Step 03: Setting Up the Layers

We are going to take our blue image and begin to draw on top of it with black ink to create our character. When you start to Ink this picture, you may want the sketch to disappear and reappear at your command, to check how it would look without having to delete it. Layers are good for this. Layers are good for many things. Layers are our friends.

There should be a Layers window like the one shown below somewhere on your Photoshop screen.

If not, it can be called from the Menu Bar...

1. Click Window on the Menu Bar
2. Click Layers

Keep in mind that any palette that this tutorial mentions that you do not see can be called by using the two directions above and choosing the missing palette in direction 2.

The basic idea behind layers is that you can have many different elements to the picture you're working on stored on different layers. To help better understand this, imagine a stack of overhead sheets - yes, those see-through things that teachers write on the overhead with. Now imagine that each sheet contains just one part of an image. For example, the top sheet has a hat, the next sheet has a head, the next sheet has a tie, the next sheet has a shirt, the next sheet has an arm, and so forth. When all sheets are put together in one big pile you can see the image of a person. The beauty of this system is that you can pull out any given overhead sheet and work on only it without having to be bothered by the rest of the sheets - for example I can pull out the sheet with the tie on it and make it a different color without changing the rest of the sheets at all. This is how layers work. Layers can be moved around or turned visible and invisible without affecting other parts of the image. Transparency and shading tricks can also be done with these layers, but we'll go into that later.

What we want to have with our sketch is a white background layer, a blue sketch layer, and a layer where we can draw the lines in the sketch without messing around with our blue chick. Here is how we do this...

3. First, notice how our sketch is labeled as Background in italics, and has that lock icon next to its name?
   
   That means that it is a special type of layer that can only be used as a background, and can't do transparency or be moved around
4. We want a background layer that's pure white, and the sketch to be on a normal floating layer so we need to make a duplicate layer of this background layer
5. Click the Layer Menu (the black triangle button indicated in the first graphic on this page)
6. When you click the black triangle a menu will pop up - click Duplicate Layer... in that menu
7. A new box will appear, asking for the layer name and the destination for the new layer...
8. Change the layer name from Background Copy to Sketch, but leave the destination alone, since it defaults to making the copy in the current image
9. Click OK

 The layers window should now look like the one below...

Always remember that the layer you're working on is the one whose title is highlighted in blue. If you ever make a change and don't see the effects, be sure to check what layer you're editing, because most actions are only applied to a single layer.

We now need to turn the background layer white so that we will have a nice canvas that we can turn on and off behind our sketch....

10. Make sure the Background layer is active by clicking on it so that it turns blue
11. Click Edit on the Menu Bar
12. Click Fill...
13. Make sure the settings are:
    Use: White
    Mode: Normal
    Opacity: 100%
14. Click OK

Take a look at your Layer palette just to the left of the layer name. See the eye? (if you don't, look at the graphic to the right) This allows you to turn the visibility (whether you can see it or not) of the layer on and off. If the eye is there then the layer is turned on and you can see it. By clicking the eye and removing it we make that layer invisible. Note that the layer does not vanish all together, it's just invisible. Clicking the eye again will bring it back. Notice that if you have both layers invisible, you get a sort of checkerboard pattern. This is Photoshop's way of indicating that something is transparent.

Now we need to make a new layer to do our inking on. This is the layer we will be drawing on with black ink as we work toward creating our full-color cartoon character. Let's add the new layer...

15. In the Layer window menu (the little black arrow, remember?) click New Layer
16. Change the name to Ink
17. Click OK

You should get an empty new layer in your layers window. It will probably be in the wrong place, so we will need to move it above all of our other layers...

18. Click the Ink layer and drag it up in the Layer palette window
19. You will know it is in the right place when a black line appears above your highest layer
20. Release the mouse button to drop the Ink layer

From top to bottom your layers should now read Ink, Sketch, and then Background (as in the graphic below):

Save your Cartoon file!

We are now ready to begin Inking our character...