1. Once the flat colours are done and I feel the piece is more or less finished, I duplicate the layer with the flats.

2. Then I use Gaussian blur on it. I blur it just slightly (usually like only 8%). Then I adjust the opacity of the layer - it too sits usually very low, 2%-3%. (It might seem silly, but I swear it gives the colours a nice, subtle effect!)

3. I merge the lineart layer with the colour layers, so that the piece now consists of only two layers: the characters/whatever is in the forefront, and the background (in my case it’s usually one plain color).

4. I once again duplicate - this time it’s the layer with the characters/forefront. Then I, once again, Gaussian blur it! But now it’s at like 70%, or higher.

5. The most important step! I take a very soft airbrush eraser, make it quite big, and begin erasing the blurred layer in certain spots. I always erase the faces almost entirely. The rest I leave blurred. (Usually, the closer to the feet I get, the more I leave blurred).

6. Lower the opacity of that layer to something like 20% - you can go lower or higher, depends on what you like. Find a good balance between the erased parts and the blurred ones - don’t make the contrast between them too great. Just play around with the opacity! You can use some blending modes if you like, but I always leave it at Normal, I think it looks best.

7. Done!