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1. Intro

Nice to meet you, I'm NisaRF! Welcome to my first tutorial for CSP^^

Here I will share some tips & tricks that I use when drawing sweets, the colorful & sugary treats.

 

It’s my first tutorial, so I think it’s best to start from the beginner level too. I never really teach someone before but I decided to take the challenge! I will share my experience in drawing sweets while trying to make it as simple as possible so it would be easier to understand.

 

Without further ado, let's start to learn together how to draw some tasty-looking sweets!

2. Variety of Sweets

There are many kinds of sweets around the world, each country has their own speciality with local ingredients & variable range of sweetness...Talking about them alone would take forever~!

 

Aside from the variety, while making this tutorial I realized there would be too much if I brought up color rules here, so let’s not get deeper into it to not make things becoming too complex. This time, I will only focus on the shape, texture, & what tool to use to make the sweets.

 

I don't use any special palette or color rules here, so please don't worry too much about the color. You can try to pick up the colors I use in this tutorial with [Eyedropper] tool from the attached images, or experiment freely with the digital coloring (sweets are colorful anyway)! One thing to remember though, choosing color for foods is better by studying how the real ones look like. Take some real-life reference!

3. Everything Sweets Start from Certain Shape

Many things in this world actually have some “hidden shapes” in them if you look closely.

Sweets also came in certain shapes, wrapped or unwrapped. When start drawing, think of them as some kind of shapes that transform into something sweet!

 

Sample below shows how sweets came from certain shape (s) :

You can watch the timelapse video of the illustration above to see the process here :

Take advantage of tools in the Sub Tool [Selection Area] menu as seen in the image below to help you draw shapes. If you have difficulties measuring things or making it even, activate Grid & Ruler (Ctrl+R) from the [View] options on the menu

Take the example of [Ellipse] tool, this tool will help especially if you have difficulty drawing circular objects. Add shading & shadow on the objects to make the flat circular 2D images look 3D.

3D geometric shapes can be made by using the same tools group to help build the structure. When making the lines, you can try using [Lasso] tool and/or holding [Shift] to draw straight lines from one point to another. Experiment with the shapes to produce more variation of sweets!

 

Note: Don't worry if the shape looks slightly messy or uneven! It actually helps the sweets look natural & doesn't look too stiff.

 

For a start, let’s try to make a Dango (Sweet Dumplings) as an example of how to use Sub Tool [Selection Area] :

 

1. Create [New Raster Layer], set the layer mode to [Multiply].

Draw 3 circular shapes side by side with the help of [Ellipse] tool.

Then click [Edit]>[Outline Selection]->[Draw Outside]->type in the value you want for the lineart (the number represents the line’s thickness).

Note: You can start drawing from a sketch or using the [Ellipse] tool directly to draw the circle. If you want to start from a sketch, better to draw the sketch in separate layers to make the editing easier as seen on the image.

 

2.) Create another layer, set it to [Multiply] again then use [Rectangle] tool to draw the stick that holds the dumplings together. It’s up to you to make one of the stick’s edges pointy or not. Sweet Dumplings or Dango is a chewy & soft sweet, so eventhough the stick’s edge is blunt, the dumplings still can go through them. Erase some part of the stick that should be covered by the dumplings.

Note: There are 2 ways to Erase things in CSP, first with a combination of [Selection Area]->[Lasso]->Delete key on your keyboard if you’re using PC; or with Sub Tool [Eraser].

3. ) Create another layer below the dumplings & stick’s layer, set the mode to [Normal]. Use Sub Tool [Fill]->[Refer to other layers] to give each of them base color. This is a “Hanami Dango”, a variety of sweet dumplings with pink, white & green color so let’s just match the color of the real thing here.

4. ) Make another layer above the outline layers for the shading & set it to [Multiply].

When using this layer as a coloring layer, the color added would look darker than the actual color you picked. Here I’m using Sub Tool [Brush]-> [Watercolor]-> [Round watercolor brush] to add the shading. After that, use Sub Tool [Blend]->[Blend]-> [Blur] to make the color smooth.

5.) Create another layer above the shading layer, set the layer as an [Add Glow] layer. Just like the name, this layer makes the color glowing. Add a little bit of white or lighter color to the dumpling’s surface with Sub Tool [Airbrush]->[Soft], then use a [Round watercolor brush] to give a tint of bouncing light.

6.) If needed, you can add shadow under the dumplings in a new layer using Sub Tool [Selection Area]->[Lasso] tool & fill it with dark color e.g grey, then set the layer transparency parameter next to the layer mode box to a lower value (I’m using 35% transparency here).

Click the [View Button] to turn off the dumpling’s outline.

The Hanami Dango/Sweet Dumplings is now finished!

Watch the Sweet Dumplings done in Timelapse here :

If the timelapse is too fast for you, I have prepared another video that shows a slower step by-step:

By understanding shapes & experimenting with them, maybe you can even draw your original design of sweets & not just the ones that already exist!

4. Understanding Sweets Material Properties

After practising drawing Sweet Dumplings, a confection with a soft texture, we learned that each sweets could have their own characteristic. Taking into consideration of each sweet’s characteristics could make the sweets look more believable. But how to show these traits in a drawing?

a. Make Hard & Soft Sweets Distinguishable from Other Materials

Showing the types’ differences clearly is important in drawing, especially if you want to put the sweets among other stuff. For example, gummies & jellies would have different textures from other sweets like fruity drops & candy cane. The former has a softer texture, while the latter has a harder, crisp texture with a firm & solid shape.

 

Even though some sweets could look translucent & have some tint of reflection, they will not reflect light too much like glass-based materials or crystals. You wouldn’t want a candy that looks like a piece of metal, for example.

 

To illustrate this difference, I have made a sample below with two similar-looking bears, one is a soft candy while the other one is a bear made from something else.

Don’t they look oddly similar?

 

I drew both from the same lineart that I copied & same color palette but with a slightly darker shade for the one on the right to give a hint of solid materials. The one on the left has a tender, watery visual which feels like it will bounce if you touch it, while the other one looks more like a crystal-based bear that looks stiff & reflects lights more.

When it comes to hard & soft sweets, soft candies look non-rigid with less bouncing lights when exposed to light. Meanwhile, hard candies would look crisp & reflect more light when exposed to light sources, almost like crystals. They also will look different if you tear them apart or crushed. Take a look at another example below :

When drawing chewy & soft sweets, it's important to give off a bit uneven feel to the surface. If it looks too firm, it would give off an impression of a harder material.

 

Note: Gummies & jellies contain more water than other types of sweets, so I recommend using Sub Tool [Brush]-> [Watercolor] for drawing them to give them “watery looks”.

b. Using Texture To Give Different Feel On The Surface

Sometimes there are type of sweets that consists of separated elements with different textures. For example, chocolate pralines with nuts & ganache. Give texture to the sweets with the help of various [Brush] & textured [Material] for a sense of fluffiness & uneven surface.

 

Let’s see what is like while drawing a sliced Chocoberry Truffle.

1.) Draw 2 circular shape. You can start by sketching like what I did here or directly draw a round shape with the help of [Ellipse] tool like before. But because it’s a sliced Chocoberry Truffle, remember to make the other one in the same size & shape as the 1st one.  So make a single round shape first, then draw a bowl-like shape at the bottom of this single circle. After done, [Edit]->[Copy] & [Paste] or just [Duplicate layer]. Put them side by side like the following picture :

2.) Now draw the lineart on another [Multiply] layer. You only need to draw the lineart for the truffle on the right because the 2nd would be a copy of the 1st. Here I’m using the combination of [Ellipse Tool] to make the circular part’s lineart & Sub Tool [Pencil] called [SU-Cream Pencil] to draw the “bowl” with the following value input. [SU-Cream Pencil] is a downloadable asset, but you can use any Sub Tool [Pen] or [Pencil] you like as in this tutorial the lineart is only necessary to make coloring process faster.

If you’re interested, you can download the [SU-Cream Pencil] here :

Put both truffles side by side & then [Erase] the unnecessary lineart until you get the result just like the following image.

3.) Create a new [Normal] layer for the base color. Select the area with Sub Tool [Auto Select]-> [Refer to all layers]. This would pick the entire area you clicked. Fill the color with Sub Tool [Fill] as you did with the Sweet Dumplings before.

4.) For coloring the truffle’s filling (ganache) area, first select the area with [Lasso] then fill in the color the same way as before. In this tutorial, I picked pink because it’s Chocoberry Truffle. I give some melting chocolate below the truffle pieces to give the pieces a more organic feel.

5.) Just like the Sweet Dumplings before, create a new layer for the shading on top of all layers, set it to [Multiply]. Choose a color that is slightly darker than the base colours for the shading, then brush it on the lower half of both truffles.  Smooth the color with the help of [Blend] & [Blur] from Sub Tool [Blend].

6.) Next, we will apply some texture to the soft ganache fillings so it would look different from the smooth surface of the chocolate coating. I use a texture called “Toast” here. It’s downloadable for free in the CSP assets library under [Image Material] Type section. You can download it first there, then find it in your CSP’s Material library. Open this library by clicking the arrow on the upper right & type “toast” in the search column & it will appear. Drag & drop the texture to the illustration.

 

if you’re interested, you can download the material here :

7.) Turn the texture layer to the raster layer by right-clicking on the layer->[Rasterize]. Edit the texture in the [Layer Property] menu on the right. Change the [Expression Color]->[Color], then click [Layer Color] to change the texture color. Choose a darker color than the one used as the ganache color. After that, change the layer mode to [Overlay], then copy the layer. Change the copy layer mode to [Multiply] & put it on top of the [Overlay] layer.

8.) [Erase] the unnecessary part of the layer to fit the ganache part.

9.) Add topping on top of the truffles with [Round watercolor brush] on different [Normal] layer as seen below.

10.) Make a new [Add Glow] layer to add some lighter notes to the truffle.

First, use Sub Tool [Airbrush]->[Soft] to add a soft, lighter color on the truffle’s surface. This would make the truffle not-so-flat feel.

11.) Make a 2nd [Add Glow] layer, then give some tint of bouncing lights on the surface with [Round watercolor brush]. Don’t give it too much so it won’t look less natural. Smooth them out using [Blend] & [Blur].

12.) Let’s enhance the color with the help of [Gradient Map]. Click [Layer]->[New Correction Layer(J)->[Gradient Map].

Choose [Gradient Set] you want. Here I choose [Somber Shade]->[Somber Shade (red)]. Click [OK], & a new [Gradient Map] layer will appear.

 

Edit the layer on the [Layer Properties] on the right. Turn the layer to [Overlay] layer mode & set the [Transparency] to 35% or any value that you think fits more.

13.) Give it a background if you want & you got your own Chocoberry Truffle!

Note: Try to experiment using different textures to find out what's more fitting to make the sweets look more believable.

 

You can watch the timelapse here :

Or slower version here :

5. Using Outlines for Your Confections : Better With or Without Outline?

Outline or lineart can make the sweets look rough, stiff & hard, but sometimes it could emphasize the shape.

 

You can get rid of the lines without erasing them completely from the scene by turning off the [View Button] on the outline layer like with the Sweet Dumpling. But if you want to keep the lineart, I suggest changing the lineart’s color to a similar color to the sweets. This way, the sweets could look softer & you can keep the shape without making the sweets look too rough.

 

Consider the light source when choosing the color of the lineart, as the lines on the side that creates shadow would be darker than the ones exposed with light.

After picking the color, select the outline with the [Lasso] tool, then click [Edit]->[Convert to drawing color].

Eventhough many sweets come with edges that look somewhat pointy, when drawing sweets, better to avoid edges that too pointy & use rounder edges instead to make them look natural & softer, even for sweets with harder textures.

Take a look for more comparisons below.

Choose the one that fits your style & makes your sweets look best!

6. Using [Duplicate] To Multiply The Sweets

As we learned before, sometimes we need to multiply the sweets for whatever reasons.

You can always duplicate pre-made sweets by clicking [Duplicate Layer] in the [Layer] menu. Select the entire layer that contains the pre-made sweets first & then merge them to make it simpler before making a copy. By selecting the layer or folder containing the sweets, you can make a copy of it.

 

To see how this works, let’s try it while making a simple whole Chocolate Bar!

1.) Draw the lineart of a piece of chocolate with the [Rectangle] tool on a [Multiply] layer. Click [Edit]->[Outline Selection]->[Draw Outside]->type in the value you want.

Duplicate the lineart to make the 2nd, then make this 2nd lineart smaller by transforming it (Ctrl+T).

2.) Make a [New Layer] below the lineart layer for the base color & make another on top of the lineart layer for the shading. Add the color with Sub Tool [Fill] for the base color & the shading in their respective layers. Use [Blend] to evens out the color to create a smooth shade.

3.) On the shading layer, draw thick lines with [Round watercolor brush] & the same color as the one you use to make shading. Draw the lines by following the pattern of the smaller lineart. After done, turn off the lineart layer.

4.) Trim the edge of the chocolate a little bit with [Eraser] & [Blur] to give a soft & neat effect on the edges. Do it on both color & shading layers.

5.) Make [New Layer]->[Add Glow] to add some lights on the chocolate.

I add some lighting with [Round watercolor brush], then use [Blend] & [Blur] to smooth out the color.

Now, we got a piece of chocolate bar.

6.) Next, we will take advantage of the [Duplicate layer] options to start making a whole chocolate bar. Click the [New Folder] icon on the layer taskbar, then put every single layer that builds the tiny bar into that folder then give it the name “Tiny Bar” folder. Click the Folder, then right-click on-> [Duplicate Layer] to get a duplicate of the folder. Now after you get the copy of the “Tiny Bar” folder, right-click on it once again & then click [Merge selected layer].

Note : Leave the other “Tiny Bar” folder just like that for a backup if you need it later. You can put it on the bottom of the layer & then just turn the layer off from view just in case you need it later. Better safe than sorry!

7.) After merging, move the Tiny Bar to the corner by transforming it into a smaller size. You can activate back the [View]->[Grid] if you want to make a precise position. Right-click ->[Duplicate Layer] the Tiny Bar layer once again to make the duplicate. Put the duplicate bars side by side by leaving a very small gap in between. Merge the layer & then repeat this action until you have a whole bar.

8.) Now you have a whole bar, but there are still some gaps in-between…Let’s select the gap with [Rectangle] tool & [Fill] it with a similar color as the Tiny Bar! You can choose either to make a new layer for the gap’s filling for easier editing or directly add it to the same layer.

 

 

9.) Smooth out the gap colors with [Blur]. Add [Gradient Map] setting as the one we used in the Chocoberry Truffle tutorial if you like, or you can use this new setting of [Layer]->[Gradient Map]->[Somber Shade (red)], then set layer mode to [Multiply] with 25% transparency.

10.) Voila! You got your own Chocolate Bar!

Note: There are many kinds of [Gradient Map] settings. Make sure to check it out to see what fits more for your illustration!

 

Watch the process in the timelapse video :

Or watch the slower version :

7. End Note

Thank you for reading this tutorial thus far!

So how was it? Are you ready to draw your own sweets (or did you)? Experiment with shapes, colors & textures to make your sweets! I hope these tips will help you draw them^^

After learning the basics for drawing sweets, next time if I’ve got the chance, maybe I will make another tutorial about more complex topics like drawing desserts e.g baked goods, pudding, or how to choose appetizing colors for foods.

 

Personally, this tutorial has brought me deeper into the world of sweets, which is so much wider than I've ever thought before & I really enjoy it~!

Hopefully you enjoy it too, & see you next time!

 

(For more of my artworks, please visit my gallery at IG @khoiruunisarf)