OK so I'm working on a project where I have to separate two layers. It is the front and back of an object that will be made and the two sides will look different. However, every single time I go to edit the other layer, it edits the previous layer that I finished. I tried locking one layer, changing which one was the top layer. Nothing works! any ideas?

thanks,
Katiebug

Are your layers all just paint layers? Do you have any kind of grouping, alpha inheritance, alpha locking, transparency layers, etc. in your arrangement?

You select the layer by clicking on it in the Layers docker and it should then be highlighted and operations should then be only in that highlighted layer. The position of the layer in the stack is not relevant to selecting it and working on it.

Can you provide a screenshot showing your Layers docker?

They are all just paint layers I believe. I don't have anything intentionally turned on. I am very new to digital art and haven't had a lot of experience with settings. If I recall, everything is pretty much the same as when I got it because I don't want to screw everything up.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/18u2s3uiosiujkx/screenshot%20krita.PNG?dl=0

thank you for helping

If you're very new to digital image applications then it can be confusing with layers, layer visibility, selected layer, etc. You'll soon get used to it I'm sure.

Here is a quick 'sketch' I did: https://imgur.com/a/uV6cC

It has two transparent layers. The top layer has a blue circle and the bottom layer has a smaller red circle. Both are showing because both layers are visible, as indicated by the small 'open eye' symbol to the left of the layer. If I were to click the eye symbol of the top layer, the eye symbol would change to 'closed eye' and the blue circle would not be visible. Note that the small thumbnail image to the left of the layer gives a very good idea of what the layer contains, this is a useful guide.

As you can probably tell, I've just finished drawing the red circle and the bottom layer is the selected or working layer at that moment. (I'm using a different UI colour theme from you and a different colour profile for the image but that doesn't affect anything.) Anything I do in the bottom layer does not affect the content of the top layer, assuming I selected the correct layer and didn't get confused. I can confirm that by turning on/off the visibility of each layer to confirm what it contains.

Your image has no content, as shown, but it is two simple transparent paint layers and so should give no confusion or problems when you work in them.

Can you try some simple work in the two layers, as I did, being careful to select the correct layer for working in, then toggle the visibility of each layer to see if your understanding of what you are trying to do in each layer does in fact match what happens in each layer?

If you still think there is a problem then please do get back with screenshots that show the problem as it exists for you.

I think I get what you are saying, and it is super helpful for another question I had. Let me see if I can explain this further...

layer one says outside, layer two inside. They are to be two sides of a bracelet design I'm submitting to a company. The two sides are going to be fairly different. What is happening is that when the eye is not on for both of them it looks right, but when I turn them on at the same time, the picture merges. should this be a concern or will it stay the same, separately, anyways?

thank you again for helping me there are so many settings!

The 'pictures' will merge when both layers have the visibility 'eye' set to on. As you can see from the image I posted, both the blue circle and the red circle are visible because both layers set to visible. That is how layers work, they are stacked up on top of each other and what you see on the screen is the view looking down through all the layers; those layers that are set to be visible anyway.

If you've been provided with a design template, which is what you seem to have there, then whoever provided you with the template will understand this. This also explains why the template uses a CMYK colour profile; it is intended for printing. In this case, it seems that the two layers are a convenient way of carrying two different pictures in the same file for use in some practical application. (See how useful layers can be?) The people who provided the template file and who print the images will know all this.

You need to 'play' with Krita to fully understand all the things it can do and the use of all the tools, this is easy and only costs your time. The manuals etc. are readily available:

https://docs.krita.org/Main_Page

YouTube is full of tutorial videos and various independent articles are a simple Google search away from you. Good Luck

Thank you so much! You have been very helpful