Warning: I spent 6 months layering everything in Photoshop before someone told me I was painting myself into a corner

I used to build all my digital paintings with like 50+ layers. Felt like a pro keeping everything separate. Then about 3 months ago I was working on a portrait commission and my file hit 2.3GB. My laptop started choking every time I tried to merge anything. A guy in a Discord critique channel asked to see my layer stack, and when I showed him he just said 'oh man you're making this way harder than it needs to be.' He showed me a timelapse where he blocked in the whole piece on one layer with hard brushes. It clicked for me finally. Now I try to get the main shapes down in under 10 layers before adding detail. File sizes are way smaller and I finish pieces faster. Has anyone else had that moment where you realized you were overcomplicating your workflow?

3 comments

3 Comments

lunaf672d ago

Did you flatten anything along the way or just let it balloon up?

elizabeths512d ago

Yeah mine got so out of hand I had to start stacking them sideways to keep the bed stable.

the_aaron2d ago

Man my layer count was so high I needed a spreadsheet to keep track of them all.