The drawing level of a layer is the level of tone used on that layer. The drawing level of each layer can be set individually, enabling you to specify exactly what level of tone to draw with. A layer will always start with 100% tone but you can change its drawing level as often as you wish.
- Double click on the value in the % column of the Layers Palette. You may have to extend the width of your Layers Palette to locate this column.
- Enter the desired drawing level. The selected tone of the relevant layer colour will appear in the Foreground Colour of the Tools Palette.
- Paint on the active layer with the chosen drawing level to see the new tone.
The Foreground Colour shows the estimated yield colour of the selected layers. It estimates the colour that will be produced if you paint on these layers simultaneously, i.e. if a red layer and a yellow layer are active, the Foreground Colour will be orange, because it is trying to calculate the probable overprint colour, if the two were used together.
Note: The yield colour is calculated, taking into account the draw levels of the layers, the overprint method selected and the substrate colour.
Did you know...
If the colour in your design is different to the colour block for that layer in the Layers Palette, it is likely you have added that information at a lower Draw Level. To correct this, you should change the Draw Level in the Layers Palette and add the information again. This is easy if the information is flat colour, because you can select it with the Magic Wand Tool, then fill using the Edit Menu > Fill (⌘6) function. If the information is tonal, you can use the Gamma Window (Edit Menu > Gamma) to boost the tones.
