It's all a matter of whether or not you need non-destructive editing.
When it comes to digital painting, I use layers mostly as scaffolding. They're like temporary surfaces so I can correct things if something goes horribly wrong without having to affect the rest of the pic, and to simplify the process of putting things behind eachother. However, when I'm sufficiently happy with what I've done, I merge them down, because when it comes to painting shinies, it's easier to work when you're affecting all the layers at the same time, and because when I go over them again, all the bottom layers end up becoming hopelessly out of date. Depending on the picture, I might end up with 6 or 7 at the end.
When it comes to web design, on the other hand, I absolutely need it that all of the elements be easily editable in all possible ways, so all the most non-destructive options are used. I even try to avoid pixels where possible, replacing them with vectors. In that case, I might end up with hundreds of layers. My latest work is about 300 layers (including the exotic ones) right now, and a whopping 200MB in size.
When it comes to digital painting, I use layers mostly as scaffolding. They're like temporary surfaces so I can correct things if something goes horribly wrong without having to affect the rest of the pic, and to simplify the process of putting things behind eachother. However, when I'm sufficiently happy with what I've done, I merge them down, because when it comes to painting shinies, it's easier to work when you're affecting all the layers at the same time, and because when I go over them again, all the bottom layers end up becoming hopelessly out of date. Depending on the picture, I might end up with 6 or 7 at the end.
When it comes to web design, on the other hand, I absolutely need it that all of the elements be easily editable in all possible ways, so all the most non-destructive options are used. I even try to avoid pixels where possible, replacing them with vectors. In that case, I might end up with hundreds of layers. My latest work is about 300 layers (including the exotic ones) right now, and a whopping 200MB in size.
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