Introduction

Please note, this is just my way of colouring using one layer. It is not a “One Layer Painting” as the lineart will be kept separately. The title refers to colouring or "brushing" a lineart piece in just 1 layer. Thank you for reading!

 

Part One: Colouring Order

1. Sketch out your drawing.

2. Line your drawing with your preferred tool. I like to keep both line & sketch layers till the end. The line layer opacity is set to about 50-60%.

3. Make a new layer and name it ”BG” or “background” and move it below your lines. You will use this layer for all the colouring. I compose and complete this background step before anything else.

You can decide the <colouring priority> order by giving numbers to the elements.

 

The “sky” is 1, the “floor” is 2, and the “characters” are 3, as shown below:

Finalize your first element, “the sky”.

[tip: stars turn out crisp and shiny when drawn on an Add layer]

Merge the star layer into the BG if you have used one.

Part Two: 2nd priority

Start on the 2nd priority place with your preferred painting tool.

In one layer paintings, it’s good to finish work in parts in order to obtain clean work.

I first brush with the shadow tone, then gradually add light tones. When I finish painting it, I polish with some details here and there.

Part Two (B): 2nd priority

Overlay & Add (luminosity/glow) phase: I airbrush often with catchy colours on those layers to make it look more alive, as seen below. Merge layers into the BG layer afterwards, in order to be able to continue painting. I consider this [Colour Adjustments].

Part Three: The characters

Now that the floor is done, I can start brushing the characters, which are the last element of the composition.

1. Add First Tones

Carefully brush your characters. The eraser can’t be used on the only layer you’re painting on, so to correct mistakes you have to use colours and the brush tool.

The best way is to stay in your lines. This one-layer-only technique is great because you can create a wide variety of tones by brushing onto what once was “the floor”.

 

[tip: It is better to leave the ends of the lines for last, for maximum attention.]

2. Make the character blend in by adding tones from the surroundings, as seen in the image below. You have to be sure you've finished the other parts of the painting by now because editing in places close to the characters would be quite time consuming.

Small details, especially those overlapping over skin and clothes are always the last.

Polishing and Cleanup

I continue brushing the characters until I'm happy with the result.

Clean up:

Use the brush tool and pick-up tool to fix mistakes. Pick up the colour that surrounds the area of your mistake and cover it again.

Last Overlay adjustment:

The circled parts below are airbrushed with yellow and blue.

Last Add Layer adjustment:

Hearts and lights, airbrushed with orange and yellow.

This is the whole process of brushing a drawing in one layer. While drawing, any Layer Adjustments have to be merged as soon as you've found the colour you needed, so that you can continue painting on the layer.

Thank you for reading!