Get familiar with Krita Desktop layers
Learn about Krita’s layers and find out how to use them to your advantage as Katarzyna Oleska explains the basics
Katarzyna Oleska explains the software’s basics.
Layers are a useful way of painting faster and more efficiently (you can find them via Settings>Dockers> Layers from the top menu). They also provide flexibility and enable you to control elements of your painting, together with the way they interact with each other. Layers are one of the key benefits of painting digitally.
1 Paint layer vs Vector layer Some tools used on Paint and Vector layers will behave differently. On a Paint layer the Rectangle, Ellipse and Polygon tool shapes will be painted by a preselected brush, while on a Vector layer they’ll become vector objects that you can select using the Shape editing tool and alter their shapes with the Path editing tool, as well as choose different outlines and fills (via the Tool Options docker).
2 Blending modes and Opacity Blending modes are grouped into categories in a drop-down menu in the Layers Docker (D). The top category (Favorites) shows all the blending modes that are checked in all the remaining categories. You can also use Opacity to control the layers. By experimenting with both of those variables you can create many interesting effects, and speed up your painting process.
3 Adjusting layers If you select Layer from the top bar, a really useful drop-down menu will appear. Using that, you can rotate the layer, scale it, mirror it horizontally or vertically, merge layers with each other and even rasterise them. You also have the option to flatten the whole image. Similar options for you will appear if you select a layer from the Layer Docker and then click it with the right mouse button.
In Krita Desktop you can create many different types of layers (Painting, Group, Vector, Filter, Fill and File), but the most important one is the Painting layer.
In between the layers you can change the way they affect each other by assigning a blending mode for each one of the layers. You can also group layers and turn them on or off, either one at a time or as a group. Let me explain more…