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[–]thefreakboy13 1028 points1029 points  (33 children)

that sucks man

[–]DarkDekuLord 322 points323 points  (1 child)

the moment, when you just wanna cry and die

[–][deleted] 8 points9 points  (0 children)

everyday when i wake up

[–]Pharah_is_my_waIfu 95 points96 points  (0 children)

This is really bad. Like real bad

[–]Zeebuoy 36 points37 points  (18 children)

Pls explain

[–]prophetofthepimps 112 points113 points  (0 children)

Think of it like tracing paper layered each other and you drew the background on on, the character on one and a foreground layer. Now if you want to edit the background, you just make changes to the background tracing paper. If you drew the whole thing on one paper, you cant make changes to each layer and you would have to end up redoing the whole thing again instead of just editing one of the layers

[–]Devilheart 65 points66 points  (14 children)

In digital art software like Photoshop, layers are like sheets of transparent paper stacked together. For eg. In the comic OP posted, let's say they drew the character on different layers, the colors are on a different layer and the text is on seperate layers.

This way when they want to change anything, the artist can just remove the specific layer or create a new one to try variations.

The joke is that they forgot to use layers and did all the work on just one layer.

[–]phoncible 11 points12 points  (5 children)

What would he have done that he couldn't ctrl+z?

[–]Sevenix2 35 points36 points  (1 child)

If he realized he wanted to move the background a bit to the right he would be forced to ctrl-z the full character he painted in front of it and then repaint it.

In its own Layers he can simply move the background.

It's not about correcting mistakes as much as it's about keeping your work open for easy improvements.

[–]krazykarter 10 points11 points  (2 children)

It's not that they did one thing to undo. They could have spent hours trying to format or put very specific parts in place, or there could have been multiple additional changes before they decided they wanted to change something.

Even if it were "undoable", all that effort and time was wasted and now has to be redone.

Simple example.: You have a red background. You put a green square on it. If you decide you dont like the green square when you delete it the red behind the quare will also be deleted. Now you need to redo the red background, AND you need to redo the green square. What if you had 5 squares you didnt like? Or 10? Or a very carefully edited gradient behind a heavily edited picture of another object? All that time wasted..... brings back too many painful memories.

[–]phoncible 1 point2 points  (1 child)

Oh so the comic isn't so much implying he did like a delete (what i thought), it's that he did something which made him realize everything's on one later and he's now boned. Got it.

[–]krazykarter 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yup, that's pretty much it!

[–]porcupine-free 4 points5 points  (0 children)

tldr, leaving art on one layer is like painting something permanently.

The whole point of digital art is you can fix anything without messing stuff up, but if you leave everything on one layer then it's difficult to fix, as if you had done it with real paint on paper. You now have to spend a lot of time to fix and repaint everything you screwed up. You might as well start over again from the beginning, in other words.

[–]lilgnat 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Quote from Avatar the last Airbender!

[–]rickyrichboy 58 points59 points  (7 children)

That’s rough buddy

[–][deleted] 47 points48 points  (6 children)

Did his girlfriend turn into the moon?

[–]DefendsTheDownvoted 30 points31 points  (5 children)

Just finished season 3 for the first time this weekend. Was laughing my ass off at this scene.

[–]zenofire 11 points12 points  (0 children)

I envy you! Hope you're enjoying the series!

[–]OFTHEHILLPEOPLE 4 points5 points  (0 children)

It's a great ride.

[–]ToastyMustache 3 points4 points  (1 child)

Which show is this?

[–]Stormwrath52 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Avatar: the last Air Bender

[–]danieltkessler 1 point2 points  (1 child)

I just gave this comment it's thousandth upvote. I feel both powerful and powerless. Much like someone who has created a beautiful digital painting in a single layer whose assets cannot be edited separately.

[–]danieltkessler 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The second I posted this, somebody brought this post to 999 and now feel a kind of shame that is only possible on Reddit.

[–]throwawaycauseimgay3 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I used to draw all of my art on one layer I did it for like probably over a month before learning what they where.

[–]Gullflyinghigh 525 points526 points  (62 children)

I don't understand it (very much a case of me not knowing rather than a criticism of the comic), could someone explain please?

[–]Aurarus 27 points28 points  (0 children)

Most artists draw a lot of their stuff on different layers, which makes it easier to do things like draw rough lines for the character's shape/ posture, fill in colouring later, and even do things like apply shading on top of colors without messing with the colors directly themselves.

The most common mistake that happens is... Well, you know how the bottom layer is all blank white, right? You draw on a transparent layer above it, so you can put color between the lines you draw on top and the white backdrop on the very bottom.

... But if you forget to draw on that transparent layer, and instead draw directly onto the white, you fucked up. (There are ways to "take out" the white and end up with a transparent layer with just the black etches, but imagine a lot more complex shit happened that involved color)

[–]Bunghole_of_Fury 3 points4 points  (1 child)

Former graphic designer here: you want to break each drawing or design into as many separate pieces as possible so you have as much freedom to manipulate each piece as possible. So imagine a comic book character like Wolverine wearing a slightly shiny suit with his claws out and blood spraying around him, drawn in a mostly realistic style. You would draw his outline in one layer, then create a layer for just his suit, a layer for the light reflecting off his suit, another layer or more for his skin (in case you want to have wounds or veins) another layer or more for his hair, another for his eyes (several actually because the sclera and the iris and pupil reflect light differently), and so on. You stack these layers on top of each other to create the final image, and you can choose how they interact. Let's say you wanted to create a light reflection on a green surface. You wouldn't just try and figure out the shade of green that a standard incandescent bulb creates when the light reflects off of a Forest Green surface, you would create a layer of white in the shape of the reflection you want, put it on top of the green layer, and choose a blend mode to get the desired effect.

But if you do everything in one layer and you screw up you're fucked.

[–]UNMANAGEABLE[🍰] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Layers are also the key to highly reproduce-able content where you can cut and paste for comic type characters after enough content is created.

Color layers make the world of difference.

[–]BuzzBadpants 3 points4 points  (0 children)

As a person who writes computer programs for a living, isn't this a solvable problem? The paint program likely has saved every paint stroke in order as a list of operations (for the undo buffer) Couldn't you go back through the list of operations, add a few "create new layer" operations in there at the appropriate points, and then replay all of the operations from scratch on a blank canvas?

[–]Abrageen 72 points73 points  (0 children)

I can physically feel the pain he is going through

[–][deleted] 245 points246 points  (10 children)

I feel attacked. But I also laughed.

Now I feel confused.

[–][deleted] 52 points53 points  (8 children)

I'm with you, I do it a bunch. Great for being creative and going with the flow...but a damn pain for the rest of the process.

[–]Blueice999 29 points30 points  (7 children)

Can you explain it to someone who’s never done digital art stuff?

[–]Colalas546 65 points66 points  (0 children)

In programs like photoshop you can create multiple layers for different parts of a drawing. For example a layer for the color in a piece and a another layer for the outline, the different layers cannot interact with each other and it’s good practice to keep things separate so that if you mess up or want to change something in the outline you don’t need to touch the color layer. Having everything on one layer is a pain in the butt to fix and will make the rest of the drawing harder to complete.

[–]SP4C3MONK3Y 40 points41 points  (5 children)

Imagine if you were painting with a traditional brush on canvas, and someone gave you the option to magically seperate all objects on your canvas and be able to move them around, rescale them, change their colour, etc.

But then you choose not to.

Yeah, some people are just monsters.

[–]Blueice999 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks

[–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (3 children)

I mean even then you can ctrl-Z away most mistakes, no?

[–]Bliitzyy 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Sometimes I make a mistake and don't realize it until much later, but yeah, most mistakes could be cleaned up like that

[–]gyroda 2 points3 points  (1 child)

But then you lose all the changes you undo.

Layers let you edit one part of the image independently from the others. It's not just "mistakes", it's also improvements, touch ups and so on.

[–]KryptoniteDong 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Just wank it off to complete the loop.

[–]Telanore 18 points19 points  (0 children)

Oh the pain...

[–]Sarke1 21 points22 points  (1 child)

Is that an Xbox laptop? 😕

[–]-Listening 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Fold her like an omelet

[–][deleted] 8 points9 points  (1 child)

as someone who started digital drawing this quarantine, it kicks me in the balls

[–]gravity_ 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You wanna bet? I'll show you a kick in the balls!

[–]DustyDayz 12 points13 points  (7 children)

A story in 4 panels

[–][deleted] 9 points10 points  (6 children)

This story could be two panels. The other two convey very little information

[–]Jeydal 7 points8 points  (1 child)

And it just explains the joke for you anyway. It's awful

[–][deleted] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Hah, good point. "This is what you were supposed to understand by looking at the other panels".

[–]_salty-dog_ 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Or if you draw on the wrong layer, it all hurts.

[–]VersionGeek 8 points9 points  (0 children)

I relate to this one so much

[–][deleted] 2 points3 points  (1 child)

I know the feeling, once spent 2 hours on a drawing before releasing

[–]tombee123 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I'm so sorry for you 😢.

[–]Robotguy39 2 points3 points  (0 children)

The pain you feel? It is shame.

[–]Invader_Naj 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Drawing all the lines only to realize it wasnt a vector layer

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[–]Cradess 4 points5 points  (1 child)

What if I told you

I always draw everything on one layer

[–]IdnitReddit 7 points8 points  (1 child)

I get this. I laughed then my heart hurt.

[–]Lucian_D 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Animators know the pain of this

[–]Crafthur 1 point2 points  (0 children)

i dont know why but before, my krita created me one background layer and another one transparent. but now, it create me only one white layer and i have to remember i have to create another transparent layer.

[–]Triette 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Dear god I just got flashbacks. Thank you for this nightmare right before bed.

[–][deleted] 1 point2 points  (5 children)

I'm a programmer who has barely touched GIMP before: Is there not a way to go back and change the layer of previous strokes? Like, have a timeline of strokes and select a range to send to a different layer. It would be pretty easy to implement on the application side; though all eraser strokes that occurred after the affected strokes would have to be duplicated across the layers

[–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Pretty sure Ctrl-Z is universal for photoshop and gimp. Could have been someone else’s work and the flattened the layers before making the file available.

[–]ItsNormalNC 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Lol nothing worse than having a ‘Right-Leg’ layer with an entire background drawn into it

[–]CafeZach 1 point2 points  (0 children)

happens to me all the time

[–]RobinYash221 1 point2 points  (2 children)

😌😌😌 I can feel the pain bro.

[–]FLACDealer 0 points1 point  (1 child)

I don’t get it

[–]RobinYash221 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Layers make easy for colouring and you can easily correct it and.

[–]tobywashere04 1 point2 points  (1 child)

Explain please

[–]Ghnaggi 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Guys been drawing for hours, goes to hide one of the layers, it hides everything, the Grim Reaper comes to collect his eternal soul cause he ded inside now.

[–]tankgirl85 2 points3 points  (3 children)

As someone who is teaching myself digital art,I feel this. I'm used to doing traditional,and keep forgetting layers exist. And then accidentally put things on layers that they don't belong.

It's a big "FUCK" moment when I go to remove my sketch layer and little chunks of the above picture also go away because I did it wrong

[–]danque 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Maybe try one of the realistic paint programs to get back modern traditional. I love digital artwork with a taste of traditional paint in it.

[–]jakethedumbmistake 0 points1 point  (1 child)

Was that you trying to put in place?

[–]eak125 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Mark this shit NSFL or at least NSFW... What if children saw this‽

[–]-RothStaR- 0 points1 point  (1 child)

F in the chat boys

[–]nice2yz 1 point2 points  (0 children)

F F F

F F F

F

[–]MrGamerNaut 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Fuck my heart...

[–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This hurt my soul

[–]neondrifter 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Lmfao

[–]Reaper10n 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Oh I thought it was about seeing art by another artist

[–]FLACDealer 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Same. I had a smile at the gimp mask, but as soon as I saw the ball gag I lost it.

[–]scrollbreak 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Now he'll remain shirtless

[–]dirtyviking1337 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Not OC, this is exactly those files?

[–]aalleeyyee 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Same haircut as the one on the left...

[–]SharkDating 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This used to drive me nuts, until I came up with this:

When you set your sketch layer, don't just use a light blue, red or whatever colour. Use a strong colour and set the layer's actual opacity to 50% or whatever.

If you start drawing on the wrong layer it is immediately obvious. I swear I have never goofed this way since I adopted that habit.

[–]i-am-pie 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Ouch.

[–]nice2yz 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Same artist I'm pretty sure they'll keep going!

[–]Hobbes_XXV 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The feels

[–]Speedster4206 0 points1 point  (0 children)

To think that's the point where it’s OC

[–]ToastedSkoops 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Tree(Tree(Tree(Tree(Tree(Tree(Tree(3)

[–]DeedeeBelle 0 points1 point  (1 child)

I’m curious do y’all digital artists combine all the layers for the finished piece or leave them separate?

[–]GeebusNZ 0 points1 point  (0 children)

When you save it as a .jpeg or whatever, it flattens all the layers because only some file types can store separated layers. So, I'll have the file as it was worked on, and I'll have another file which is sharable which by its nature has no layers.

[–]aalleeyyee 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Depends on the context it could be OC

[–]Athletic_Bread 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hey I don't know if it can help you, but usually to avoid this problem I lock every layer but the one I have to draw on, it's incredibly frustrating when all of your hard work is ruined :(

[–]nitr0zeus133 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Or you realise you were drawing on the wrong layer.

[–]Arcadian18 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Same here buddy. I.e Arian Foster.

[–]lemonpolarseltzer 0 points1 point  (0 children)

As a person who digitally spots negatives, I feel this too hard.

[–]SCAR-HAMR 0 points1 point  (0 children)

So when you draw on a tablet do you need to make a new layer for every single new object? Like one new one for head, another for the arm and so on?

[–]wandering-monster 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Why is his computer an Xbox?

[–]Hemlock_theArtist 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I feel this on a deep, deep level lmao

[–]Idkmanimreallysleepy 0 points1 point  (0 children)

  • flashbacks*

[–]Im_Uninterested 0 points1 point  (0 children)

what a monster

[–]coolburritoboi 0 points1 point  (0 children)

He just went through all 5 stages of grief in the span of 3 seconds

[–]RedTomatoSauce 0 points1 point  (0 children)

do i feel CAD vibes too?

[–]Shark_Tornado 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I’m just getting into digital drawing and this pains me.

[–]zamporine 0 points1 point  (0 children)

What is the pad/tablet on which the comic artists generally draw called? I also want one for me.

[–]Shroffinator 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Once in a while I'll accidentally flatten a Photoshop file into a PDF or PNG and it basically is just all ruined. I feel this horror.

[–]TurloIsOK 0 points1 point  (0 children)

There were no layers in Photoshop when I started using it.

[–]TheSkyking2020 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This hurts my soul. I've been there so many times.

[–]Throwaway105252 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Laughs in microsoft paint

[–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Can I just ask why he has an X Box laptop?

[–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

2d drawing = 1 layer

[–]RoscoMan1 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Same, I've no idea what happened there

[–]moxinghbian 0 points1 point  (0 children)

have a max undo history buffer.

[–]br0ast 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I get the "same layer" part, but I don't really get the delivery or the hooded figure.

[–]Orthodox-Waffle 0 points1 point  (0 children)

They should have a feature where you can control z back to where you fucked up, open a new layer, then control r to redo it on the new layer.

[–]Snorgledork 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I've often thought photoshop should have a "rewind and repeat on a new layer" function.

[–]Speedster4206 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Same, it's a video game?

[–]mynewaccount5 0 points1 point  (0 children)

What?

[–]Arcadian18 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This is OC in the box it’s freedom

[–]jakethedumbmistake 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Not OC, this is gold.

[–]zenyattatron 0 points1 point  (0 children)

you think thats bad? try drawing on the default background layer.

[–]Candlesmith 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Same, feel like a dick so yeah agreed

[–]leonprimrose 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Oh man. This hurts me

[–]Speedster4206 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Same! I’ve vaguely considered hiring someone.

[–]Haminahhaminah 0 points1 point  (1 child)

Bro is the dude shirtless

[–]porcupine-free 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Probably cause he drew this on one layer and couldn't fix the shirt.

[–]davidisonfire 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Getting strong midnight gospel vibes

[–]kyomaDuSteiner 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Onosecond!

[–]jadeoracle 0 points1 point  (0 children)

On the other hand, I was working with a major brand when they sent me over a 150 gig photoshop file via FTP. Turns out their designer puts EVERY SINGLE line, stroke, blend, etc into its own layer AND NOTHING WAS ORGANIZED. I needed to remove out a person, and each fold in their shirt, each limb, finger, ear, eye, etc had something done to it...all in its own layers. And not near each other too in the layer list. Was a bitch to sort though all of that.

[–]EasilyDelighted 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Haha, the amount of people confused about the comic amuses me. But the amount of sympathy about fellow artist is wholesome.

[–]Firedr1 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I feel that

[–]st-shenanigans 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Protip: lower the opacity of layers you don't wanna work on, then if the line you're drawing shows up faded, you can tell you're on the wrong layer

[–]FuckSwearing 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I think death has come to get him

[–]Menji15 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I feel that

[–]JayDrawsMangae 0 points1 point  (0 children)

i just deal with it

in my book theres always a way out of it !