More or less layers?

That's probably exactly why my layers go up into the 300s.

 

TOO MANY!!! And I rarely combine layers.
I just stick all the relevant ones into layer folders. I'd go mad without them.
I used to be really good with naming my layers or changing their colour so I could find them easily but I've been getting lazy haha.

I used to combine layers more but far too many times I've accidently combined the wrong layers and it's been too late when I realised. =w='''

 

I'm working on what has to be one of the most complicated drawings I've done in a while. It's a character from a game I'm in (someone else's because I got tired of drawing my own) and I've never had so many base colors before. I've only just started shading after several hours of drawing and I'm already up to 46 layers.

Send help.

 

I aim to use 3-4 layers when drawing but sometimes you need to add more in order for the piece to feel complete. My girlfriend uses around 200 when she draws.

 

I value using many layers for the same reason I value using smart objects, the non-destructability. It's far easier to just change the values on an adjustment layer than to have to go back a few steps and try to replicate what you had before with those now changed values. I also find it nice to be able to see how the piece came together if you're going back to a piece after not having worked on it for a while.

So yeah, I tend to use a lot of layers. I've used upwards of 150 before and just grouped them a lot. Probably sounds crazy but when you think about it if you're trying to create a particular shape out of c4ds you might need to place about 15 of them (smaller parts at a time). Now each one of these layers could have 3-5 adjustments layers clipping masked on to them to give them a certain colour. That's 45-75 layers just for the c4ds. That's not too common for me but it's happened.

 

Due to a layer limit on the app I draw with (Sketchbook Pro), the highest amount of layers I can use is 16. I generally only use around 6 layers, but will sometimes reach the 16 layer limit when drawing something that is a bit more detailed.

 

Looking at the last few pieces I've made, I usually get to about 50-60 layers. The number varies depending on the style I use and how much editing I need to do.

 

Woah that's a lot. I can never understand how people do those 10 layers or less signature challenges and come out with masterpieces.

 

Back when I used to art, I used to use very few layers. One for sketching, coloring, shading, effects, and then anything else I needed to do. Otherwise, I'd get pretty confused (even if I named them), and a lot of clutter makes me anxious for whatever reason.

 

I prefer having fewer layers, primarily because it makes things easier to work with and you can better see how each layer affects the image. In fact, if I see that the layers I have are stacking up, I'll merge some of them together (that fit of course lol) just to keep things more organized. If I still want to add more layers for other processes, I might even merge all the layers I have so that "step" is finished and I can move onto another part I want to work on. If I don't like how it turns out I can just re-upload a previous save file of the image that had all the existing layers on it too.

 

Aaaaaaall the layers. I like moving around pieces of my sketches and etc, so I typically end up around ~50 for a chibi.

 

Yup, it's a well known sig challenge! We should have one sometime!

 

That would be difficult to moderate, wouldn't it?

 

Yeah haha, it would.

 

I normally use 3. One for line art, one for coloring and shading, and another for background (if I include one). The most I've used that I know of was 7, but that was with foreground and background.

 

I end up creating a lot of layers once I start colouring and shading. My most recent work had around 20.

 

I just can't understand how people can use any fewer than 5-10 ever. I guess it depends on technique and level of detail too though.