Answered

Multiply blending mode is making colors darker lower beneath

Forum|Forum|4 months ago
January 10, 2026
4 replies
299 views

I have been using Illustrator for ages, and for some reason I can't figure out how to make the whites fully transparent in Multiply mode. I scanned line art through Photoshop, used the levels there to make the whites 100%, but after adding the art into Illustrator and setting the layer mode to multiply, it's still making the colors beneath darker. The whites aren't fully transparent. I have tried saving the line art in a variety of formats (.jpg, .png, .tiff) to see if I could make any difference, but no luck. As I say, I am not new to illustrator, I have been using this technique for 20 years (yes, I am that old!), and I have dim memories of this occurring occasionally, but I thought I had previously fixed it by changing the format of the line art. Now I am at a loss. Any helpful suggestions are welcome. Thanks!

graemepd_0-1768076947718.png

Correct answer graemepd

I figured it out! I had the art layer in a clipping mask that was set to "normal" blending mode, which seems to have been enough to make a slight change.

THanks for your help!

Ton Frederiks

Community Expert

Saw your post after my reply. Good to hear you found the culprit.

graemepdAuthor

Thanks!

graemepdAuthor

Thank you both for your replies. I didn't do a very good job of asking my question, I think.
Hopefully this makes it a little clearer.
Line art is layer one, an ink illustration scanned into Photoshop, with the white levels adjusted. (as you can see, the white I grabbed using the colour picker is perfectly white)

graemepd_0-1768102222708.png

Then, when I place the art into Illustrator, set the image to Multiply, for some reason the white areas are darkening the colours, where they should be transparent.

sample.jpg

Please let me know if this makes more sense. Thanks!

graemepdAuthorCorrect answer

I figured it out! I had the art layer in a clipping mask that was set to "normal" blending mode, which seems to have been enough to make a slight change.

THanks for your help!

creative explorer

Community Expert

@graemepd curious to know why don't you do your line art in Illustrator? Illustrator is a drawing program, and the file sizes will likely be much smaller and better quality if you decide to resize it bigger because it's a vector file

m

creative explorer

Community Expert

@graemepd like this?

creativeexplorer_0-1768095821347.png

I used a gradient, added another gradient slider for the ending (double-clicked on that), and change the 100% white to zero

creativeexplorer_1-1768095900361.png

m

graemepdAuthor

Thanks for trying to help. I commented on the original post, hopefully I asked more clearly this time.

Kurt Gold

Community Expert

Can you share a sample Illustrator file with some detailed instructions that may explain what you are looking for and what does not work as expected?

I'm asking because based on your initial post I don't understand the issue.

graemepdAuthor

Thanks for asking! I commented on the original post, and I hope it makes more sense now.

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