1. Introduction

Hello everyone, in this tutorial, I’m going to show you the basic principles of layer in digital painting, which includes understanding the basic functions, properties, types, as well as blending modes. Let’s dive right in!

2. Brief Overview of Layer

Beginner artists are always confused with layers (at least for me), but Layer is an important function in digital drawing that helps artists save a lot of time.

 

Fun fact: I recently discovered that the maximum number of layers you can make on Clip Studio Paint is 10,000!

 

So, in general, how does layer works?

 

If you used watercolor or any traditional paint medium before, you might already understand the idea. For example, if you want to draw a scene, then you should draw the background first, then work your way towards to foreground. The paint you applied for the background will be under the paint you apply later for the foreground.

 

If you haven’t painted before, that’s okay. Think of it this way. You have 2 sheets of paper: red and green. If you put the green paper down first, then the red paper on top, then part of the green paper will not be visible, and it is under the red paper.

 

It may be good to show a visual example:

Here, I draw a circle in green, then add another layer, and draw a square in red. You can see how the red is covering the green. Notice red layer is on top of the green layer.

 

Now, if I move the red layer down. This time, the green is covering the red. The red layer now is under the green layer.

 

These are the basic idea of “layering”.

 

Let’s explore more about layers in the next section!

3. How to Create New Layer?

There are 3 ways you can create a new layer:

 

1. From the [Layer] menu near the top left of the screen → select [New Layer] → choose the type layer you want from the drop-down menu.

2. From the top left of the [Layer] palette → select the [Show Menu] icon (the 3 line icon) → select [New Layer] → choose a layer from the drop-down menu.

3. Click on the icon on the [Layer] palette (you can only choose either raster or vector, more about these layer types is in later sections).

4. Raster Layer

| 4A. What is a raster layer?

There are many types of layers. When first opening the menu, you will be overwhelmed by various types of layers, but in fact, there are only 2 major types of layers you will be working the most in. The first type is “raster layer”.

 

Don’t be confused by the name, it just means that the layer is “pixel-based”. To understand pixels, you can try to open an image and zoom in as far as you can. Eventually, you will see little squares appear. In the digital world, an image is comprised of pixels (or dots) that are so small and become unnoticeable when you zoom out (Unless you intentionally want it to be visible, such as pixel art, but that’s for another topic).

| 4B. What can you do with raster layer?

You can do almost everything with raster layer, and in fact, the majority of your illustration will be done on raster layer, such as line art, paint, and blend.

 

However, raster layer has a drawback. When you use the [Transform] function such as enlarging or minimizing with huge differences, it causes the image to lose quality, blurred, or jagged.

 

You can see in the video below how the edge is blurred after I enlarged the smiley face.

| 4C. Import image as a layer

You can import outside images as a layer in Clip Studio Paint.

Select [File] → [Import] → [Image].

If you want to draw on the imported image, you need to rasterize it, which means changing it to raster image.

Right-click on the imported image → choose [Rasterize].

Or go to [Layer] menu → choose [Rasterize].

5. Vector Layer

| 5A. What are vectors? How to make a vector layer?

The second major type of layer is Vector layer. Unlike raster layer, vector is composed of “control points”, as shown below.

Many people are afraid of vector because they have firsthand experience with vector through the pen tool in Adobe Illustrator. But vector in Clip Studio Paint works completely different. You only need to create a vector layer; choose any brush you want and draw as normal. The program will automatically record the points and stroke pressure down for you.

| 5B. Pros/Cons

A major difference between vector and raster layer is that when you are scaling using the [Transform] tool, the image quality will not be affected.

 

However, you can not blend or use the [Fill] tool in the vector layer. For this reason, I often use vector layers for inking/line art, especially when making monochrome manga/comic, to preserve the line quality.

 

| 5C. Useful vector eraser

Although vector layer has many limitations, it has the best feature: the vector eraser.

 

This is a total lifesaver! Have you ever found yourself zooming in during the line art phase to erase those little lines? Exhausting, isn’t it? With the vector eraser, it will save you so much time.

 

On the toolbar, select the [Eraser] icon → choose [Vector] (only works if you are on a vector layer). On the [Tool Property] box, we have 3 types of erasers.

 

1. Erased touched areas: this means that the vector eraser will have the same function as the normal eraser.

 

2. Erased up to intersection (SUPER USEFUL!): you only need to touch the extra part of the lines, and it will automatically erase up to the intersection.

 

3. Whole line: erased the whole stroke.

 

Below is a demo:

 

I found myself using the [Erased up to intersection] a lot. It saves me tons of time when inking for comic. That’s why I love Clip Studio Paint so much.

| 5D. Vector Operations

With vector, you can also manually change the line thickness without redrawing the line over and over again.

 

Select the [Edit line] icon → [Adjust line width].

 

In the [Tool property] palette, select either [Scale up width] or [Scale down width]. Then paint over the area you want to increase/decrease the width.

 

Feel free to play around with the other options in the [Tool property] palette. You’ll learn more by doing it!

 

Besides changing line width, you can also change the position of your line with the [Pinch vector line] option.

 

Select the [Edit line] icon → [Pinch vector line]

 

Then choosing [Fix end] options in the [Tool property] palette (feel free to play around with the [Pinch level] and [Effect range] as well).

 

1. Fix both ends: only the middle of the line will move, the starting and ending of the line will stay in the same place.

 

2. Fix either end: either the starting or ending of the line will stay in place.

 

3. Free both ends: none of the ends is fixed, so when you pinch, the starting/ending will move along as you wish.

 

These are the 2 functions that I think are most useful and noticeable when using vector layers. There are many other functions, but it is more advanced. If you want to explore more, feel free to play around with other options in the [Correct line] subtool and explore more in-depth articles by @ClipStudioOfficial.

| 5E. Operation tool

Besides the 3 functions mentioned above, you can go to the [Operation] tool, and change other options in the [Tool Property] palette.

 

You can change the main color, sub color, brush size, and brush shape directly in here.

 

| 5F. Import Vectors

If you want to import vector file into Clip Studio Paint, choose [File] → [Import] → select [Vector].

 

You can choose multiple files at once, but each file will be loaded into separated vector layers.

6. Other Type of Layers

There is more type of layers, but I don’t want to throw in a bunch of information, especially since this is a beginner’s friendly tutorial. So, I chose to discuss 2 more layers: the Tone Layer and Correction Layer.

 

You will notice that there are other useful layers, such as Gradient, Fill, and Layer Mask, but that would be more advanced and oriented toward specific use (which means not use frequently) and would not be covered for this beginner tutorial.

 

| 6A. Tone Layer

Tone layer is made up of little visible dots, usually refers to as “screen tones”. These are often used in black and white manga, but sometimes, artists also use it in illustration to enhance the overall effect.

 

If you are unfamiliar with these terms, you can take a look at a normal manga page and notice closely the part that covers in gray. It is actually made up of little dots with different density, which when looking from far away, creates the illusion of value. These dots are the screen tones.

 

To add a tone layer, choose the [Layer] menu → select [New Layer] → select [Tone]. A [Simple tone settings] dialog will pop up, you can adjust the density, frequency, and shape type here (the default shape is circle).

 

Another way to apply tone to a specific part of your drawing is to use the [Selection area] tool.

 

Select the part that you wanted to apply the screen tones to, on the [Selection range launcher] menu appears under your selection area → choose [New tone]. The same [Simple tone settings] dialog will pop up for you to adjust the setting.

These tones can be modified with a pen or eraser. The [Layer property] palette also allows you to modify the settings, as well as the color of the dots.

| 6B. Correction Layer

Another extremely useful layer is the Correction Layer. When you added this layer, all layers below the tonal correction layer will be affected. I usually use this when I finished my illustration to add finishing touches to my drawing.

 

These can be accessed via the [Layer] menu → [New Correction Layer].

 

Or from the top left of the [Layer] palette → select [Show Menu] icon (the 3-line icon) → select [New Layer] → choose [New Correction Layer].

Below, I’ll show you the 3 most common types of correction layers.

 

1. [Hue/Saturation/Luminosity]: just as the name suggests, you can adjust your image’s hue, saturation, and luminosity.

 

2. [Tone Curve]: Adjust the contrast and brightness of the image.

 

3. [Color balance]: Used to change the overall mixture of color in your image. Usually, it helps to change the mood of the image.

 

In my opinion, using the correction layers is more advantageous than the direct Tonal Correction (accessed via [Edit] → [Tonal Correction]) because you can always turn on and off the visibility of the layer to see the before and after adjustment.

7. [Layer Property] Palette (Basics)

Next, we’re going to discuss the basic function of the [Layer property] palette. I will briefly go over the Effect options.

 

1. Border effect: select this option will allow your art draws on that layer/folder to have a border around them (just like the how sticker usually has a white border around it).

 

There are 2 types, the first one is a solid edge color.

 

The second type is the watercolor edge, which will apply the watercolor blend edge to your painted part on that layer.

 

2. Extract line (EX version only): used this to extract lines from an image. I usually use this during the comic-making process to speed up background drawing.

3. Tone: change your image into black and white dots (screen tones). The value of the original image will translate accordingly. This is useful for manga.

4. Layer color: change the main color of your drawing. I usually used this to change the color of my sketch/line art.

The next option is Expression Color:

 

1. In “Color” mode: you can use full color in your illustration. In fact, if you are creating illustrations, this is the mode that you will use the most.

 

2. Gray mode: Convert your image on that layer to grayscale.

 

3. Monochrome: Convert your image into black and white only. Note that [Anti-aliasing] can not be used on a monochrome layer (in simple terms, anti-aliasing is the digital processing that helps smooth your line and get rid of jagged edges).

 

In the video below, I switched between different expression color modes to help you visualize the different effects of each.

 

8. [Layer] Palette

This is where the majority of your painting information will be stored. When drawing, the number of layers increases over time, and we lost track of which part is on which layer. This happens to me. So, here are some tips for you to manage your layers:

 

1. Name your layer. By double click the layer name, you can rename it to whatever you want. After finished, press [Enter]. Rename folder is the same method.

 

2. Organize layers in folders. You can choose multiple adjacent layers by choosing the first layer, pressing [Shift] → choosing the last layer → click and drag it to the folder you want. If your layers are not adjacent to each other, then hold down [Ctrl] or [Command] while choosing the layers.

3. In case you forgot which part of your drawing is on which layer, don’t worry! All you have to do is hold down [Ctrl + Shift] (or Command + Shift) → click on the part of the painting. Clip Studio Paint will automatically direct you to the layer that the part is on.

Next are the layer attributes. I will discuss the most 4 important ones: Clipping, Lock Layer, Lock transparency pixels, and merged layers.

 

1. [Clipping to layer below]: when this is ON, your paint stroke is only visible in the areas drawn on the layer below. I often used this to add shadow and highlight to my paintings after laying down the base.

 

2. [Lock Layer]: as the name suggests, it lock your layer. Why do we use this? For example, if you finished your sketch layer and accidentally line art on that same layer, this is a huge problem. You want to use the [Lock layer] button to lock the sketch layer, so that you will not accidentally inking on that sketch layer.

3. [Lock Transparent Pixels]: simply means that you can only draw on the part that already exists. It has a similar function as [Clipping], but in Clipping, you create another layer on top, while Lock Transparent makes you changes directly on the current layer.

4. [Merged with layer below]: means that you merge the top layer with the bottom layer into one to reduce redundancy. You can merge multiple layers by selecting the layers you want to merge → right-click → [Merge selected layers].

9. Blending Modes

There are 28 different types of blending modes. But for beginners, I will introduce the most 4 frequently used: Multiply, Screen, Add, and Overlay. Feel free to explore more and play around with different blending modes.

 

People have different shading methods, but the most common one is using Multiply mode. Multiply will combine the color of the current & bottom layer, creating a new color that is darker than the original color. Useful for adding shadows.

 

Screen/Add is often used for quick highlight in cell-shade art. It has the opposite effect of Multiply, which makes the new color brighter than the original color.

 

Overlay is a combination of the previous 2. In overlay, bright color will become brighter, and dark color will become darker, which creates a nice contrast.

 

The video below shows how you can use different blending modes to shade a sphere.

 

10. Tips

Alright, I think that’s a lot of information thrown at you. It is overwhelming, isn’t it? But don’t get too caught up in memorizing all of these, you will get familiarized with it the more you use it, and then the process will become all natural to you.

 

Here are some of the final tips I’d like to share:

 

I used to get this question from beginners all the time, and I also asked myself when I was a beginner: “How many layers do you use?”

 

Answer: It all depends, but honestly, use as much as you wanted. When you work on large illustration, you would want to merge layers to reduce the memory that your file is handled. When that comes, you will want to create a backup file before merging, so that if you want to go back later, you still have the backup file ready!

 

Another question I get: “I’m confused, how do I know which layers go above and below?”

 

Answer: You have to decide for yourself. Don’t overcomplicate it, because, in digital drawing, you can always rearrange the order of the layers later. Think of it this way: I always want my line art to be visible, so I put it all the way to the top. The base color will be below the shading layers. The background is always at the bottom. If you’re doing lineless art, it is the same principles. Here’s a simplified visual example:

 

You can see that I put the background at the bottom, the bushes on top of it, and the character on the top layers. Of course, when drawing, I don’t draw on only 3 layers like this. This is the merged version, and also a simplified version for you to better understand it.

11. Conclusion

Thank you for your patience on this super long tutorial of mine. I’m trying to explain in simple terms, and I hope that it is easy to understand.

 

That’s it for today's tutorial. Thank you again for reading!