The day I realized I'd been blending layers wrong for 8 years

I was flattening a piece for a client in Austin last Tuesday and noticed my shadows looked muddy compared to their reference. Turns out I'd been using normal blend mode on my shadow layers instead of multiply this whole time. I used to think my tablet was just calibrated bad or my eyes were off. Now I see the difference everywhere, even in pieces I did back in 2017. It's wild that one setting can wreck your whole depth game without you knowing. Has anyone else had a sudden basic technique click that made you redo old work?

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noah88012d ago

Multiply changed my whole world too. I spent years fighting with opacity and dodging to get shadows to look right, and it never clicked until I watched a speedpaint where someone just slapped multiply on and moved on. The difference is honestly embarrassing when you see it side by side. Went back to an old portfolio piece and the flatness just jumps out now. It's like one of those things where once you see it, you can't unsee it. Makes you wonder what else we're all missing, right?