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A3 - Colour Blending

At the top of the Layers docker in Krita, there is a dropdown box that allows you to select how the colour of the current layer will interact with the layers below. The two easiest ones to understand are:

  • Normal - no blending at all - only the upper layer is visible where it overlaps the lower layer
  • Addition - the colours blend in the same way as visible light; for example, green overlapping red will produce yellow

To get a sense of what some of the others do, check out this excellent guide (PDF) by the Blade and Quill Academy. All blending modes are documented on the official Krita website.

Often, the best blending mode choice can be determined by experimentation, which is what we will be doing in this assignment.

Task 1

Reproduce the following diagram in Krita:

Colour Venn Diagram

Start by deleting the background layer. To delete it, you need to unlock it by click on the white lock beside it in the Layer docker. Then Shift+Del on your keyboard should remove the layer entirely.

To select pure primary colours, see this 21 second video. A value of 255 for a specific colour channel will produce the full amount of that colour, and a value of zero will produce none of that colour.

Draw each coloured circle on a different paint layer, and ensure to set the blend mode of all layers to Addition. Note that the blend mode for the bottom layer doesn't actually matter, since there's nothing below to blend it with.

Task 2

You may do this task in groups of two or three if you'd like.

Download this Krita file.

Try several different blend modes on the top layer (the texture). Show me two or three of your favourites for these two particular images.

Task 3

You may do this task in groups of two or three if you'd like.

Download this Krita file.

Try several different blend modes on the top layer (the splatter). For three blend modes, determine and then tell me:

  • How do black pixels on the top layer modify the bottom layer?
  • How do white pixels on the top layer modify the bottom layer?
  • How do gray pixels on the top layer modify the bottom layer?