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Found a hidden layer trick in Procreate that saved me 3 hours of work
I was working on a big character piece with like 40 layers and got totally stuck trying to recolor a shadow section. Kept painting over lines by accident and ruining things. Then I tried using the 'reference' layer option for the clipping masks and WOAH it worked perfect. Made a quick color adjustment layer with a clipping mask set to reference the line art underneath. Took me from fiddling for 2 hours to done in 20 minutes. Has anyone else found weird layer hacks that just click one day?
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martin.felix1mo ago
Jumped right into using layer groups with masks after reading this and it opened up a whole new world for me. Procreate's reference layer is one of those things where you don't realize how much time it saves until you actually use it (I was the same way with alpha lock honestly). Another trick I found by accident is duplicating your line art layer, setting the top copy to multiply and the bottom one to color burn, then locking them together in a group. Gives you this really rich, textured shadow effect that looks like you spent way longer on it than you actually did. The real hack is just messing around with different blend modes on duplicates of your base layers - sometimes you land on something that looks like a happy accident.
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seth6831mo ago
Gotta respectfully disagree with you on one thing @martin.felix. That "happy accident" line is where I get off the train. I spent a good year just randomly duplicating layers and flipping through blend modes before I realized I was wasting SO much time. Honestly I'd rather just learn what each mode actually does upfront instead of hoping I land on something good. Multiply darkens, screen lightens, overlay adds contrast - it's not that complicated once you break it down. The line art trick you mentioned sounds cool though, might test that out this weekend.
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