Krita for Beginners: Finishing Passes, Color Tweaks, and Common Beginner Fixes

What “finishing passes” actually do

Finishing passes are small, targeted edits that make an illustration read clearly at a glance and feel intentional up close. Instead of repainting, you verify fundamentals (values, readability, light logic) and apply controlled adjustments (contrast, hue, saturation) without damaging your painted layers.

Think of finishing as three goals: clarity (easy to read), cohesion (colors and lighting feel unified), and cleanliness (no distracting artifacts).

Finishing checklist (fast, repeatable)

1) Value check (grayscale)

Values (light/dark) carry the readability more than color. A grayscale check reveals if your focal point is actually the clearest area, and whether shapes separate well.

• How to check: Add a temporary grayscale view using a non-destructive method (see filter layers below). Toggle it on/off while zoomed out.
• What to look for: The focal area should have the strongest value separation (light against dark or dark against light). If everything is mid-gray, the image will feel flat.
• Quick fixes: Increase contrast locally around the focal point; reduce contrast in less important areas; avoid making the entire image equally high-contrast.

2) Silhouette readability

Silhouette readability means the main shapes are understandable even without internal details. This is especially important for characters, hands, props, and facial expressions.

• How to check: Zoom out until the canvas is small. Squint. If needed, temporarily fill the subject with a single flat color on a new layer set to Normal and hide details to judge the outline.
• What to look for: Tangents (edges kissing), unclear overlaps, and shapes merging into the background.
• Quick fixes: Separate shapes with small value shifts, edge sharpening, or a subtle background adjustment behind the silhouette.

3) Focal contrast (where the eye should go)

Focal contrast is not just “make it brighter.” It’s a combination of value contrast, saturation contrast, edge contrast (sharp vs soft), and detail density.

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• Value: Strongest separation at the focal point.
• Saturation: Slightly higher saturation near the focal point; slightly lower elsewhere.
• Edges: Sharper edges at the focal point; softer edges in the periphery.
• Detail: More texture/detail where you want attention; simplify elsewhere.

4) Cleanup (remove distractions)

Cleanup is the “professionalism pass”: remove artifacts that viewers feel even if they can’t name them.

• Stray pixels outside shapes
• Unintended halos from soft brushes
• Banding in gradients (fix with subtle noise/texture or repaint transitions)
• Jaggies on important edges
• Accidental color spills on lineart or borders

Non-destructive adjustments with filter layers

Filter layers let you adjust the look of the entire piece (or a group) without repainting. Keep them toggleable and adjustable so you can compare before/after and avoid overcorrecting.

Set up a “Finishing” group

• Create a top group named FINISHING.
• Place all filter layers inside it so you can toggle the whole finishing stack.
• If you want adjustments to affect only the character (not the background), put a separate FINISHING_CHARACTER group clipped/masked to the character group.

Grayscale value-check filter (temporary)

Use a filter layer to desaturate for checking values, then keep it off most of the time.

1. Add a Filter Layer above everything.
2. Choose a desaturation/grayscale filter (commonly an HSV/HSL adjustment with saturation to zero, or a color adjustment that removes saturation).
3. Name it CHECK_Grayscale.
4. Toggle it on while zoomed out; toggle off to return to color.

Tip: Don’t “fix” only in grayscale. Use grayscale to diagnose, then adjust in color while checking grayscale intermittently.

Levels/Curves for controlled contrast

Levels and Curves are your main finishing tools for value structure. Use them subtly: small moves, frequent toggles.

Levels (fast global correction)

1. Add a filter layer: Levels.
2. Adjust the black point slightly inward to deepen darks (avoid crushing shadow detail).
3. Adjust the white point slightly inward to brighten highlights (avoid clipping).
4. Nudge midtones to control overall brightness.

Curves (more precise shaping)

1. Add a filter layer: Curves.
2. Create a gentle S-curve for a modest contrast boost.
3. If the focal area needs pop, consider masking the curves filter so it affects mostly the focal region.

Rule of thumb: If you can clearly see the curve effect at 100% zoom, it may be too strong. Judge at both zoomed-out and normal viewing sizes.

HSV/HSL tweaks for color control

HSV/HSL adjustments are best for subtle shifts: warming/cooling, reducing overly intense saturation, or nudging hues into harmony.

• Fix “too neon” colors: Slightly reduce saturation globally, then selectively re-saturate the focal area with paint or a masked filter.
• Unify lighting temperature: If your light is warm, gently shift highlights warmer and shadows cooler (or vice versa) using small hue moves.
• Keep skin/material believable: Avoid pushing hue so far that materials change identity (skin turning orange, metal turning candy-colored).

Subtle color grading (cohesion pass)

Color grading is a gentle “overall mood” adjustment that makes separate parts feel like they belong in the same scene.

• Approach A: One grading filter layer (simple): Add an HSV/HSL or curves filter layer and nudge overall hue/saturation/value slightly toward your intended mood.
• Approach B: Split-tone feel (still subtle): Cool the shadows a little and warm the highlights a little using masked filter layers (or two separate adjustments targeting different value ranges).

Practical check: Toggle the grading layer on/off. If the image feels “more together” but not obviously altered, you’re in the right range.

Common beginner mistakes (and direct fixes)

Overusing the airbrush

Symptom: Everything looks foggy, plastic, and low-structure; edges disappear; forms feel mushy.

Fix:

• Limit airbrush use to controlled transitions (cheeks, soft ambient occlusion, atmospheric depth).
• Reintroduce structure: add a few firmer edges on key planes (jawline, eyelids, knuckles, cast shadow edges).
• Use “soft vs hard” intentionally: keep the focal area sharper; let less important areas stay softer.

Too many layers without names

Symptom: You waste time hunting for the right layer, editing the wrong one, or avoiding fixes because it’s messy.

Fix:

• Rename only what you touch during finishing: BG, CHAR_Base, CHAR_Shadow, CHAR_Light, FX, FINISHING.
• Color-label the most important groups (character vs background vs effects).
• Merge only when you are 100% sure you won’t need separation (or duplicate first and merge the duplicate).

Inconsistent light direction

Symptom: Highlights and shadows disagree; the scene feels “off” even if rendering is nice.

Fix (quick diagnostic):

1. Decide one primary light direction (e.g., top-left).
2. On a temporary layer, draw a few arrows indicating the light direction near key forms (head, torso, main prop).
3. Check: are your cast shadows and rim lights consistent with those arrows?

Fix (practical): Correct the most visible contradictions first (face, hands, main object). It’s better to have simple consistent lighting than complex inconsistent lighting.

Pure black shadows

Symptom: Shadows look like holes; colors die; the piece feels harsh and less believable.

Fix:

• Lift the darkest values slightly using a Levels/Curves filter layer (avoid crushing).
• Tint shadows: shift them slightly cooler or warmer depending on your scene (even a small hue change helps).
• Reserve near-black for tiny accents (deep creases, contact points) rather than large shadow areas.

Oversaturated highlights

Symptom: Highlights look like neon paint; materials read incorrectly (skin looks oily-plastic, metal looks like candy).

Fix:

• Reduce saturation in the lightest areas: highlights are often less saturated as they approach white.
• Use value and edge sharpness to sell “shine,” not just saturation.
• If you need colorful light, keep it subtle and consistent with the light source color.

Ignoring the background

Symptom: The subject floats; edges don’t read; the scene lacks depth and context.

Fix (minimum viable background):

• Add a simple value structure: a darker or lighter backdrop behind the subject’s silhouette.
• Introduce depth: slightly lower contrast and saturation in the background compared to the focal subject.
• Echo one or two subject colors in the background (very subtly) to unify the palette.

Structured “polish pass” workflow (45 minutes total)

0–15 minutes: Cleanup pass

• Zoom out: check overall read first (don’t get trapped in details).
• Fix obvious artifacts: stray marks, uneven edges on focal shapes, accidental halos.
• Sharpen/selectively clean edges at the focal point; soften edges away from it.
• Do a quick silhouette check: separate merging shapes with small value/background tweaks.

15–30 minutes: Color correction pass

• Toggle CHECK_Grayscale: verify value hierarchy (focal point strongest).
• Add/adjust a Levels or Curves filter layer: small contrast improvements.
• Add a subtle HSV/HSL filter: reduce global saturation slightly if needed; nudge hue temperature for cohesion.
• Apply gentle color grading: unify mood; keep it barely noticeable when toggled.

30–45 minutes: Final detail + edge refinement

• Increase detail only where it matters (face, hands, key prop, focal texture).
• Re-check light consistency on the focal forms (highlights and cast shadows agree).
• Control micro-contrast: a few crisp accents (speculars, sharp creases) balanced by calmer areas.
• Final toggle test: turn the entire FINISHING group on/off to confirm you improved clarity without overprocessing.