For some reason, the internet has done a surprisingly bad job of explaining what clipping masks are, why they’re useful, and how to use them. Beginning artists and aspiring designers often learn to live without them, which is a shame, because knowing how to use clipping masks can do wonders for your workflow and save you from making costly mistakes. Below, we’ll show you how to use clipping masks in Photoshop and why they’re super useful for artists, illustrators, designers, and anyone else looking to optimize their workflow and protect their images.

Clipping Masks are, simply put, almost literal masks that can be draped over other layers. The mask restricts the pixels that can be painted over the mask to only those placed on the layer below it — get it? You’re only painting on the parts of the canvas that have already been painted over the layer below.

For example, if you have sketched the profile of a crow, you can create a new layer with local values, such as dark blue-black for the beak and feathers without any rendering. By placing a clipping mask on top of the local value layer, your brush strokes will register only on the parts of the canvas where you have entered local values. This allows you to carefully render on a separate layer, adding light to the beak and feathers without worrying about damaging the crow's silhouette.

Sure, you could use the magic wand on the local value layer, create a second layer, and start rendering from there — but if you’ve been paying attention, you’ll notice a couple of downsides to the edge control the magic wand tool leaves behind. More on that later.