All About Blending Modes & How To Use Them In Digital Art

What are blending modes and how do you use them in digital art? 🤔
I get some sort of variation of this question every single day and I've been trying to come up with a video to explain it all for months now. Seriously.
Blending modes can be super confusing at first but the key thing to remember is that you actually don't have to remember anything. I find blending modes to be much more of a "feel" thing than a theory thing - as long as you understand the main idea behind the 5 main blending mode categories, then you're good to go!
• Category 1: Darken (Multiply, Linear Burn, Color Burn, Darken, Darken Color)
• Category 2: Lighten (Screen, Add, Color Dodge, Lighten, Lighter Color)
• Category 3: Contrast (Overlay, Soft Light, Hard Light, Vivid Light, Linear Light, Pin Light, Hard Mix)
• Category 4: Inversion (Difference, Exclusion, Subtract, Divide)
• Category 5: Color (Hue, Color, Luminosity, Saturation)
Oh! And one cool thing: blending modes are very similar from one software to the other, which means you can follow along with Procreate, Photoshop, Ibis Paint, After Effects, and many other digital art/ design tools 😊

Chapters:
00:00 Intro
00:42 What's a blending mode?
02:02 Category 1: Darken
06:22 Category 2: Lighten
09:14 Category 3: Contrast
12:23 Category 4: Inversion
14:11 Category 5: Color

All About Blending Modes & How To Use Them In Digital Art
#tutorial #procreate #digitalart
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[GenevievesDesignStudio]

Hello, wonderful people! There it is, the video I've been promising to make pretty much since starting the channel 😅
I really hope it can help make blending modes a bit less confusing and a whole lot more fun. The key thing to remember is that you actually don't have to remember anything. I find blending modes to be much more of a "feel" thing than a theory thing - as long as you understand the main idea behind the 5 main blending mode categories we'll talk about here, then you're good to go! 🤍

[biancamartins]

I think the best way to explain how blending modes works is to show it in practice, in "action", because just seeing images with narrated explanations, at least for me, didn't work very well. I think a mix of the two modes would be more productive (I mean: an illustration being done with various types of blending + the explanation being narrated during the moment). 😉

[MaureenAstrid]

This is actually the first time anyone explained this in an understandable way 🥰 thanks for all the work you put into this. My favourite blending mode is multiply 😘

[ellek]

THE BEST (I'm all Cap shouting it!) tutorial and explanation about blending modes.
I'm been just experimenting but it's much better to understand the mode before trying it and so much easier to repeat an effect later.
Thank you. THANK YOU.

[valeriaesparza]

Such an amazing way to explain what each blending mode does !! Tysm

[lifemoreefficient]

yes🙌🏾i've been waiting for someone to do this!! You rock!!

[mariamangion]

Genevieve, you are so tender-hearted and kind-spirited. Your soul shines the most beautiful, magical light. It's so obvious that the Lord has such a breathtaking, most loveliest purpose for you ❤️

[TracyKMainwaring]

I think my favourite blending mode is overlay. It seems to be useful in different situations. I use multiply a lot too

[ailimeblueberry]

Thank you so much! I'm a total beginner and thanks to you I have just understood some options. You've got a beautiful name, suits you perfectly - magical.

[toshikudo]

This was genuienly the best blending modes tutorial i have ever come across. Thank you so much!! i had been using these without ever figuring out how they work so, this helped a LOT.

[Jewlelil]

Thank you! This is so helpful, I usually just play around with the blending modes to find what I like but this is so thorough!

[debbieleevue]

You’re such a good teacher and very easy to follow and understand. I learned so much from your videos. Thank you so much.

[kryki_cha]

No other video I've watched on this topic had actually explained ALL of the modes. Most just explain the ones they use most and like. So, THANK YOU!! So helpful!!!

[samawhidden]

Thank you so much for taking the time to create this video!! This is a wonderful resource!

[bryantbonick]

I am a beginner in digital Art, and this Video is very helpful, thank you very much

[mvc]

As usual your tutorials are the most educational ones and easy to understand, you’re a great teacher 👏🏼, my favorite blending mode was Multiply, but I am going to test them all after watching this and I may change my mind 😂

[carlathomas]

Cannot watch now, but looking forward to it. Thanks soooo much.

[robbycook]

Congratulations on creating a wonderful Procreate resource, Genevieve. Blending Modes and I have been poles apart but after listening to (and watching) your video, I'm feeling a lot happier because your explanations and demonstrations on the cute little Chameleon now make sense and I'm excited to try to use the Lighten modes for highlighting. Thank you for sharing your knowledge and the Cheat Sheet. Much appreciated.

[MaoRatto]

Geneieve 5:14 As someone who uses this to shade often.
This layer is BEST FOR COLORED SHADING SCENERIOS, By having a more pastelish color, it turns that more into a mid-high saturated shadow... It's if need heavier contrast than multiply or need saturated shadows. For colored lighting scenerios where your backgrounds are not white or grey toned ( bright or dark greys ) It packs a punch, but very unpredictable like you said. It's best to always alpha lock then paint over it to make sure you know what you're doing with it. The colors it works best with are 1. Anything except green.
7:08 Best for pastel or need more low to medium tones.
Multiply is best for grey to lower-medium color scenerios.
It depends on your palette as for Linear Light and Linear Burn, these are basically mirrors of eachother for colored light scenerios. Where you're working within a saturated side of a palette.

[jmkeslin]

Genevieve, your English is great, and your vocabulary is broader than many people I know who are English 1st! I can tell you've improved since early videos. My favorite blending mode used to be multiply, but since watching your videos I really like the linear burn and add now. After years of using photoshop and more recently Procreate, you've given me a better understanding by far. Thanks!