So you might not be familiar with blending modes , especially if you’re just starting in digital art. I didn’t use them at first but it turns out they’re really convenient when you’re not that experienced in color theory. Blending modes can completely change and improve an art piece when you use them correctly so I am going to show you today the ones i use the most and how I use them!

Light and shadows.

As I said previously I’m not an expert when it comes to color and shading . The blending mode you will want to use for shading is the Multiply one.

I am going to show you a simple way to shade a portrait.

First you will need to sketch out the face and add the base colors on a layer underneath the sketch.

I merged my base color layer and my sketch layer but you don’t need to if you’re doing a line-art.

Too make the shadows you need to make a new layer on top of your base color layer , Clip it an set it to the multiply mode. Now pick the color you want on the color wheel and start painting. When shading with the multiply layer i recommend you pick a light color so it doesn’t look too dark(or if you pick a dark color you can reduce the opacity of the layer to make it less dark).

Then you just have to refine the rest of the drawing. When shading i like to have a brighter color on the edge of the shadow (pink in this case) , i often use orange but i thought pink and purple would make a great combo for this painting. You don’t have to do it but in my opinion it makes the painting less dull.

You can also choose to add more light by clipping another new layer and setting it to the Glow dodge mode. I often use the Glow dodge mode to add light but there are other modes you can use to brighten. (There’s the lighten mode, add mode, soft light , hard light etc...)

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I also often use the Hard light mode to brighten my paintings.

Here the light is coming from the top . I used the hard light mode with a light yellow color. You need to be conscious of the shapes of the character or object you’re painting so that you make the lighting and shadows fit well on it.

Here i added another light source to make it a bit more interesting. It’s pretty subtle but i like using multiple light sources of different colors to make it pop more.

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The other day i sat down and tried out all the blending modes to see how they turned out . You can see the results in the painting above.

Honestly I recommend you just experience with them to see how they turn out and which are the ones you like better.

1- the first three are a combination of the Glow dodge mode and Multiply mode.

2-The three others are a combination of the Linear light mode and Overlay mode.

The little dots of color next to the portraits are what the initial colors are before being turned into a blending mode. Colors change in values and hues depending on the blending modes you use. So that’s what i meant when i said they’re helpful when you don’t know color theory well ; you can lay out the base colors first and then add blending modes to change the atmosphere completely.

Greyscale.

Blending modes are also useful to go from greyscale to color. The results are different depending on what blending modes you use though.

1- Overlay mode

2-Color mode

3-Multiply mode

 

I used the same colors for each mode.

From what I’ve observed these three modes are the most used for going from greyscale to colors.

The overlay mode is the most popular for this method though.

But some people also use gradients to add colors.

Effects.

You can do many effects with blending modes. I’ll show you how to make the shadows of the leaves of a tree!

So i drew a character and i shaded with the multiply mode again.

On a different layer you will draw leaves ( i used a leave brush from the assets) and I applied an orange border effect from the layer property.

I then put it to multiply mode , clipped the layer and blurred it slightly in the filter window.

It’s an effect than can make your drawing a little more interesting quickly!

I also use this trick on other objects and textures to make it prettier!

Gradients + Blending modes

I use blending modes on backgrounds as much as i use them on characters. And another thing i use often to make more interesting colors are gradients. These two are really nice to mix together and they give really great results!

So here is a basic street drawing i made .

First , I’ll shade the sides of the buildings with the multiply mode to give a sense of depth.

I then Duplicate the base color layer.

Duplicating is really important for the next step.

After duplicating my color layer I use a gradient on it.

I set the gradient layer on Darker color mode and decrease the opacity of the layer a bit. You’re not forced to use the Darker color mode with gradients , i try multiple blending modes on gradients before deciding which one i want because each one of them will give a different outcome so don’t hesitate to experience with many blending modes first!

So that’s how it looks in the end but you can change the atmosphere with different blending modes and gradients.

Here is what it looks like if I wanted it to be night time. I only made a new layer in multiply mode and filled the whole canvas in dark blue and decreased the opacity.

Depending on the environment and lighting the results will come off different.

But I talk about that more in detail on my other tutorial:

Textures.

Textures are also used with blending modes often to not look out of place.

Above is what a grain texture looks like not blended.

And here is how it looks like on overlay mode.

And again the first picture is what it looks like not blended and the last picture is how it looks in overlay mode. If it looks too intense you can turn the opacity of the layer down.

Thanks for reading!💕

Well that was it for this time ,that’s how I personally use blending modes so I hope you learned something from it !

If you wanna see more of my art I welcome you to my Instagram page :

I hope you have a good day! See you next time!❤️