Layers and blend modes, made for painting on Mac

How to use layers and blend modes on a Mac

1. Open the layers

   Click “Studio” in the toolbar to show the “Layers” list, top layer first, each with a thumbnail, name and eye button.

2. Add a layer

   Click the + button (“Add Layer”); the new layer goes on top and becomes active. In a free painting with 3 layers, it offers “Combine Layers” instead.

3. Pick a blend mode

   Select the layer, click the mode under its name (it reads “Normal” at first) and choose one of the 27, such as “Multiply”.

4. Set the opacity

   Drag the thin track on the active row to set the layer’s opacity from 0 to 100%.

5. Arrange the stack

   Drag rows to reorder them, double-click a name to rename it and click the eye to hide a layer. Right-click for “Lock Layer” or “Duplicate Layer”.

6. Export the layers

   Choose File ▸ “Export as Layered PSD…” to keep every layer, or press ⇧⌘E for “Export Selected Layers…”.

A drawing app with layers for Mac

Paint My is a paint app with layers built in. A new canvas starts with “Layer 1”, which your first stroke renames. Painting with a new brush or color then starts a fresh layer named after both, such as “Red HB Graphite”.

Each layer has a name, visibility, lock, opacity, blend mode and position. Hidden or locked layers can’t be painted, filled or cleared.

A photo from Magic ▸ “Import Photo…” lands on its own “Photo” layer, so after “Remove Background” (one free use) you can paint a new background below the cut-out. Here’s how to remove background on Mac.

The free download keeps 3 layers per painting. When they’re full, new paint goes on the layer you select, and “Combine Layers” can merge them into fewer layers without changing how the painting looks.

How to use layers in digital painting

Keep each job on its own layer, so you can fix one part without touching the rest. This three-layer plan fits the free version. Add the layers first:

• Colors at the bottom, in “Normal”: paint the flat shapes.
• Shading in the middle, set to “Multiply”: paint the shadows over the colors.
• Line art on top, locked with “Lock Layer” so a stray stroke can’t reach it.

Layer blend modes explained

A blend mode decides how a layer’s colors mix with everything below it. All 27 come with the free download, and the menu groups them by what they do:

• Normal, Dissolve: the layer sits on top; Dissolve turns semi-transparent paint into scattered solid pixels.
• Darken, Multiply, Color Burn, Linear Burn, Darker Color: never lighter than what’s below.
• Lighten, Screen, Color Dodge, Linear Dodge (Add), Lighter Color: never darker than what’s below.
• Overlay, Soft Light, Hard Light, Vivid Light, Linear Light, Pin Light, Hard Mix: light colors lighten and dark colors darken, for contrast.
• Difference, Exclusion, Subtract, Divide: compare the layer with what’s below, for graphic effects.
• Hue, Saturation, Color, Luminosity: take hue, saturation, hue and saturation, or brightness from the layer, and the rest from below.

Multiply layer for shading

Multiply multiplies the layer’s colors by the colors below: white changes nothing, and every other color darkens, like a transparent wash of paint.

To shade, add a layer above your colors, set it to “Multiply” and paint the shadows in one color, such as blue. Keep that brush and color: a new one starts a fresh layer in Normal when there’s room.

Multiply also hides white paper: set a scanned ink drawing to “Multiply” and color on a layer beneath it. The whiter the paper, the less it shows. Learn how to scan a drawing with iPhone to Mac.

Paint It for Me’s Hyperrealistic style puts its Pencil, Colored Pencil and Watercolor layers in Multiply, so each pass deepens the one below. Pro keeps every layer separate when you turn a photo into a painting.

How to use blend modes in digital art

Screen is Multiply reversed: black changes nothing, and every other color lightens. Use a Screen layer for glows and rim light.

Overlay keeps the highlights and shadows below: light colors brighten, dark colors deepen and mid-gray changes nothing. Color gives the pixels below the layer’s hue and saturation but keeps their brightness, for tinting a grayscale study.

Some changes in the layers panel, such as a blend mode, opacity, rename or delete, are not undo steps. “Export as Layered PSD…” keeps every layer’s blend mode, so you can open the PSD file on Mac later.

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