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Backlight is one of the most striking lighting effects in art.
Created by a light source shining from behind the subject, it forms a glowing rim along the silhouette that instantly adds depth, atmosphere, and a cinematic feel that draws the viewer in.
With just a shift in color or intensity, you can transform the mood—from a subtle 3D feel to a warm sunset scene, a dramatic spotlight, or even an eerie horror glow.
Best of all? It’s surprisingly easy to apply using the simple tricks I’ll show you here!
🟧 Understand the Light Source
First, decide where the light is coming from:
🔆 Is it right behind the character, or just out of frame?
🔆 Is it low like a setting sun, or high like a spotlight?
🔆 Is it strong and sharp, or soft and diffused?
These decisions affect the crispness of the rim light and the level of contrast between lights and shadows.
🟧 Instant Backlight Trick
No need to draw the lighting manually with a brush or Lasso fill!
1️⃣ Ctrl-click the icon of the layer folder containing your character to create a selection from it:
2️⃣ Invert the selection with Ctrl+Shift+I (menu: Select > Invert selected area).
3️⃣ Fill it on a new layer with the color of the light source.
4️⃣ Clip this layer to the character folder:
5️⃣ Use the Liquify tool to gently push the light on the new layer into the character’s silhouette, creating a rim light:
👉 If the light source is off-frame, push from that direction.
👉 If it’s right behind the character, push it from all sides.
(In these examples I changed the layer mode to Add Glow, that’s why it glows—we’ll get to that in detail later.)
Vary the thickness:
👉 Make the rim thicker where the light hits strongest.
👉 Thinner where the effect should fade.
🟨 Layer Blending Mode
The blending mode of this lighting layer is the most important ingredient. For example, I use:
🔸 Add Glow for strong, warm light:
🔸 Screen for soft, cool light:
🔸 Hard Light for bold color rims:
But go ahead and experiment with other modes to see what fits your scene best!
✌️ The best part is that this setup stays editable. You can easily tweak the light’s color, strength, or blending mode later—perfect for flexible workflows like webtoons or comics!
✨ For the curious, I use a shading technique explained in my earlier tutorial - that’s how it was so easy to make all the variants of all the images shown here :D
🟨 Polishing and Blending
Use Lasso Fill and brush to add or erase lit areas in overlapping parts.
⚠️ But keep the effect controlled—overuse weakens the effect:
Where needed for form, blend some edges softly, but leave others sharp to preserve the crisp effect:
💡 Quick Tip #1: Light Intensity Guides
1️⃣ Sketch a small circle where the light hits most intensely (usually the face).
2️⃣ Draw a few expanding circles around it.
These act as guides for how much to fade the light as it moves away from the focal point:
🖌️ The brush I use for painting everything is the simple flat blending brush from my painting brushes pack:
🟧 Colored Outlines
Another quick trick for a backlight effect in comics and illustrations is coloring the line art on a new layer clipped to the line art folder.
Depending on the thickness of your line art, it may not be suited for strong light, but it’s perfect for adding mood or emotional emphasis:
⭐ I often use it as a soft extension of the main backlight—an extra subtle rim that continues along the silhouette and helps unify the effect:
🟧 Extra Effects Connected to Backlight
🟨 Saturated Colors Along Edges
Adding saturated colors, like orange or red, along edges of strongly lit areas makes the artwork feel more vibrant:
(In the example the effect is exaggerated to make it easier to see, but normally it’s very subtle.)
Use a small soft brush on a Glow Dodge, Overlay, or Soft Light layer:
⭐ I often automate this effect:
1️⃣ Ctrl+click the backlight layer icon to make its selection:
2️⃣ Expand it a few pixels (menu: Selection > Expand selected area).
3️⃣ Fill it on a new Soft Light layer with red:
4️⃣ Create the backlight layer selection again (Ctrl+click the layer icon).
5️⃣ Delete that area from the new layer.
6️⃣ Adjust opacity and erase where needed.
🖌️ You can download my Auto actions for quick expanding and shrinking selections for efficient work:
🟨 Subsurface Scattering
Another powerful trick is subsurface scattering—the soft reddish glow you see when strong light shines through thin surfaces like ears, hair, or fingers:
Just paint it in with a Glow Dodge or Add Glow layer and a warm tone like orange or red, and it instantly adds realism and warmth.
🟨 Reflected light
Surfaces reflect strong light into the shadows, creating a soft glow that’s perfect for subtly adding depth to important features like the face.
A simple dab on a Glow dodge layer with a soft brush does the trick!
🟨 Glow Around the Brightest Areas
To emphasize the intensity of the light or to add a soft feeling to the painting, add a subtle glow on an Add Glow or Color Dodge layer:
You can use a soft brush…
… Or try this semi-automatic method:
1️⃣ Select the brightest parts with Auto Select (with “Apply to connected pixels” unchecked):
2️⃣ Fill the selection on a new Add glow layer, deselect.
3️⃣ Blur it with Gaussian Blur.
4️⃣ Erase any excess.
⚠️ Use this effect lightly—it’s most powerful when used as a finishing touch.
In cell-shaded comics, you can also create this glowing haze easily:
1️⃣ Duplicate the backlight layer.
2️⃣ Ctrl-click the character folder to select the silhouette.
3️⃣ Invert the selection,.
4️⃣ Delete that part from the duplicate layer.
5️⃣ Apply the Gaussian Blur filter to soften it,
6️⃣ Move the layer above the character,
7️⃣ Adjust the color and opacity to fit the scene.
⭐ Using a darker, more saturated tone often boosts the image’s overall vibrancy.
8️⃣ Erase in areas that feel too blurred. Keep sharp edges visible in most places to maintain visual clarity.
🟧 Background Tips
Backlight helps the subject pop, especially when the background is busy. But for more dramatic impact, simplify or blur the background.
You can use Gaussian Blur…
… Or try the new Lens Blur, which gives you lovely bokeh effects with custom intensity and shape:
🟨 Bokeh
You can also add bokeh lights manually with a brush to enhance the atmosphere.
🟨 Backglow
A glow behind the character adds drama and depth.
1️⃣ Use a large soft brush to paint a gentle, misty gradient:
2️⃣ Ctrl-click the character folder to select the silhouette.
3️⃣ Expand the selection a few pixels (menu: Selection > Expand selected area).
4️⃣ Fill it on a new layer placed behind the character.
5️⃣A. Expand it more with Liquify for a cut-out feel…
5️⃣B. … Or blur it with Gaussian Blur for a soft glow.
6️⃣ Choose a blending mode and adjust the opacity to suit the scene.
⭐ A subtle glow in front of the character adds depth too:
⚠️ Make sure the background retains enough contrast with the character so the silhouette stays clearly readable, even with all the lighting effects in play:
🟧 Usage
These quick backlight tricks work on just about anything:
🔸 Characters
🔸 Objects
🔸 Comic style with outlines and cell shading or soft shading, or painted lineless styles.
⭐ Use Hue, Saturation, Luminosity and layer opacity to play with the light’s color and intensity to achieve interesting effects:
Use subtle backlight for adding depth, or intense contrast for a dramatic punch:
💡 Quick Tip #2: Darker Shadows Boost Light
To make the backlight more intense, dim or even leave out other lights:
Alternatively, you can darken the subject:
1️⃣ Clip a new layer in Multiply or Darken mode to its folder.
2️⃣ Fill it with a dark blue or purple.
3️⃣ Ctrl-click the backlight layer to make a selection of it.
4️⃣ Delete that part from the dark layer to keep the glow clean and bright:
🟨 Rim Light for Visual Clarity
Backlight isn’t just for drama—it’s also great for visual clarity. Even a simple thin rim light can help separate objects from a busy background:
In comics, you can use these effects subtly to guide the reader’s eye and highlight important characters or elements within a scene:
🟧 Conclusion
Backlight may look complex, but it’s incredibly easy once you know the tricks—and it can completely transform your artwork. Whether you're aiming for subtle realism or bold drama, rim light is a quick way to boost mood, focus, and atmosphere.
Experiment, play with intensity and color, and let your art glow—literally!
I want to use this opportunity to thank everyone who takes the time to like and comment on my tutorials. A friend recently pointed out that these are “true reader likes” (as opposed to “fan likes” that an artist’s fans from other services come to give to show support), a genuine appreciation from people who found the tutorial helpful. As someone who isn’t active outside this platform (much less being a “likes collector”), that point really hit home. I hadn’t realized just how precious that kind of feedback is, and how much it encourages me. So thank you for showing me I’m on the right track!
Let’s keep learning and improving together!
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