Clip masks! Those scary things hiding in your art app. But once you understand them, you’ll find that there’s not much to be scared of at all. If you saw my last video where we looked into alpha lock, well, clip masks actually aren’t too different! With alpha lock, we re-colored the fox, changing that original layer. But what if we wanted to try on more colors before committing to it? Or have multiple versions of a picture? Or, just organize things more?
Hey there! My name’s Kanjon and we’re continuing a series on learning digital art tools. It’s called Digital Dabbles, and the playlist is below! If you find this useful or are interested in learning to draw, subscribe and check out the rest of the channel!
Layers are there to help you organize your work when drawing and painting. At the end of the day everyone sees the flat picture without them. The more we can break them down, the more we can understand parts of the process, and come up with our own clever ways of making art. Clip masks are another way to break this down. Let me show you something real quick.
So last time, I showed you this, right? If I alpha lock a layer it keeps me from drawing outside of what I already had on this layer. But I’m going to undo that and make a new layer. Then, scribble on top again. Not too surprising, it went outside the lines. It’s just a layer. But watch this.
Suddenly, what I just drew is sort of “sticking” to the layer below. Just like alpha lock! I can turn it off and it’s all still there, turn it back on, move it around, and it’s still only showing what’s right on top of the fox here. It’s still just a layer, just with a fancy mode turned on.
So what did this actually do? It looks like it did the same thing as alpha lock. When we clip a layer like this, it will only show the parts of itself that are already on the layer below. On the layer list you can usually see a down arrow like this to show that happening. Visually, it’s just like alpha lock. But in our art process, it means we have the freedom to handle it separately, and not have to worry about being able to undo changes. You might hear things like this be referred to as “non-destructive”, meaning that you can layer on changes without actually changing what’s underneath. But that isn’t important to remember for now.
I can even stack another layer on top and clip it too! When I have multiple clip masks like this, they all clip to the layer at the bottom. This might feel a little weird, but in an art workflow, it means we can apply different types of changes to an object or character in our painting all at once. I can also put patterns on top, clip them, and move them around.
This whole workflow might sound really non-committal, but think of it this way: if you paint with alpha lock, it’s not often easy to change things later, and you often will want to. But if you use clip masks instead, not only can you move and change them, but you can merge them down, like this. You can clean up when you’re ready, but don’t have to decide up front.
Also, a quick note for folks on Krita: it doesn’t have clip masks, but you can get the same effect with this “inherit alpha” icon here. You also need to group the layers that you want clipped together, including the one on the bottom. Watch out if you’re saving as PSD: see this video for some commentary on Krita being a little broken here.
The real power with clip masks will be unlocked when we start shading. To give you a little preview, I’m again going to make a layer on top and set the mode to Multiply, commonly used for shadows. I’m going to pick a lighter color and start painting again, and look! Insta-shadows. I can go back to the base layer and paint more, yet the shadows still apply. Magical.
Don’t get too overwhelmed with the details of that, I promise we’ll cover this calmly very soon. I just want to give you an idea of the pow er of clip masks when they start to interact with more tools. Time for you to try! Your choice: paint on some fun patterns or markings onto your critter, or if you’re feeling adventurous, try using a layer in multiply mode as a clip mask to shade. Secret tip: for your brush, pick the color of the sky in your painting. Usually works well, I’ll tell you why later.
Next in this series, we’ll actually get into shading with a closer look into blending modes! I’ll go into what the heck all of those things like Multiply mean and give you a few easy ones to focus on. If you’ve found this video useful, or just like having this on in the background for art vibes, I’d love if you’d do that usual thumbs up, subscribe, and share it with a friend. Just hit 10k recently, which is wild. Let’s keep going! Enjoy your art practice, chase that passion, and have a wonderful day.
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