Using Reference Layers

In this section, we are going to look at a basic way, and one of the most useful, to start coloring. Having line art already on your canvas and knowing the great digital coloring benefits really changes your creative life.

Let's have a look at reference layers. Reference layers are a game-changer for anyone who does digital art. Reference layers allow us to make some aspects of the digital coloring process a lot easier. Many digital art beginners make a mistake when they start adding color to their art. Once they have some nice inks down, they grab the bucket fill tool in whatever software they're using and start adding color willy-nilly to the same layer that their line art is on. This produces results like the following screenshot:

Figure 16.1 – Screenshot of an image colored by the bucket fill tool

If we look closely at the area between the black lines and the color, we can see a slight line of white and gray pixels...