Blend modes are normally applied to layers, but they can also be applied directly to the brush tool. I’m not sure that I intuitively understand what it means to apply a blend mode to the brush. For example, on a new layer, I can set the layer to Normal and the brush to Multiply, or I can do the reverse… set the layer to Multiply and the brush to Normal. Is there any difference between these?
To make things even more complicated, I could, for example, set the brush to Multiply and the layer to Soft Light. I have no idea what that would do or why I would ever want to, but the combinations seem endless.
Does anyone have a set of guidelines, or maybe some typical situations, for when you would apply a blend mode to the brush rather than to the layer? Or when you would ever apply a blend mode to both the brush and the layer simultaneously?
To make things even more complicated, I could, for example, set the brush to Multiply and the layer to Soft Light. I have no idea what that would do or why I would ever want to, but the combinations seem endless.
Does anyone have a set of guidelines, or maybe some typical situations, for when you would apply a blend mode to the brush rather than to the layer? Or when you would ever apply a blend mode to both the brush and the layer simultaneously?