A Layer MaskDo you know what a layer mask is? It's an adjustment you can add to a layer to dictate its transparency. You can make things fade or disappear without actually erasing anything... which is good, because sometimes you might want it back.
Let's pretend this picture of Maxine is just one layer on top of a background. This is to demonstrate how a layer mask works. To apply a layer mask click on the icon I'm pointing at up there. You can see a new white layer appeared next to the picture of Maxine. When that new layer mask is white, the layer shows up. But what you paint black makes the layer disappear.
Here, I've selected the mask and with the color black written "MAXINE" on it. It makes that part transparent on the layer.
You can achieve some pretty good effects with the layer mask. If you paint the mask with gray, things become partially invisible. If you use the shading brush, you get a blend. I'm going to use this mask for adjustments to the picture.
Touch-ups with the mask
I hate changing the linework layer. That's why I apply the layer mask... so that everything I do is easily reversible. With the Linework layer's mask selected, I colored over the seams in Maxine's clothing. I used the smooth pencil and a dark gray. This fades out the seam, making it nice and subtle.
On the other hand, here with the kneepad I've gotten rid of some of the lines completely by using black instead of gray. These lines were useful when shading, but look better removed in the final picture.
FinalizationsBefore I finally decide that I'm finished I look closely over the picture again. I took the smudge tool to it and adjusted a few parts. I added a bit of shading here and took away some there. Finally in the end I decided that I was happy with it. I had been saving constantly throughout the process, but it's time to save a final .JPG version.
Be sure you keep your .PSD version. It's something you can always go back to for adjustments. But you're going to flatten this picture's layers for saving.
With it flattened you must choose how large you want the picture to be. There could be many different uses for the art you've made, but if you're simply making it to be art to look at on a web page, you need to make it large enough to enjoy the detail yet small enough to load quickly. For this picture, 800 pixels high is fine, as it's small and still allows lots of detail. If your picture will be printed on paper, it's good to keep it just as large as it is, with all the detail.
Saving! Be sure to choose SAVE AS... so that you don't save over your file with layers. What format should you save your picture in? If you save it in .BMP or .PNG format, it will loose no detail. However, it will have a huge filesize. Be nice to modem users and don't use those. .GIF is fairly small but only allows 256 colors. And with files large enough it doesn't actually save you any filesize. In the Maxine picture the best option is .JPG. Choose it and choose a filename, and before saving is finished you'll be asked about what image quality you want.
It lets you see what your picture will look like before you actually save. I like to keep my artwork at about 100k, or no less Image Quality 7. You can see the projected filesize listed at the bottom. If it's under 100k, I'll nudge the quality up until it's around 100k. If it's over 100k, Image Quality 7 is usually sufficient for web-viewing quality. Hopefully at the end of this you have both your .JPG and .PSD files, with the .PSD still being large and having all of its layers.
The End.
Click this image to see the finished version.
That's it! Hopefully this has been helpful... because it took me a long time. But if you have questions or comments, feel free to bring it up in the forum.
Contents