How i personally set up my layers
i paste in references right into my canvas so i can color pick them, but that certainly isn't a requirement.
I delete reference and sketch layers when i no longer need them. But if you wanna leave come construction lines visible, go ahead and keep a sketch layer and put it wherever you want.
I use the bucket fill to color and just pump up the tolerance as much as I can before it starts to just bust right through my lines. Now, if you do this it will eat away at your line integrity and make it look back, which is why I have a duplicate lineart layer over top.
If you would like to color with a brush by hand, it's more time consuming but has its own pros. Just make color its own layer right under the lineart.
I often do the background last, and just slip the layer underneath at the end. the background might use a few layers on its own if it has a lot of parts.
Shading and lighting can either go between the color and lineart, or on top of it all. It depends on what look I'm going for.
Now, more complicated drawings can have dozens of layers, but it all follows this basic format.
Don't ask me what a clipping mask or layer map is, i dont actually know. If i need more control i just select the area I need to work in, particularly for shading.
My methods are self taught, so I do it a bit different from other artists, but this is what works for me.
