25 / 25
Dec 2021

Oh never. I keep my sketch layer too. Especially with pages, being able to go back and edit is really important. No matter how thorough I try to be, I always end up forgetting to color something or I need to edit text without having to retype what I wrote. Though I do try to combine where I can to at least save on a little space.

Nope. I leave all my layers as they are, because sometimes I have to rework something, or reuse the backgrounds in other chapters. I do that a lot, to save time. So it would be counterproductive to delete any layer.

Nope, I never flatten them in case of correction or something I'd like to change.

Yes, 99% of the time. The only time I leave the layers is when I've done a really difficult piece, usually one containing items/textures I didn't actually draw (like with photomanipulation). So that when I inevitably notice an error after posting, I can go back and fix it relatively quickly. ^^; Or, so that I can come back to it and see what techniques I used if I forget in the future.

Never…I may need to go back and fix something.

I must say that I started to merge them recently when drawing comics. Of course, I still have a layer of lines, color, 3-4 effect layers and a couple of background layers (and maybe something else) but it's such a huge progress from 268 layers I had before :sweat_smile:
But overall yeah, when you need to change something and some layers are merged, it's such a pain.

I don't do this with illustrations though, especially when making some "creative" lighting, so that if I want to make another illustration with the same effects, I can copy them from the old picture :information_desk_person: some of them may have like 7 layers of filters, and I don't even give it a chance that I'll remember how I did them a few months back.

Absolutely not. If I need to make changes later on, flattening the layers would make that impossible. I certainly keep a flattened copy on hand so I can quickly upload or print, but the original will always keep all the layers in tact.

The only time I had to flatten images was in 2006 in my high school computer graphics class. We were given small folders with a limit to discourage students from downloading music and movies. But I later always had a USB drive on me to make sure I didn’t have to do anything like that again.

Nope. Way too worried about wanting to go back in and change something to do that. At most I'll merge a few of the sketch layers together, but that's usually during inking and pretty rare besides.

I presume this is for digital artists with more complex tools then I use, cause I have no idea what "flatten your layers" means. But perhaps I do something similar, so someone please explain to me what that means.

No absolutely not :doggo_shook:. Getting nightmares thinking about it.

Short term reasons: What if I realize something looks awful or forgot something or need to change stuff for speech bubbles when my writer changes his mind about wording or or or...

Long term reasons: I've needed the base colors for characters that I thought were one-time appearances and weren't, so those will always be available to go grab. Sometimes I want to use lighting tricks or a certain overlay color from way back that I don't remember - easy, it's all saved and reasonably organized.

Even if I need to flatten groups of layers to do more effects on them, I always keep a folder with the original layers standing by and make sure it's clear what I did in case I need to modify or dig through it. Disk space feels like a small price to pay for reversibility/repeatability.

Well my disk space is still fine....for now. So I haven't really :sweat_smile:Though since I usually don't use a lot of layers in general I tend not to merge many.

No, but I try to keep things simple, so my files rarely get too big. I usually have <20 layers, even including roughs and text. It's better to keep thing separate of you can, so that it's easier to fix mistakes if you notice them later.

I delete my sketch layers but everything else stays just in case i need to fix things

No. We life in the times, where terabites are affordable, so why should I? Especially with comic pages. Maybe I want to edit or print oneday.

Not usually, but I do like to work on one layer sometimes...

No I never merge all my layers, because perhaps I want to change things later on. Otherwise I might as well work in paint lol

I do tend to merge layers that are the same like flat colours or lineart when things are finished. But I would never merge flat colours and lineart for instance

I try not to go back and edit the little things I forgot to do once I declare a piece 'done', so editability isn't really an issue for me. Despite that, for some reason I can't bring myself to discard the working files (with full layer info) so I just archive them on deviantART (which, to my knowledge, doesn't have a limit to how many pieces you upload)

1 month later

closed Dec 16, '21

This topic was automatically closed 30 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.