Introduction

Blend modes are brilliant tool to boost your pieces and speed up your painting workflow.

However, that long drop down list you see in your layers menu may make you feel a bit overwhelmed, but not to worry! In this tutorial I'll give you a comprehensive guide as to what they do and when it’s best to use them!

 

Firstly, here’s some quick definitions;

Value - The lightness or darkness of a color

Hue - The color itself, red, yellow, blue etc.

Saturation - The measure of intensity of a color

Destructive - Overriding the existing information in the painting, irretrievable

Non-Destructive - Keeps painting information in some way, retrievable later

Ambient Occlusion - Where the ambient light is being blocked out. The deepest darks/crevices of your painting

Clipping mask - This will restrict the clipping layer to the alpha of the layer below or linked layer (I only mention it here, do look up other tutorials to see just what clipping can do)

 

⚙ - A technical bit, not necessary, but interesting

❢ - A hot tip! Here I'll give out some tricks I've picked up while learning digital painting

 

Now, let's get going!

 

Why Use Blend Modes?

Basically blend modes are there to help you with the classic question of;

"Just what color should I put here to make it brighter/shadowed/glowier?" without having to go through the trial and error of locating 'just the right color' yourself.

 

Why else should we use them?

• Blending modes allow you to affect your drawings in a nondestructive way

• Dramatic effects

• Make your pieces vibrant and exciting

• Efficient shading without risk of confusing layers and/or colors

• Tint or adjust color or even shift the mood of a piece

• Adjust selective pre-existing colors you’ve already painted without having to redo an area

 

Everything we’ll be using is found in the layer menu, alternatively you can also use blend modes on individual brush strokes.

 

This all sounds pretty groovy right?

Well now it's time to learn the ways of BLEND MODES!

Normal

This is what you're used to, slapping paint on top of the colors below. This will override the color below in a destructive way unless you’re painting on a different layer. Low opacity layers above lower layers will create a tinted window type effect.

 

Here's a simple drawing done using the normal blend mode. All the fruit is colored on separate layers underneath the lines. We'll be using this as our base example image.

This is what artists would typically regard as flat color. This is usually the best base to have ready before placing your blend modes on top. It might seem a bit boring, so lets have a look at what we can do with blend modes to make it a bit more exciting!

Overlay

Overlay is a great all round blend mode. It tints colors effectively and can also boost underlying colors by just dropping more of the same color on top.

 

Useful for:

• Intensifying colors

• Ambient light effects

• Coloring a greyscale painting

 

⚙ Technically, it's a combination of the Multiply and Screen blend modes

⚙ Middle grey will have no effect on the layer below whatsoever

 

❢ HOT TIP

Overlay is great for tying pieces together. Overlaying one color(or a gradient) over an entire piece with a low opacity will have a kind of harmonizing effect on a drawing. Just make sure it's subtle and it acts as a nice bit of post processing!

 

Below you can see how I've used overlay to add a vibrancy to the image. To the right is what the Overlay layer looks like set to Normal.

 

Soft Light

I like to think of Soft light like a more gentle version of Overlay.

 

Useful for:

• Literal Soft Light; great for a gentle haze or glow

• Creating a feeling of local light, makes a light falloff effect a lil' easier

(see also; inverse square law)

• Using it whenever Overlay just seems too harsh

 

⚙ Soft Light acts a bit like the Burn and Dodge tools from other programs.

If you paint above 50% gray on your image, it will lighten the image, if below 50% gray it will darken.

 

❢ HOT TIP

Have a flat colored drawing? Don't want to mess around finding the right color to shade with? Soft light has got you! On a soft light layer above your drawing, make a clipping mask. Use pure black to put in your shadows. Similar to multiply but quick and nasty - nice!

 

Below is an example of this technique. The right image is what the layer looks like set to

normal.

Hard Light

Hard light is a very powerful blend mode. It overrides most colors. I’ve noticed colors above 50% brightness will dramatically lighten the colors below. And using colors below 50% brightness will dramatically darken and intensify the color underneath.

 

Useful for

• Coloring/tinting a sketch

• Neon/glowing effects

• Boosting the intensity of colors

 

⚙ Hard Light is a combination of the Multiply and Screen blend modes.

 

❢ HOT TIP

Hard Light is incredibly good for coloring in a greyscale drawing. I rarely see it used for this, but you should give it a go. On a Hard Light layer above your grayscale piece, start putting down your colors. Be aware that the lighter a color is, the more it will override deep darks. Because of this it’s useful for tinting a sketch so you don’t end up with boring desaturated darks later on.

 

Below is an example of this technique. The left image is made of the middle image on a Hard Light layer above the grayscale painting. Notice how the lighter colors override the black lines, saturating them.

Screen

Screen uses only the lighter tones of the blending layer on the image below. It has a slight tinting effect when using colors, but its brightening effect is far more noticeable.

 

Useful for:

• A haze/washout/pastel-ish effect

• Tinting/post processing

 

⚙ Pure black will have no effect, while pure white will override anything below

 

❢ HOT TIP

Screen is great for creating a washed out effect. On a screen layer above your painting start applying different textures using a variety of dull tones. Use darker tones for a subtle effect, and use lighter tones for a stronger 'bleaching' effect.

 

Below I've used screen to make weathered/grainy photograph effect.

The right image is the screen layer set to normal. Notice the texture and the variety of brown tones that create the weathered feel.

Multiply

This is what you'd usually see people using to cell shade their work. It's a quick and easy way to apply shadows. Using a soft purple or blue makes some nice cool shadows, while a dull orange or magenta can make some vivid warm shadows.

 

Useful for:

• Shading & shadows

• Darkening the image

• Ambient Occlusion

• Converting a scanned in sketch into clean lines

 

⚙ Multiply will always make a darker color. Pure white will have no effect on the layer below

 

❢ HOT TIP

Duplicate your full painting on a layer above, set it to multiply. Play with the opacity, hue, saturation, and brightness until your painting appears to be fully in shadow. Turn that layer into a clipping mask and start erasing away where you want your lights.

 

Below I've used Multiply to add some warm shadows. You can see on the right I used a reddish gray color at about 70% opacity to add form.

Colour Dodge & Linear Dodge

The Dodge blend modes really makes things glow! Be careful with these as these can be very powerful. They are perfect for adding a bit of sparkle or glow to your pieces.

 

Useful for:

• Boosting highlights

• Glowing effects

• Drawing attention to focal points

• Magical sparkly bits e.g. crackling magic, embers from a fire, fireflies

 

⚙ Black will have no effect with either of these blend modes

⚙ Color Dodge brightens by decreasing the contrast between the base color and the blend layer

⚙ Linear Dodge brightens the base color till it matches the brightness of the blend layer

 

❢ HOT TIP

Dodge is great for rim lighting, or even powering up existing rim lights!

Draw your rim lights like normal, but with dodge as your blend mode.

Alternately - duplicate your rim lighting layer, apply a slight blur and set that layer to Dodge. Tint it to your desired color. Now it's really glowing!

 

❢❢ DOUBLY HOT TIP

Contrast creates focal points. Try using an airbrush on a dodge layer to gently highlight the desired focal points of your artwork. You may need to play around with the color you use depending on the piece.

 

Similar & Uncommonly Used Blend Modes

 

Some blend modes are quite similar to modes I've already explained or are similar enough to group together. In this section I’ll cover these modes at the same time. These modes may behave the same mathematically, or I just feel they have a similar vibe.

 

Linear Light, Pin Light, Vivid Light, Glow Dodge, Add & Add (Glow)

These are all quite similar modes. They all create a vibrant glowing effect.

There are subtle differences between them, so always shuffle between your options to find your desired effect. They’re much like the previously mentioned Color Dodge & Linear Dodge.

Color Burn & Linear burn

Both of these have a mostly darkening effect.

They're both act a bit stronger than Multiply in darkening.

 

• Color Burn acts similarly to the Burn tool you might be familiar with from other programs. It also will increase saturation of affected colors.

 

• Linear Burn decreases brightness more intensely than Color Burn. It also has a desaturating effect on images.

Darken & Lighten, Darker Color & Lighter Color

All these blend modes mainly effect brightness.

 

• Darken will only override the colors below that are brighter than itself. Pure white will have no effect on the layer below

 

• Lighten is comparable to Screen. However, the blend color will only override the colors below that are darker than itself. Pure black will have no effect on the layer below

 

• The Darker Color blend mode is similar to Darken. There is a subtle difference between them, though I am unsure how to describe it.

 

• Lighter Color is similar to Lighten. It will override any color that is darker than your blend color, making lighter till it matches in value.

 

I've only really seen these blend modes used for adjusting values in a grayscale painting. Otherwise they can be used along with the modes mentioned below for some cool abstract effects.

Subtract, Difference, Hard Mix, Exclusion & Divide

These blend modes all feel really abstract. They’re very strong and can easily overwhelm whatever is below. Try them at a low opacity.

 

Useful for:

• Because of their intensity and strange behaviors, they’re great for glitch effects

 

❢ HOT TIP

Find any image and paste it into a layer, duplicate it a few times and set these layers to a mix of any of these modes. Rotate, squash and stretch the layers until you get a colorful abstract pattern. This works really well as to create an interesting palette or to generate ideas for a painting.

 

To show the effect of these modes, I've duplicated the image on top and offset it to right. The final image is made using the method above. Looks a bit like pop art to me!

Color, Hue, Saturation & Brightness

Color - Traditionally used for coloring in grayscale pieces on the layer above. The problem with this is that it can usually make colors feel washed out. Use in combination with an overlay layer to tweak your colors to keep them looking vibrant.

 

Hue - Will tint the color of the layer below to the color you're placing above. Will have no effect on colors with no saturation.

 

Saturation - Will make the the saturation of the color below match the intensity of the color you're painting above. Great for intensifying colors that feel dead, or calming colors that have become too intense.

 

Brightness - Will make the value of the color below match the value you're painting above. Great for subtly correcting values in a greyscale painting.

 

 

Outro

I hope you learned something. If in doubt, experiment! That’s the benefit of using a non-destructive workflow, you can always go back and change your mind later.

Apologies if this tutorial felt at all confusing or unclear, this is my first time writing something like this. But it was fun, I'll definitely try writing another tutorial in the future!

 

Now go forth! Get fancy!