In soft-cell shaded work, each character will have its own folder of layers (lineart, base color, clipped color layers, and shading layers). Only reason I keep characters separate is to be able to move, resize, transform a character if needed (usually commissioned work). I also use an Action Button to do a bunch of steps in one. In CSP, I have a recorded action button that once I Wand Select outside the lineart, the action button will invert selection, shrink selection by 2 pixels, create a new layer, flat fill selection, create a clipping layer above that layer and then create a folder. That's 6 steps in 1 button click. It saves me so much time!

i work on a max of 8 layers usually, and 8 is only if im working with a really complex bacgound or some really close together characters but is usuaslly do: character sketch, background sketch (rare), character color and shading, x number of background colors and shadint (rare), line art, and any rarely applicable over line art effects

I actually don’t have this problem, I usually have 4 layers minimum for my drawing, and only have extra layers for alt versions of things, and reference images and what not. It’s usually the traditional sketch I did that I trace over, the line-art FROM the tracing, the coloring, and the shading. I will admit that I definitely don’t have a painterly draw style, and am shooting for more of some weird blend between western animation and anime or… something, it’s hard to explain. I took this as just me being a beginner and someday part of being a good artist is having LOTS of layers- good to know I’m in the right spot!!!

Traditional artists gains another point for the win

"Back in my day we didn't have Layers, we had PIXELS, and not just pixels, we knew each and every one of them." But seriously. One of my favorite tools is the "pick" tool -- in GIMP it is known as the "Move" tool, but you can set it so that you can just _click_ on anything in the image and it will automatically select the (topmost) layer that corresponds to it. For simple layers with clearly defined transparency/opacity the result feels much like clicking & dragging objects around in a vector context (e.g. Inkscape), SUPER intuitive.

My personal style is very lineart heavy, so my favorite thing to do is to make all the lineart first, make all adjustments and cleanup, merge all parts of it, and then color in each "surface" of a character on their own separate layers. (Like the exposed skin on one layer, then the clothes on another layer, armor on another layer etc) It helps when adding depth or shading to characters (especially in photoshop, where you can ctrl+click a layer to select all media in that layer). Then once you're satisfied with the colors, merge them together. Goal is to end up with one lineart layer, one character colors layer, and a background layer for later adjustments. Sometimes I'll even do that, then merge the character colors with their lineart and separate each character into their own layer to adjust the depth.

For me on saveing layers when coloring is do all the parts that are not touching eachother or just barely touching. Take a normal 10 layer peaice into 3 layers.

I use layers but... not how I often see them used I don't separate parts of the art. My layers are usually something like - Lineart - Colors - Background - Final Sketch - Sketches (usually a few of these as I refine it) - Rough/Layout Sketch - Guidelines It isn't the order I work on them but in the final project that's generally what I use. Could be a lot less but I don't like deleting Sketch layers

I think Procreate’s layer limit has been a godsend for anyone trying to moderate their layer usage. Every time you resize your canvas, you are shown how many layers are left meaning that you are gonna have to think a bit more on how to utilize that layer to its fullest potential.

Convert to smart layers. If you're to scared to merge, convert to smart layers. This keeps everything nice and tidy, you can always go into a smart object to edit, or even reverse it. Unless having multiple layers is a problem, and is affecting your art, there's no real reason to keep the layers count low. Now if it's an art piece you wish to revisit all the time, keeping the layers low will help you remember what you were doing the last time you were working on it. Otherwise, do whatever you need to for the final... unless you're boss hates it...

My first digital drawings basically consisted of having each line from the lineart on its own layer."

I will say, always keep a backup plain colour layer if you're going to shade directly on a colour layer, just in case.

I'm not a great artist but I still tend to have 30~ layers by the end of things, even after merging because I tend to keep dupes of certain parts 😅

I swear I only use about 4 layers per group (Line art, rough, colour, background), most of my early digital art was done on solely two layers since I program I was using limited it to I think 3 on the trial version and I was broke and didn't know any other programs to use. I have been getting used to using other layers when it's needed but that early experience really made it so I could really get into a decent habit of not losing what I was doing.

One tip from me is: When you need multiple layers - at least for a short time - try to squish some things together. Like, if I have 3 detail layers, one for head, body, and feets... Then i could combine the head and feet together since they're nowhere near each other, and I won't mess up one when I'm fixing the other. -Just a tip for people who do need a few extra layers from time to time.

you are a nice gem to find again :)

i just use about 10 or so, backrounds take a extra 10 or more. and folder groups. i can identify them because generally their not minor colorations.

I use 5 layers: one for the background, one for the line art, one for the coloring/shading, and two unnamed and unused layers that I’m too lazy to delete.

This stuff is why I am a traditional artist. I only use layers when I am making a Google slide presentation.

The thing I do is end up with ~10 layers with unneeded stuff just in case I wanna change something, has come in handy occasionally

you remind me when i was learning to draw more, i used to use lik 20 layers for a drawing, sometimes, 40, or 100, now is even less than that

I usually do a lot and then merge them so my layers are usually: bg color, bg shading, bg lineart, color, shading, lineart, and 1-2 “filters”. But the last piece I did I merged everything together other than the filter layers to do chromatic aberration. Anyway idk why I’m writing this but whatever

Honest I have been saving multiple projects on multiple layers. Makes storage easier if you know that you're doing

I admit, I still keep my lineart pieces separate from each other. I am currently doing a commission where I put all the lineart layers in 6, but only because I used a line tool for two layers, it would've been 4 otherwise. I make sure different pieces don't overlap, and it's easier to fix things if they don't. I need to change the eye shape? Great, I don't have to redo the entire eye I can just erase the part I don't need., which is usually just one line. It helps keep the lineart all smooth, consistent and all the gaps are closed, making coloring 10 times easier, and I can do less layers thanks to that. My lineless pieces are a different beast though. Many layers are hard to avoid, but it doesn't usually go over a 100 for a full body piece. I did a full body deer art recently with shading and it only took just over 40 layers in total. Not merging layers also came in handy more than once. I managed to make gifs out of old art because I didn't merge layers. So, keep in mind, make sure every new layer counts.

LOL when you said "i'd like this video to..." the like button got highlighted

This happens to me on Ibis paint x that i accidentally crushed and i have to start over. Thankfully ibis paint find away to prevent these issues. Like an shortcut even. Love that app so much despite the flaws.

This hits hard after recently doing my most complex image ever. lol By the end of things, I had over 300 layers at a 5K resolution since I was obsessed with a 'non-destructive' approach so I could redo sections entrely without concern of it affecting the rest fo the image by deleting a layer. That, and making it easier to break apart an image into layers for body parts for simple animations. Gonna try simplifying things on my next piece!

I have several dozen layers with very precarious combinations of blending modes and I'm still afraid to merge them together.

I have the opposite problem, I have too few layers. One is for thumbnail, one is for sketch, one is for the pre-lineart, and then the lineart plus a single color layer And repeat this for background and foreground

And that first intro is why I always name my layers in literally everything

Honestly this is because I have gotten used to tweening my drawings soo expect to have a tone of layers even if I am going to animate it or not

0:38 *alrady liked & subbed* me: yeah, call recived, i have max 10 layers, and se what you like... RU-vid *interrupting*: yes, you was asked to like this video.

As someone who works on flipaclip and didnt have the feature for more layers for a very long time, I think I might be too comfortable with only using three XD

Took me a couple years to start using layers *at all* on those slime faces I was doing. The idea of having more than 5-6 layers is mortifying to me, even as I get back into editing Gmod comics.

This is why I just name all my layers whatever they apply

as a serial One Layer-er this video isn't targeted at me but it's still helpful (actually, it's gotten me thinking about what things might be useful to use another layer for)

I've suffered from wanting to revert changes later, erase poorly drawn sketch lines that were drawn over other ones, or keep obscured detail intact without erasing even if the viewer will never see them. Copious amounts of layers have helped with those. Yes, I know I have a problem.

it always blows my friends' minds when they find out i sketch and line on the same layer

I don't use layers because I need them. I use them because I'm afraid of destroying my art. I'm not very good at art (I can make things that look good, but that's not being good at art), despite having been doing it for, what 6 years now? Being able to draw even one shape that looks correct takes me *a lot* of time. Mainly because I don't have visual imagination, so it's a guessing game for me. Still, I use maybe 5 of them for a sketch, but when it comes to colouring, it's 1 per feature which I dont want to blend together which can easily be 30-ish. Even though it never became a hinderance for me because Krita has both click-to-select layers and cross-layer blending (it paints on the selected layer but can sample colour from other layers).

At 0:37, when you said "I'd like this video", RU-vid thought you were saying "Like this video", and highlighted the Like button with that rainbow animation. It's kinda hilarious.

0:28 take out the curser and right click to see all the layers that pixel is connected too

0:17 Layer Masks are a godsend 😩🤌

I usually combine layers

lol it's strange I don't need that many layers, just enough for the blend styles to go on top of each other for better eye candy goodness but that's ALL. 1 layer Lineart, 1 layer for all base colours, 1 layer for first hard shadow pass, 1 layer for AO and soft shadows, 1 layer for hard highlight pass and 1 layer for soft AO highlights, and then for glows that share the Add/Dodge Glow blend go on their own but usually not more than 1. Then I have a "filler layer" that is basically a copy of the base colours but with all holes fixed because of the outline that the picture needs (and when there are 2 characters I prefer to have both base colours separate from each other). It's so normal I already have a macro that prepares all the layers and folders with their blend styles already tweaked so that I don't forget my workflow and stay consistent with my style.

im pretty sure in clip studio if you hold ctrl and click on something itll tell you what layer its on

I quickly learned this at the beginning of my digital art journey. Still haven't learned it with animating. 😅

I use the K.I.S.S theory: for me its - foreground layer , mid layer , background layer , with character(s) / effects in there somewhere lol

I use 2 layers bro, and omg its so good

Unrelated but damn that batpony art is adorable

I like to merge lays down when I’m done with aspects of a piece so it’s not cluttered