Tutorials

        All of these explanations were written by Chibi Usagi, the former moderator (but still owner of this oekaki!) (Meaning she made it and no matter who becomes a mod it still has a mama!) They're pretty old, but seeing as oekakies haven't really changed, they're still relevant to how things work and should be very useful. Anyway, here you go!

Layers 
           Layers are like drawing on two different sheets of paper. The top layer is transparent (clear) though. So, even if you draw something on the top layer, the bottom layer still shows behind that. You could have a white piece of paper as the bottom; on the clear paper, you draw some black lines, you'd still see the white paper, but the black lines would be over it. The sense in layers is that if you mess up on the top layer and want to erase, it doesn't affect anything you've done in the bottom layer. On the oekaki, the top layer is called Layer1, and the bottom is Layer0. You can draw on the different layers by clicking where it says the names. The name that appears is the layer you are currently working on. Just remember to fill in things you want to be white in your top layer with the color white. Lots of people forget this, and then the bottom layer shows up through where you wanted white to be.

Solid
         This is the default brush type that the palette has. It's a solid line, that's basically it, no dithering, it has pretty rough edges.
Watercolor 
        Click the button where it says "Solid" once, or twice (however many times it takes to get to the Watercolor button) and you'll get this brush. It mimics what watercolor really looks like when you paint.
Text
          Click where you want text to appear on the palette and type in the box that pops up, click enter on your keyboard. You can change the size of the text the same way you change the size of your brush.

Tone
          Tone is basically a bunch of dots. Change the dots with the scale shown in the diagram above (text in yellow)
Shade Off
         This is basically a blur tool. It blurs whatever you click on in the canvas.
Highlight
         The highlight tool turns colors lighter than they are. A lot of the time it doesn't look natural, and does not work on some colors.
Darken
         The darken tool turns colors darker than they are. It's th eopposite of the highlight tool, and has the same faults. It doesn't look natural and does not work on some colors.

Rectangle
         This tool creates a filled in rectangle of any size or color. You choose the color, and then stretch the rectangle to whatever size you like. You can change the opacity (how see-through it is) by fooling around with the scale that changes the tones and watercolor.
Line Rectangle
         This is the same tool as the rectangle except it is just the outline of the rectangle. The same rules go for it though (opacity etc.)
Oval
         Exact same thing as rectangle tool except it's ovals you make, not rectangles.
Line Oval
         Same as Line Rectangle except it's an oval.

Copy
         This tool makes a copy of whatever you select in your image. You select with any size rectangle.
Layer Unify
         This tool makes things in two layers be on only one. Make sure the layer you want the things to be on is selected, and then you can make a rectangle over the things you want to all be on that layer. (I usually do lineart on Layer 1 and coloring on Layer 0, then I use Layer Unify to put the color on Layer 1 also. Then you can make a background without worrying about going over your lines and coloring.)
Antialias
         Antialias turns everything you select slightly blurred, you hardly notice it unless you use the tool multiple times.
Reverse LR
         This tool reverses your picture by turning it from left to right, so whatever you select is now a mirror version of itself.
Reverse UL
         This tool turns whatever you select upside down.
Lie
         This tool turns whatever you select 90 degrees clockwise.

White
         This tool is the eraser of oekaki. It can be solid, or watercolor. It changes brush size just the same. If you're on Solid or Text option, the eraser will be a solid brush, but if you're on watercolor option, it will be a watercolor brush.
White Rectangle
         This is just basically the eraser version of the filled in Rectangle.
Clear
         One click on the canvas with this option and both layers are cleared and erased. Don't worry though, the Undo button can always bring it back.

Freeline
         This setting means you draw with your mouse, straight-on. Wherever your mouse goes is what is drawn.
Straight Line
         This setting has you draw with straight lines. Just click and hold the click as you decide where you want the line that shows up.
Bezie Line
         These are curved lines. Click and hold to make a straight line, then click and drag to make two curves.

Normal
         This setting lets you basically just draw over anything.
Mask
         This setting keeps you from drawing over black lines. It works really nice for coloring on the same layer as you drew your lines.
ReMask
         This setting lets you ONLY draw on black lines.
And
         This setting doesn't let you draw over darker colors than the one you're using.
Div
         This setting confuses me a bit, but it's basically like ReMask, but for other colors too. It works that if you have a drawing in dark orange, you can color over the dark orange with a light orange, and a dark green with a light green. But it only lets you color things over with a lighter version of the same color, except black (you can color over black with anything).