Have adjustment layer only darken line work?

[ethandale]

So I'm trying to use the adjustment layer option where it only affects the layer beneath it, but as soon as I click that button, all of the level adjustments I made disappear. Is there something I'm doing wrong? Thanks!

[Silkrooster]

Try making the adjustment layer a clipping layer before making the adjustments. then it will show what is in just the next layer instead of all the layers below it.

[ethandale]

Yeah, that's what I tried, and as soon as I do that, it no longer affects that layer either....It's either EVERYTHING beneath it, or nothing at all, it seems.

[Omar.Fathy]

Nothing lost but you made the adjustment layer for a layer that hasn't colors (SolidLines).
because of making a clipping mask Just the layer (solidlines) will be affected by the adjustment layer.
If you need to make it affects other layers beneath you can press Ctrl+Alt+G to release the clipping mask.

The (Level) adjustment layer doesn't have more lines in the histogram because no color levels in the layer beneath it.

[ethandale]

My goal is to darken the lines in that layer, the grayscale lines that I have for my initial sketch. Is there no way to do that without making every other layer underneath it darker?

[Omar.Fathy]

You can do it by a lot of methods:

- Levels adjustment layer.

- Channel mixer adjustment layer and increase the black.

- Make a gradient map adjustment layer and choose your colors  ... and more.

You can instead try to Ctrl+J and duplicate your layer and it will increase the color if it has a transparancy.

You can give your layer a Color Overlay Layer Style with a Black color with or without Overlay or Multiply color mode as you like.

[ethandale]

I'm already doing that, the adjustment layer is just applying to every layer, even with the Alt+Click technique.

[davescm]

Hi

I suspect this is due to the lines already being black - and the light gray appearance is due to transparency. A curve layer clipped to that layer will not make any difference as the line cannot be made blacker. A curve layer overall - will make it blacker as it is acting on the result of the semi transparent lines with the image below.

To increase the opacity duplicate the pencil layer and then use the opacity slider of the upper layer to get the shade you want.

If that is not the answer then can you paste a link to the document. If you would prefer - make a copy and take out all the layers, except those you show as visible above. That way we can take a look at it for you.

Dave

[Trevor.Dennis · Accepted solution]

ethandale  wrote

My goal is to darken the lines in that layer, the grayscale lines that I have for my initial sketch. Is there no way to do that without making every other layer underneath it darker?

Do you know the trick setting the brush's blend mode to Overlay in the Options bar? Paint with white to remove the lighter lines, and black to reinforce the darker lines.

Copy the line work layer and set to Multiply to make it darker.

Or if you are using Windows, take a look at Lazy Nezumi Pro

CC2018 now has brush smoothing built in, and it works quite well.  Not quite as well as LNP, and LNP has a host of added extras, but still a welcome new feature for Mac users I'm thinking.

[ethandale]

What I ended up doing was duplicating the layer, setting the duplicate layer to "overlay" and then changing the brush mode to overlay as well. Painting on the original layer with an overlay brush just gave me regular black brush strokes, and duplicating the layer and setting it to multiply didn't change the value. I'll keep using the overlay trick for now, until I figure out what in the world is going on with Photoshop. 😕

[Silkrooster]

It maybe best to capture your entire screen with the layers panel open so we can see what is happening. Then there will be less guessing on how to fix.

[ethandale]

Here, I'll attach three screenshots of the whole thing. The first is of the original sketch. The second is with the adjustment layer turned on, which darkened the lines to where I wanted them, but also darkened a sky painting underneath, which I do not want. The third is with the adjustment layer turned on, after Alt+LClicking in between the two layers so that it should only apply to the sketch. Both images levels returned to the original, and no layers are affected. Sorry, my handwriting with this Intuos is awful, but I tried to explain the problem in the images as well.