Preparing the lineart for painting – Art Journal (Patreon)

Which layer mode I use for the lineart is a common question I get asked, hopefully with this I can explain a little better that its not just one mode/layer used with the lineart on many paintings.

This is the most common 3 steps method I use to prepare the lineart for shading, chance is if you see one of my speed painting videos I'm using something like what is described here:

1. I use the original lineart (drawing) as a guide to paint base colors below.
2. I change the lineart layer mode to Multiply, lock transparency and fill it with a darker color of the dominant hue in the subject.
3. I duplicate the lineart and change the new one to Shade/Shine (Linear Shine in some programs). I adjust manually both lineart layers.

Finally, very important! when the shading is done (or during the process), I retouch the lineart painting over it in a new layer on top of everything.

Im adding a layered PSD example file too: https://www.dropbox.com/s/sslklf9ttcvl0qj/Lineart%20All.psd?dl=0
(done in SAI2 but can be open in photoshop or any other program).