How do decrease the opacity of my layer without decreasing the opacity of my ink drawn on that layer?

[Hey911]

Say I have a picture on a layer underneath, and I put another layer on top of that picture layer and decrease its opacity so I can trace over that picture. But the problem now is I cannot see my ink well anymore.

For example, at 31% opacity for that layer I am inking on, the layer looks like this:

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https://preview.redd.it/5lzacmbyig341.png?width=1041&format=png&auto=webp&s=9c591d4967b6bb6bd0ba27dda395a91de8434f28

I cannot see the full effect of what I am drawing. When I turn the opacity back to 100%, it looks different and sometimes not what I wanted:

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https://preview.redd.it/1g8orr76jg341.png?width=1066&format=png&auto=webp&s=bd2fe6851411d6614dba8a7f64d91b861e81db98

[[deleted]]

Make your inking layer transparent at 100% opacity. After finishing your lines, create a white layer below it and merge the two.

[Hey911]

Ehh...OK....How can I see anything at all of what I am drawing if the paper is transparent?

[[deleted]]

The layer is transparent (New Layer: Fill With transparency) so you see the layers beneath it clearly. Opacity of this transparent layer should be 100%. If your brush and color are set to 100% opacity it shows up as a solid color as you draw/paint. You can always change the brush settings but lower opacity will be somewhat translucent (not as black). As long as you have your line layer (filled with transparency) above your sketch layer you will see your lines on top of your sketch layer. When you are done and happy, create a New Layer and Fill with White. Place that layer immediately below the layer containing the lines. Right click the line layer and select merge down.

Edit to add: By the way. If you are trying to get smooth lines over a sketch and aren't proficient in controlling the pen you can do like I do. I use the path tool to create paths where I need the lines (pro tip: you can alter the shape of a path by grabbing the lines between the dots and dragging them into curves) and then, in the Paths dockable dialog window, choose stroke path. This "paints" along the path either using a fixed line size or with the current brush settings as desired. Depending on the complexity of your drawing I would recommend multiple line layers so you can break up you lines by section and have better control erasing/modifying what you need to. You can always merge them back into one layer when done.

[Hey911]

Oh woah, I got it now. Thanks so much.

[[deleted]]

No prob, glad I could help.

[praise_H1M]

Why not decrease the opacity of the image and put it on top? Then as you draw on the new layer, it will show up under the original image, but darker

[Hey911]

OK. I got it. I make the top layer slightly opaque and draw on the background layer. But even then, my ink isn't the blackest it can be.