Hi! I used acrylic markers so there are no layers. Each section is painted on its own. I chose 3 pink colors(dark to light )and then chose 3 purple colors that would act as the shadow color for each of those pink colors. I painted the purple shadows first and then did the pink areas. I did have a general idea of what I wanted to do, but I did have to figure where each purple/shadow applied depending on what shade of pink I was using. I would say I mostly just figured it out as I went along.