Hello. This tutorial will be showing how you can paint a scary Grim Reaper using the features of Clip Studio Paint. He will be wearing his cloak and holding his scythe. Other elements will be added to complete his scary look.

Setting up the 3D models

Open up clip studio Paint. Below are the 3d objects that will be used to make the drawing process much easier. Click on the links below to download the 3d objects from Clip Studio Assets.

 

Click the Download button to download and you will be redirected to Clip Studio. When it is completed, click [Clear Completed Communication] and then [Return to PAINT].

 

Go to the [Material] folder and you will see your downloaded 3D objects. If you don't, try clicking on the [3D] category under [All Materials]. Now, drag and drop the 3D model of the skeleton onto the canvas. It will appear on a new layer and in its basic pose.

Go to the [Tool] palette and select the [Operations] tool. Then select the [Object] tool from the [Sub Tool] palette. With the [Object] Tool selected, go to the [Tool Property] window and check the box beside [Apply light source]. Then click the plus sign to show extra parameters for the shadow. Drag across the ball until the light source is above the model where the moon will shine over. The model should look a lot better now.

Then, at [Angle] within the [Tool Property] window, click the drop-down arrow to select a preset where the bust of the skeleton is shown.

 

Below, at [Outline width], adjust the slider so that the outline of the skeleton gets thinner. If it is too thick, it will make it look too cartoony.

At the top of the skeleton model, you will see Movement Manipulators which are the series of buttons that allow for the editing of the position of the 3D object. They are listed below.

Coming from the left:

 

Rotate Camera

Translate Camera

Move Camera back and forth

 

Move on plane

Camera view rotation

Plane rotation

Rotate in 3D space

Snap and move

Use them to alter the position of the skeleton if you are not satisfied with the result of the preset. For me, I moved the skeleton a bit towards the bottom so that some of the hood on top of its head will be shown. I also zoomed in a bit on the skeleton.

With the Object sub tool still selected, give your skeleton any pose of your liking by click on the parts and using the manipulators that appear for each part. I plan to make my Grim Reaper be holding his scythe, hence why I posed him that way.

You might need to rotate the skeleton to move the parts the way you want.

Remember to open its mouth.

Now for his Scythe. Go to the [Material] folder again and this time drag the scythe on the canvas. Follow the previous steps and resize it and place it in position. I resized my canvas and rotated everything a bit so more of the scythe could be shown.

Now that we have the Grim Reaper's body, pose and scythe all setup, it is time to add the accessories and details to make the illustration more interesting.

Composition

For these steps, the objects will need to be rasterized. Go to the [Layer] menue and click [Rasterize].

Now, darken the image by going to the [Layer] menu then Correction layer > Brightness/Contrast, and moving the brightness slider. Clip the correction layer to the skeleton layer below. Afterward, merge the correction layer down onto it by going to the [Layer] menu then to [Merge with layer below] or using the key combinations Ctrl + E. Then, create a new layer below this layer and fill it will a dark blue color fit for a night sky.

Now create a new layer above this one and draw a sketch of the cloak on the skeleton. Color the parts of the cloak that are in front of the body on this layer and create a new layer below the one with the skeleton and color the parts of the cloak that are behind the body.

Now, time to add the other objects. These are the moon, the lantern, chains, stopwatch, the dead trees on the hill, crows, and fog.

 

Below are 3D objects of some of the things needed for the composition. Using them will save lots of time than drawing them.

First, draw a steep hill behind the main figures using a really dark color. After that, select the [Figure] tool from the [Tool] palette and select the [Eclipse] sub tool. In the [Tool Property] window, set the [Line fill] to fill and check the box beside [Aspect type]. Use this to draw the mon after selecting a color for the moon.

 

Then download the tree 3D object and drag it onto the canvas. Adjust the angle of the light source as we did previously, but this time make the light be behind the object. Add more trees if you like and resize them as you desire. Rasterize the 3D objects and use a correction layer (Brightness) to darken them. Remember to clip this correction layer to the tree layer below and then merge them.

 

Use the crow brush to add black silhouettes of crows in the sky. Alter their sizes and direction using the [Particle size] and [Direction of particle] sliders in the [Tool property] window. On top of that, draw some birds sitting on some of the branches in the background.

 

Now add the lantern, stopwatch, and chain.

 

Rendering and Modifications

This step involves altering the forms, adding textures, colors, and lighting.

For the shiny surfaces, the [Opaque watercolor] sub tool was used. This includes the scythe, the cloak, and the chains. For coarse surfaces, like the bones, the [Crayon sub] tool was used. This is found under [Pastel]. The [Pastel] sub tool, found under [Pastel], was used to paint the fog in the background. The stars were done using the [Tone scrapping] [Airbrush] sub tool. And finally, the grass was added using the [Grass C] sub tool found in the [Decoration] brushes under [Vegetation].

 

 

Hope you enjoyed this tutorial. Bye.