One of the best feature in Clip Studio Paint is TONE, or everyone tends to call it SCREENTONE. That's why Clip Studio Paint becomes the most recommended tool for creating manga/comic. The usage of Tone can also be applied on another style of work such as POP ART. So in this tutorial I'll show you how to create this colorful bird pop art work with the help of Tone feature. If you want to follow each step you can download the line art file of this tutorial here:

1. BASE COLOR

Let's start with the base color. For filling the area with the color you can use FILL tool or AUTO SELECT then choose FILL icon below. I prefer using Auto Select first because I want to make sure I don't skip any pixel.

Also I decided to separate each different colors into different layers because I will change this color later on. For this tutorial I want 6 different base colors so I create 6 layers for each. Don't forget to click LOCK TRANSPARENT PIXEL icon for all layers because we will shade these base colors in the next step.

As the preparation for the next steps, create New Folder Layer and put all the base color layers into it. I name it "Color". After that, Duplicate the base color folder and I name it "Tone". For now hide the "Tone" folder. We will work with it after the shading process.

2. SHADING

As a reminder, before we add the shading make sure to click LOCK TRANSPARENT PIXEL icon for all layers so we can paint inside the area freely.

And for shading I use DEFAULT SMOOTH WATERCOLOR brush.

I start with the Yellow color first.

The shading doesn't have to be so detail and accurate because we will just use the shading as a guide for creating tone later on.

3. CREATING TONE

Now unhide the "Tone" folder. For this step I'll start with the Yellow part again.

With the Yellow layer selected, click Tone/Screentone icon on Layer Property panel. The Layer Property panel is placed above the Layer panel. Set the NUMBER OF SCREEN FREQUENCY to 7. If you want to play around with the number go ahead. The thing you need to know is the lower the number the bigger the tone becomes. Also don't forget to UNCHECK the REFLECT LAYER OPACITY option.

Now the Yellow part will look like this.

Next step, bring down the opacity of Yellow layer to about 25%-30%.

The result should be look like this.

Now let's start the fun part. In Clip Studio Paint we can make various tone size inside one layer. So literally we can make a TONE GRADATION. The principle of the Tone Gradation is pretty much similar with Color Gradation.

 

Let's adjust the tone sizes on the darker area (shadow) first. For this process choose DEFAULT SOFT AIRBRUSH and pick the black color.

 

Don't forget to click LOCK TRANSPARENT PIXEL icon for all layers so we can paint inside the area freely.

Then brush on the dark/shadow area until the light yellow dots get smaller.

Next step we will adjust the tone size on the light area, especially on the top of its head. We will make the yellow dots look bigger and create an illusion as if there are another small dark dots around it.

 

Now with the same default soft airbrush, pick white color.

Then brush on the light area (head) that we decided to be the lightest one.

As you can see the yellow light dots blend each other and create an illusion as if there are another darker small dots appear. This illusion makes up the TONE GRADATION.

 

REPEAT THE PROCESS. Let's do the same thing to the other layers. But for the NUMBER OF SCREEN FREQUENCY I recommend you to not use the same value. The different number will add dynamism to our work. For example, the Orange part covers the biggest area so I decided to make a bigger tone. I choose 5 for the Number of Screen Frequency on Orange Layer.

I choose 9 for Number of Screen Frequency on Red Layer

I choose 13 for Number of Screen Frequency on Light Brown layer.

I choose 13 for Number of Screen Frequency on Mid Brown layer.

I choose 9 for Number of Screen Frequency on Dark Brown layer.

So we're pretty much done with the toning process.

4. COLOR ADJUSTMENT

We'll make this bird so colorful and make it even more pop out because that's the point of pop art style. So let's back to "Color" folder and start with the Yellow layer again.

Since the tone layers above the color layers has gradation and create the shadow effect, we don't need to worry anymore about the shading we have created on the base color layers. You can change the color as wild as you want. Here I paint the head on Yellow layer with blue color.

Go crazy with your imagination. Color adjustment step is also the fun part of this tutorial. This is my result.

5. BACKGROUND & FINISHING

I decided to go with simple background because another complicated process will be too overwhelming for this tutorial I guess. First, create new layer below "Color" folder and fill the whole area with one color. I choose purple for this one. Then duplicate that layer.

It'll look like this.

Now change the duplicate one into tone. The process is kinda similar. I want something different for the background so at DOT SETTINGS I choose LINE.

Bring down the opacity to 25% and it'll look like this now.

For the frame I want something random in term of shape so I pick DEFAULT CLEMATIS BRUSH.

Create new layer above background layer.

Brush at the edge of the canvas to create a frame.

Repeat the same process for creating tone. Choose any shape that you like for the tone of this frame.

I feel like the line art should be more stand out so I add border effect.

Now it looks bolder.

I add the border effect on frame layer as well.

It's pretty much done. Last one I add text and give it a tone effect as well. Before you add tone effect don't forget to RASTERIZE the text layer by clicking right mouse button.

Here's the final result. I adjust the color and tone of the background and the frame.