New Document but nothing in layers?

[Albut]

If I create a new document (say photo document) whilst a white blank page appears, there is nothing showing under the layers menu. Can someone e explain to me why that is. Regards AB

[smadell]

Think of creating a new document on the iPad in the same way you would "create a new painting" in the more physical world.

To create a new painting, you would present yourself with a canvas. But... there is nothing on the canvas as of yet. The reason you can see "a white blank page" is that you have created a new document (similar to creating a new "painting") with a non-transparent background. What you are seeing is simply the "canvas."

If you had created a new document with a transparent background (by selecting the little checkerboard icon on the New Document page) you would get a new document with a checkerboard (fully transparent) background on which to work. This is analogous to "creating a new painting" but doing so on a sheet of glass instead of a canvas. In either case, you start off with nothing except a place to create your fresh, new masterpiece.

[DM1]

To demonstrate this go into the Document menu, Canvas and select Transparent Canvas. Your white canvas will now be transparent (like glass). When you place or add something to your Canvas it will appear as a layer (lying over the Canvas ). 

[Albut]

Thanks for the great explanations. Regards AB