Learn how to paint softly

I do two things to make sure that my art has a smooth rendering. In Photoshop I choose a suitable brush, then set the Opacity to 30 and Flow to 60. Then I practise the “paint 100, give it 50” method. I paint on separate layers at full Opacity, then lower the Opacity and gradually build things up with dozens of layers. Next, I bring the files into Painter and use the Dry Palette knife to smear. It has to be the Dry Palette knife – a Loaded one won’t work.