Switched from basic layers to masking groups and it fixed my messy workflow

I used to just stack layers on top of layers and hide what I didn't need... it got so messy after about 20 layers I could never find anything. My friend who does concept art told me to try masking groups about 3 months ago and it totally clicked. Now I organize everything into folders with masks so I can tweak one part without ruining the whole piece. It feels cleaner and I actually finish stuff faster because I'm not digging through a pile of unnamed layers. I'm curious what other people do to keep their files from getting chaotic... do you use naming conventions or just group things by color?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_hayden19h ago

Started using color coding for my layers about a year ago after watching some speedpaint on Youtube where the guy had all these colored folders and I thought it looked like a neon rainbow mess but turns out it actually helps alot. I'll do red for rough sketches, blue for lineart, green for base colors and yellow for shading and effects so I can instantly tell what im looking at without even reading the names. Funny thing is I got so into organizing that I spend like 15 minutes setting up my file structure before I even start drawing sometimes its almost like I'm avoiding the actual work by making everything look pretty. But once I get going its smooth sailing because I can find my flat colors under the green folder without hunting through 50 invisible eyes. The masking groups thing you mentioned is definitely the next level though Ive been relying on clipping masks too much and need to switch over.

val97418h ago

I'm gonna be the guy who says color coding is a waste of time. You spend 15 minutes setting up folders and colors when you could just be drawing. That time adds up. Call me old school but I just name my layers "sketch" "lines" "colors" and that's it. No rainbow needed. If you can't find a layer without a color tag maybe you got too many layers anyway.

shane17016h ago

Honestly I did the same thing for a while where I'd set up my files before even drawing and yeah it was just procrastination for me. What finally clicked was saving those setups as templates so I just click a button and its done. I got a folder with my color coded groups already named and empty, just drag it into the new project. Saved me like 10 minutes every time and I still get the neon rainbow mess that keeps my brain happy. Its funny because once I stopped fighting the organization thing and just embraced it as part of my process it actually stopped being a time sink. Now I just have my red blue green yellow groups ready to go and I can start sketching in 5 seconds.