: How do you increase opacity of artwork in Photoshop CS6? For example, say I create a new layer, change my brush to solid black, but to 50% opacity, then draw some artwork. Then after the

@Sherry646

Make sure you don't have any background in your artwork (use wizard / pen / selection tool to remove the background from the artwork).
find the colour of the artwork (if it is one colour). What I mean is, for example, look at the image given by @Keavon earlier, it's like light grey. Use the colour sample tool to see what colour it is.
double click on the layer to bring blending option up, go to colour overlay and set the colour to what you recorded earlier, then change the colour to slightly darker tone of the same colour (for example, turn light grey to darker grey).


Are you using monotoned artworks?

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@Frith110

Switch to using a Fill Layer

The set up:

Layer menu > New Fill Layer > Solid Color…

In the resulting dialog box, leave the defaults (mode: normal and opacity: 100%). Click OK.

Next appears the color picker. Choose black, and click OK.



Now your canvas will be filled with black, so select the layer mask of your newly created fill layer and choose Edit menu > Fill…, then choose Black, click OK. This will restore your canvas to white, by completely hiding the black fill layer.

Start painting

Now you're ready to start painting. Choose your brush tool and set its opacity to 50%, then paint into the layer mask with 100% black.



You'll still have the sketchy effect of darkening where two strokes overlap, but once you're done you can use Image > Adjustments > Levels… to adjust overall blackness. Or Dodge and Burn for selectively darkening / lightening. Overall, much more flexible.

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@Alves566

Duplicate the layer by selecting it and hitting CtrlJ.



Then adjust the new layer's opacity so that it matches what looks good to you.



You may need to duplicate the layer several times if it starts very light.

As suggested by Scott, you may also set the Blending Mode (found to the left of the Opacity in the image above) to Multiply on each subsequent layer if you think it looks better. This option may or may not be good depending on each case, so do what looks best.

After you have the opacity you want, select all the duplicated layers by clicking the first one then holding Shift and clicking the last one. The right click the layers and select Merge Layers.

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@Nimeshi706

One method is....


Copy the layer
Set blend mode of the copied layer to Multiply
Repeat until it's the level of opacity you want.


It is often best to always paint at 100% and adjust layer opacity rather than adjusting brush opacity. Of course, it depends on the end goal though.

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