Basic PS Question!

Hello all! It's been awhile since I've been on EV (some of you may remember me even though I was pretty quiet) and boy have things changed! Last I was really active we still had the old artwork! I hope to soon be able to fully return to EV, I recently got a new PC (finally) so I'm able to log on from something that isn't my phone (YAY) 

Now for the reason I've popped back in. I have a photoshop question. I apologize if I word this terribly, but trying to explain this in a simple way is apparently not in the cards for me today. 

When working on a piece that I'd like to do recolors of, how do I select/isolate my base color layer so that can color it in quickly? Like, isolating just the section of the layer so that I'm basically just coloring it in? Does that explanation make sense? 

If someone could explain, or link me to a YouTube tutorial I would greatly appreciate it! I feel like this is such a stupid question, especially since this is something I used to do all the time when I made tags in the past! I guess most of my knowledge has been forgotten since I haven't done much digital art in 4?+ years.

Thank you in advance, and I can't wait to really get back onto Equiverse and see all the changes and additions in the game ♥

I think you might be looking for Alpha lock?



Here's what it looks like on medibang (top) and PS (bottom)

welcome back KCNM! You're looking to preserve the transparency :D But ye, in most programs it looks like that checkered box ^^
Can't wait to see what you make!!

I thought that's the button that I need but it does nothing for me! I "toggle" it on and off and nothing happens, I can still paint on the entire layer. 

Show us what your program/layer set up looks like? We could help better then.