That one piece of advice about layer order I wish I'd ignored

Last month a guy in a digital art Facebook group told me I had to always put my sketch layer above the color layers or my workflow was broken. I followed his method for like three straight projects and my lines kept getting muddy and hard to fix. Finally I went back to doing it my way, sketch underneath everything, and it clicked like crazy. Has anyone else run into advice that just doesn't work for your specific style of drawing?

3 comments

3 Comments

river_allen12d ago

Put your sketch layer above the color layers or your workflow is broken" is just gatekeeping dressed up as advice. I used to stress about layer order then realized my best stuff comes from sketching loosely underneath. Do what makes the art flow, not what some rando tells you.

reesel5012d ago

Third layer is always where I do my messy sketch, color underneath, then clean lines on top. That way I don't get precious about the sketch and just make bold choices without worrying about neatness. Took me a year to stop caring about "correct" layer stacking, now my art actually looks more alive.

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josepha3212d ago

Holding the messy sketch on the third layer? That honestly sounds backwards to me, but I can't argue with better results.