Hello! My name is Liz Staley and I’m a long-time user of Clip Studio Paint (I started using the program back when it was known as Manga Studio 4!). I was a beta-tester on the Manga Studio 5 program and for Clip Studio Paint, and I have written three books and several video courses about the program. Many of you probably know my name from those books, in fact. I write weekly posts on Graphixly.com and on CSP Tips, so be sure to come back every week to learn more Clip Studio Tips and Tricks from me!

 

This article is a continuation of last week’s article, where we set up a Webtoon Canvas and worked with comic panels.

 

In this article we will cover the following topics:

Adding Text

Making Speech Balloons

 

Let’s get to it!

 

 

Adding Text

If you are a CSP EX user who has access to the Page Manager (multiple page document), you can also use the Story Editor feature to add all the text to your entire document at once rather than adding it by using the text tool in individual panels. Before we use the Story Editor, however, let’s set some preferences for the text! To start, click on File - Preferences.

In the Preferences window, click on the Edit Text category on the left. I set the New text options to “Always create new layer” and “Selected text tool property”. This second option will enable us to create a Text subtool with the font we’re using for our comic and have all the text from the Story Editor be added with those font settings, so it’s a huge time saver!

 

In the Line breaks/Spacing section, I set the options to “Show line break” and “Double line space”. This means that a line break will be shown as an actual line break instead of a symbol, and if we want to break text into individual text boxes we can do a double space to have it done automatically for us.

 

In View, I set the direction to Horizontal (since I will be typing in English and not Japanese).

 

 

Click on OK to set the Preferences. Now let’s create a custom Text subtool with our comic text settings. Even if you have Clip Studio PRO, doing this step will help save time when creating your comics because you won’t need to change your font style and size every time you go to put text in. Click on the Text tool. Then, in the Sub tool property palette, click on the “Create copy of currently selected sub tool” icon, shown in the red box below.

Type in a name for your new sub tool. I chose “Comic Text” so that I would know exactly what this sub tool is for.

With this new sub tool selected, set the font you wish to use for your comic. I will be using “Anime Ace” from blambot.com. You can set the font size, alignment, and other text options as well.

 

If you are using CSP EX and want to use the Story Editor for a file with multiple pages, click on Story - Edit Text - Story Editor.

 

 

If this is your first time using the Story Editor, the following message will appear. This warns you that the History for all canvases will be deleted. If you do not want to lose the edit history for canvases in your open story, click on No. If you have not made changes, or do not need to go back in the edit history, click on Yes to continue. If you do not want to see this message again, make sure to check the box next to “Do not show again.”

In the Story Editor window you will see a box for each page in your story file. Type or paste your text from your comic script into the story editor. I added a double line break at the end of lines that I want to be in their own text boxes, as I set up in Preferences at the beginning of this tutorial.

When you’re done editing your text, hit Save or click the X on the Story Editor tab of the page manager. Click Save to change the text edits.

After closing the Story Editor, I now have three text layers on my first page, all in the font that I chose for my text subtool. Some of the text boxes are not showing all of the words because the text box needs to be expanded, which can be done by clicking and dragging on one of the handles around the text when selecting the text with the Object subtool.

Use the Object subtool to move the text around to where you want to place it.

Making Speech Balloons

Now that we have text on our Webtoon, I usually like to put any balloons down (even if they don’t have tails yet to indicate which character is speaking) so that I know exactly how much space I have for my artwork. In this example comic, I have some narration that will be in a plain rectangular box, a dialog box that needs a speech bubble with a tail, and a special effect balloon for a shout. Let’s start with the easiest balloon - the narration.

 

We can find all the balloon subtools that we need under the Balloon tool. For narration, I’m going to select the Rectangle balloon subtool.

 

In the Tool Property palette, set the line color and fill color. I’m going with a basic black outline and white fill. You can also change the thickness of the outline here with the Brush size option.

 

 

Click and drag with the Rectangle balloon tool around the narration text. Make sure to leave some room around the text so that it doesn’t look cramped.

Since we used the Balloon tool, the text and balloon are now a set and can be moved together. Simply use the Object subtool to click on the balloon and then use the handles to resize the balloon, or to move it and the text around. If you want to move just the text, click on the text inside of the box to select it instead of the balloon.

For the shouting balloon, I want a spiky balloon and there isn’t exactly a pre-made one in the balloon subtools. That’s okay though, because we can draw any shape balloon we want to with the Balloon Pen! Simply select the Balloon Pen subtool, then draw out your balloon’s shape. It’s okay if it’s not perfect yet, because this balloon will be made of vector points that we can adjust.

After drawing out your shape with the Balloon Pen tool, select the Correct Line tool. This allows us to move, redraw, simplify, and otherwise edit our vector line.

 

In the screenshot above, all the white dots along the line are control points that Clip Studio Paint put on as I drew the shape. This is too many points to easily adjust the shape of the lines.

 

In the Correct Line tools, select the Simplify Line subtool, then go over each line. This will take out the extra control points to make it easier to adjust the shape of the balloon. Using the Control Point subtool set to Move control points, you can then select each control point and move it to smooth out the shape of this balloon.

 

 

After some final adjustments, my shouting balloon is done.

For more detailed instructions on using and adjusting vectors in Clip Studio Paint, please see this article:

For the regular speech balloon, I’m going to use the Rounded Balloon because it will fit the shape of my text better than the regular Ellipse Balloon tool. I like to make the outline of these balloons the same as my narration balloons, but you can make them different sizes if you want to.

 

Click and drag with the Rounded Balloon tool around the dialog text. Again, make sure that there is enough room around the text in the balloon so that it is easy to read and doesn’t look cramped. A good rule of thumb is about a letter’s width between the text and the outline of the balloon at least.

 

 

I put a 3D head in my circular frame so that we have a reference for the tail for the balloon in the next few examples. Tails tell the reader who is speaking, and can also add some character to the dialog as well in certain cases. Let’s select the Balloon Tail subtool and then look at the How To Bend dropdown in the Tool Property palette. There are three options here - Straight line, Polyline, and Spline.

To create a straight line tail, click starting inside of the speech balloon, then move to where you want the tail to end and click again, making sure to point the tail toward the character speaking.

Polyline tails can be used for things like robotic characters or something coming through a speaker. To make one, change the How To Bend option to Polyline, then click inside of the balloon to start the tail. Click again to mark a corner for each bend of the tail, then double-click to end the tail. In the example below the tail took five clicks (including the double-click at the end) to create.

Now let’s change to the Spline version of the tail. This creates a curved tail. Click to start the tail, then click where you want the tail to bend. You can do this as many times as you want by clicking where each bend should take place. To end your tail, double-click where you want the end point to be.

Clicking on the balloon with the Object subtool shows that the text, balloon, and tail can all be moved as a unit. If you want to adjust the shape and position of a balloon tail, you can use the Control Point subtool from the Correct Line tool.

Conclusion

Now you know the basic functions of how to create a comic in Clip Studio Paint using more of the comic specific tools in the program. With these tools you can create a Webtoon canvas, add panels, work with text, and create speech balloons of different types as well.

 

For more information on CLIP Studio Paint, please visit https://www.clipstudio.net/en or https://graphixly.com