Digital artists - how many layers do you use?

[Okido]

I've seen a lot of wildly different answers to this question, so I'm curious!

After checking some recently finished canvases of mine, it seems like I typically use about 7 to 14 layers, depending on complexity — that's including the base background color, but excluding any hidden layers that I didn't end up needing. The most I found was 25, but honestly that one was a bit of a mess by my standards.

I don't name my layers, and I don't use folders/groups either, so I like to use as few as possible to keep things organized (and usually I don't see much reason to make any more than what I need).

 

[DawningWinds]

Too fucking many...

Generally speaking, the human characters (which is what I prefer to draw), I tend to make a bit over a hundred layers per character--not always, especially I don't do a fully body, but thats about the standard. Background vary a little more widely because I don't have the clearest process for how to do them, so when I do make them I'm making stuff up as as I go along a lot more.

 

[Teebs96]

Generally when I do art, each unique "color" has its own layer, and then I do shades on masking layers above it, same with highlights. So it could be a LOT of layers, but sometimes foreground/backgrounds are all done in one layer.

It usually leaves me on like two dozen layers when I'm done, but if I ever did a huge piece it would be tons of layers.

 

[escolopendror]

It depends tbf. My rendering technique is as simple as you can get so a single character tends to have a lineart layer, a colour layer and a shading/highlights layer. Sometimes, if I want to colour the lineart but it has many overlapping parts and I don't feel confident enough to simply alpha lock the lines, I also add a colour layer for the lineart.
I don't tend to name my layers BUT I organise them into folders and I do name them ^^

 

[Hydrogenium]

I mostly draw traditionally, so I don't have an established process for digital art.
The pictures I drew digitally either had a lot of layers, that I tried to name, put into folders and generally keep organised, unsuccessfully, or were done in MS Paint 3D (9/10 drawing software, one point down because it has no layering option). I think that having too many layers is what made me dislike doing digital art, so I thought that the next time I decide to try it once more, I'm going to use my favourite software again...

 

[Blanc]

The most I found was 25, but honestly that one was a bit of a mess by my standards.

I wish I were you.

I don't tend to name my layers BUT I organise them into folders and I do name them

You are definitely more chaotic good than I am. I NEVER name my layers unless I'm doing a pretty complex piece. I also don't use folders unless it's a complex piece. I almost never make the file organized in any capacity unless I know it's a piece I'll get lost in OR... I am delivering the file in full to someone else. Casually revealing myself as the messiest artist known to man to you guys LOL.

As for layers, ultimately varies, but these days I tend to run 40-50 layers minimum and usually upwards of 75-100, I think most often my stuff tends to fall in that 60-70 sweetspot. Once in a great while I've had pieces go past 100, but those are rare (and taxing on my tablet OOF). I separate my layers by foreground and background linearts, and same for colors, rendering often gets mixed in there somewhere...

 

[Okido]

Once in a great while I've had pieces go past 100, but those are rare (and taxing on my tablet OOF).

Jeeez I can imagine. My previous computer wasn't even able to handle any more than about 20 at a time — whenever I tried to save a big canvas that was too heavy on layers, it would hang up for minutes on end and potentially crash by the end of it, so I just started using as few as I could to avoid the painful save/load times and prevent CSP from slowing down the rest of my programs. It's probably a force of habit that I still do that despite not really needing to anymore.

...Did I trick myself into proper organization by having a toaster for a computer?

 

[escolopendror]

— whenever I tried to save a big canvas that was too heavy on layers, it would hang up for minutes on end and potentially crash by the end of it

My first laptop was the shittiest, most broken down laptop on Earth and wee me drew on 4000x4000 canvases with thousands of layers...

...Did I trick myself into proper organization by having a toaster for a computer?

Ditto! I believe I got tired of my laptop exploding whenever I saved because I vividly remember SAI crashing in multiple occasions from the sheer amount of unorganized layers + the massive canvas size. Let this be a message for generations of artists to come :')

 

[Dreary_Rowlet]

If you don't include me merging and deleting some, usually about 5-7 layers.

 

[mastermind lissi]

I usually end up with a sketch layer that’s hidden, a colour layer, a lineart layer, an ”effects” layer, a shadows/highlights layer, and backgroun, which leaves me with, give or take, 5 ish layers.

i think that’s the single largest amount of commas Ive ever used in a sentence