Hello! Kyorin here~

This tutorial is dedicated for you who wants to make or currently making webtoons. Note that every steps I'm using here are what I usually do, so you can always improvise them yourself! Since this tutorial is about creating webtoon, I'm not going to explain my drawing steps in details (hopefully I can make another tutorial about it next time :D). You check out the video version above or read this article below xD

So here you go!

Part 1: Making Grids

I was told about this grid system by my editor back then (thank you!). Although some people don't really use this (which is fine!), I think this might worth sharing :D

 

1) What is grid?

Grid is like a guide. Every section of the grid equals to general phone screen ratio, so it lets you estimate how many panels you want to put in one screen.

It also lets you see how crowded your panels are. Giving blank gaps on webtoon paneling is important since webtoon is using vertical format. The gaps give readers' eyes some break when reading, also give readers feel about the pacing (longer gaps usually give slower pace).

2) How to make grids?

Since we can't make a shape with exact size, let's do some tricks!

First, create a canvas with 800x1280 size (common screen size, also webtoon accepted size).

Then fill the whole canvas with any color. Then press Ctrl + A [Select all], Ctrl + C [Copy].

When you have copied it, create a new canvas for your strip. Strip is a long vertical canvas you can use to draw webtoon. Why a long vertical canvas? Because webtoon format is vertical and long canvas can let you see your flow better.

 

Before deciding how big your canvas should be, you should mind what you need and what you don't:

1. I need to print my webtoon one day!

If you do, make your canvas big! Do it in at least your planned paper size width (length can be adjusted later). For example, if you want to print it in A5 size (148 × 210 mm), then you can use 148mm width and adjust your canvas height based on your grid.

 

2. I'm not planning to print my webtoon.

If you don't plan to print it, then use a small canvas! 800px width should be enough since it is also webtoon's standard size. You can make it a slight bigger, but having too big canvas will only torture your PC. In the end, your strips will be compressed and you can't really see too much details.

 

Deciding your format before starting will help you a lot. In this case, I use 2480 x 27777 px (because 27777 px height doesn't cut my grid) since I plan to print it in the future.

Next, paste your grid and scale it by pressing Ctrl + T [Transform] and drag the square while pressing shift or check [Keep aspect ratio] then drag the square.

Copy and paste the other grids until it fills all your canvas.

Don't forget to merge the grid layers! Click on [Combine to layer below] to merge it with the grid layer below your active layer.

Note: merge your unnecessary layers to keep your file size low

Your grid is ready to use!

Part 2: Paneling

To start sketching your storyboard, just simply create a new layer above your grid and draw on it.

Gaps in webtoon format is important to maintain the flow. Each grid is better consist of 1-2 panels. You might want to avoid having 3 panels in one grid. 4 or more panels are way too crowded to read, it will make your readers confused.

Part 3: Lineart

Before you start doing lineart, you might need to change your sketch color. Click on [layer color] and choose the color that suitable for you to trace later. Light color will make it easier to draw over it.

Choose the brush you like the most. You can either use default brushes, set up those brushes, download the brushes from [Asset], or make your own brush. For me, I like G-pen the most so far. But I also set it according to my preference. Here's my G-pen setting if you want to try:

Before you start lining, there are things you need to know about Vector Layer and Raster Layer.

 

1. What are their differences?

Vector is made of mathematically formed paths and curves. It allows you to scale up your lines without making it compressed or pixelated. Raster is made of pixels which are combined into one and it will pixelate your line when you scale it up.

 

2. Then why don't we just draw using vector?

You can and you can't. Then again it depends on your art style. Even though vector is pretty convenient with scaling and editing, raster still forms smoother result than vector. You can do some experiments on this.

 

So now, to start lining create a new [Vector Layer] above your sketch. Choose the brush you like and start drawing your lineart over your sketch.

There are benefits of doing lineart using [Vector Layer]:

1. You can use [Vector Eraser]!

[Vector Eraser] is a tool that allows you to automatically erase some lines. There are 3 kinds of [Vector Eraser]: (1) Erase touched area, (2) Erase up to intersection, and (3) Whole line. See the differences below:

2. You can scale up and down without getting pixelated!

3. You can edit your line size!

Go to [Operation] and change the [Brush Size].

Or go to [Correct Line] then choose [Thicken] or [Narrow] depends on your need. Set the size and apply it to the line you want to edit.

4. You can always rasterize it!

Right click on your [Vector Layer] and choose [Rasterize].

Remember that once you rasterize it, you can't turn it back to vector.

Okay, enough with Vector and Raster. So after this, you can draw over your sketch.

Part 4: Base Color

After lineart is done, the next thing you need to do is giving base colors (flats). Create some layers under your lineart layer (put it inside a folder will make it organized). I usually make 4 kinds of base color layers: Hair, Skin and Eyes, Clothes, and Objects.

Once again I recommend you to use your layer efficiently to keep your file size low and less confusing workspace. Merge or delete those unnecessary layers. When 2 or more colors don't meet each other, you can use one layer instead of making it one by one. For example if you have an object on a character's head and feet, you can use one layer base color instead of 2.

Next is to fill each parts with colors. There are some alternative ways to do it:

 

1. Fill

Fill or bucket too is probably the most common way to do basing. All you need to do is choose the color and click the area you want to color. Note that there is some settings you need to set depending on your lineart style. In this case, we are using [Refer Other Layers] setting.

• Refer to only editing layer: Means your [Fill] tool won't detect any object outside your layer. For example, if you color in HAIR layer and you haven't drawn anything on it, it will fill your whole canvas with the chosen color (because it detects no object inside).

-Refer other layers: Means your [Fill] tool will detect objects in other ACTIVE layers. In this case, if you want to color hair in HAIR layer, your [Fill] tool will detect your lineart. If you click inside the hair, the color will remain inside the closed lines of hair (except if you have line gaps).

-Close gap: the sensitivity of your [Fill] tool to detect line gaps. The higher option you choose, the bigger gap it can detect and vice versa.

-Color margin: the sensitivity of your [Fill] tool to detect some similar colors.

-Area scaling: You can scale up or down the color area using this setting.

-Refer multiple: the sources of object that your [Fill] tool will detect.

Sometimes there come a case when we put a wrong color. Do we need to redo it?

Nope! Don't. You can just change it by clicking on [Lock Transparent Pixels] then draw over it with the color you want. Your color won't go out of the previous color since it is locked.

2. Close and Fill

This tool is quite fun to use! You just need to create and area outside the part that you want to color, and the color will detect your lineart on its own!

The setting is still the same as [Fill] setting, so you might want to set them when using this tool.

3. Lasso Fill

Although this one is a manual way to color, it will have some use in some cases. [Lasso Fill] will let you color the area you make. Unlike [Close and Fill], this won't detect your lineart so you need to do it manually.

4. Transparent Color

This might not be a brush for coloring, but this can make any brush or tool into an eraser! Some might not notice it, so this is how you choose transparent color.

you can either click on the grey and white squares under the color squares or right click on the area outside your canvas. That will make any brush you are using becomes an eraser.

Part 5: Background

There are plenty of ways to do backgrounds. Using 3D object is probably the most efficient way. Clip Studio Paint provides you with some 3D models (you can also download it from [Asset]) or you can use other softwares like Sketchup or Blender. But, using 3D object inside your drawing might need a little adjustment, depending on your style. In this case, you can play with [Tonal Correction], there are a lot of adjustment you can make for your backgrounds.

Part 6: Shading and Lighting

There isn't any specific way to do shading and lighting. Everyone has their own way. But [Layer Blending Mode] might be important for you (and it's fun to play with!). This blending mode gives some different effects on colors you are using for each layer (you might need to do experiments on this to find which one suits you the most).

 

For me, I just use one [Multiply] layer on each base colors, one [Glow Dodge] or [Add Glow] and one [Normal] layer above all layer.

For shading, I use [Watery] with my own setting and [Blend] tool. Sometimes I use [Airbrush] with soft [Hardness] and low [Opacity].

Part 7: Typeset

Typesetting in Clip Studio Paint pretty easy! You just need to type it using [Text] tool and drag or draw your speech bubbles. There are speech bubbles ready in [materials] or you can also download them from [assets].

Combine 2 text layer into one to merge the speech bubbles. You still can edit it one by one, so don't worry about it.

You can also use [Border Effect] feature in some scene of your comic.

Last one after typeset is to SAVE YOUR FILE! (Never. forget. to. save!)

Remember to save it as both [Clip Studio Format] and JPEG!

Part 8: Slicing

After everything is done, now the last step before uploading your webtoon is to slice it. You have a long strip here which won't fit to webtoon accepted size (800x1280). You can manually slice it, but I recommend you to use this site called [Croppy] (You can donate them to appreciate their work :D)

Here's the link

https://knicknic.github.io/croppy/

 

You only need to upload your strips (in Croppy available formats only) and you will receive your slices files in RAR.

After that, you can upload and launch your webtoon!

Here's the complete step by step of me doing my strip :D

If you still have anything to ask, feel free to reach me @kyorin24 (Instagram or Twitter)!

I hope this will help!