A simple guide on creating seamless pattern art in Clip Studio Paint for artists of all stages. This guide provides tips on how to create patterns in the program and what they can be used for in real life.

Introduction

Hello there! My name is INKY. I’m a digital illustrator and designer and have been using Clip Studio Paint to draw and illustrate for years now. During that time, I have made various patterns of my illustrations, and today I am going to show you how to do just that.

The cool thing about seamless patterns is they can go just about on everything.

Backgrounds for your illustrations-

Assets you can share in the Clip Studio Paint store-

Standalone pieces for your portfolio or social media-

Physical items-

Once your artwork is converted into a pattern material, it can be infinitely resized no matter how big or how small you want to make it!

Preparing Your Canvas

As this isn’t an in-depth illustration tutorial, we’re going to jump right in to using designs that I have already created. I recommend having at least 2-3 designs for pattern making. Feel free to use older artwork you’ve made in the past or start from scratch.

 

When making designs for my patterns I try to think of elements that can be used for different projects and keep it fairly simple so they can easily be understood at a multitude of sizes. I also always create my artwork at 300dpi or higher. This makes for higher resolution work in case you need to resize or want to print it.

 

To begin, you’ll need to get your artwork files and export them as separate PNG files.

It’s important to have no background in this step, so be sure to separate the design elements that you’d like from your artwork.

 

You’ll also want to be sure to save these PNG files in the same folder on your device to make it much easier to find.

---

Next, create a new canvas file sized 4000x4000px at 300dpi. You can make this canvas smaller if you have device constraints, but it’s important to ensure your canvas file is in a square aspect ratio for this.

 

You’ll also want to keep the paper color white because this will become an important step in the process later on.

Finally, on a new layer, grab your Paint Bucket Fill Tool (G) and fill it in with a color of your choice.

After, go to the top menu and select Edit>Change Canvas Size. Here you will need to add an extra 2000px to the width and height of your canvas size.

 

So, for this example, the new size will be 6000x6000px. If done correctly, you will see a white border around your background color.

Finally, drag in the designs you plan to use into the layer menu. This way, everything will be on separate layers and easier to move around as needed.

Laying Out Your Pattern

Once all the designs you want to use are on the new canvas, rasterize your images by right clicking on them and selecting the rasterize layer option.

Next, you’ll want to make duplicates of them by selecting and dragging them over the new raster layer button or right clicking and selecting the duplicate layer option. Once you have done that, hide the originals by selecting the eye icon.

Now you can place your designs in a way that will create a pattern. Be thoughtful where you lay everything though because you don’t want the designs to overlap or take up too much of one area.

 

For this, I recommend dragging one design to the top, one to the bottom and the last one to the left or right. Make sure your designs have plenty of space in between one another and avoid placing your designs on the corners of the filled in square.

 

You may also have to resize your designs as well using the transform tool (Ctrl+T).

Next, take the auto selection tool (W) and select the filled in square. While it is still selected, go to your visible design layers and select one. Then cut (Ctrl+X) and paste (Ctrl+V) it. Your design is now split into two layers. Continue to cut and paste the other designs that have been placed onto the edges.

Don’t forget to deselect the selection (Ctrl+D) or go to the deselect tool on the Selection Launcher Menu at the bottom of your canvas.

---

Now the magic begins, as these next steps will allow you to create a seamless pattern!

 

For this to work correctly, you’ll need to move the cut piece to the opposite end of where the original design was placed. For example, if your design is at the top, move the cut piece to the bottom, if it’s at the left, move it to the right and so forth.

 

Make sure to hold down the shift key while doing this to keep your cut design in line with the original one. Your cut designs will also need to sit inside the square as well.

 

I also recommend zooming in at this step too so you can align it perfectly with the edge. When these pieces aren’t aligned to the edge perfectly they can cause phantom lines or overlapping in the final pattern design.

Finally, take your hidden design layers and make them visible on the canvas. These will be used to fill in the empty space in the middle. I usually arrange my patterns to be in a checkerboard pattern where they alternate in a way that makes it compositionally pleasing to the eye.

 

You can also flip, rotate or move designs around as much as you would like. In this example, I decided to shift the designs around and even shrink some of the strawberry designs to make them fit better.

If you would like to create an even more intricate pattern you can add simple or tiny shapes in between everything. Feel free to add more or leave it blank! It’s all up to you.

Converting Your Artwork

When you are satisfied with how your pattern art has been laid out, it’s time to turn the canvas into a usable pattern material!

 

For this step, take all of your layers and put them into a folder. Next, right click on the folder and duplicate it, then hide and lock the original.

Next, take the copied folder and right click and select merge selected layers, this will turn your folder into one single layer and serve as your final pattern artwork.

I also recommend saving this layout as a Clip Studio Paint file before you turn your pattern into a material. This way if you need to change or edit anything after the fact, it’ll make it easier to do so. It’s another reason why you should duplicate your original files as instructed above.

 

Finally, convert your canvas size back to its original size by going to Edit>Change Canvas Size to change the height and width. The white border should now be gone.

Next, open your materials window. You can find this by going to Window>Material>Material: All Materials if it’s not visible on your workspace.

 

From here, you can simply drag and drop your merged pattern art layer into the menu. I recommend dragging this into your color pattern folder to keep it organized.

 

You can also make a separate folder (by right clicking in the materials menu) just for your custom patterns to make it easier to find in the future.

Afterwards, select your pattern in the materials menu and then select the option icon at the bottom. Next, check the tiling option in the material property menu.

 

Next to the tiling option, you have two drop down menus, here you can change how you want your pattern to repeat. I typically always keep this on repeat and vertical and horizontal as this will create a seamless effect.

To finish up, name your pattern and then add tags to make it easier to access and find in your materials in the future.

 

Now simply save the pattern and it will be added to your materials menu anytime you need it!

 

Feel free to try out your new pattern by opening a new canvas, creating a new raster layer and dragging it from the materials menu on or using the replace editing layer with selected material option. You can use the object selection tool to rotate and resize your pattern.

Adjusting Your Pattern After it’s Been Converted

If you notice your pattern has a slight line or a gap when you place your pattern material, your original artwork will need to be adjusted.

Here’s how you can fix that:

Phantom Lines

To fix phantom lines in your pattern, first zoom into the areas where the lines appear. These are caused when your split art isn’t shifted enough to the edge and is causing phantom lines to appear. Simply find what isn’t flush to the edge, adjust it, save and repeat the steps above.

Overlapping

Similar to phantom lines, overlapping is due to the split designs not being adjusted correctly and are over the edge too much. Simply realign them to the border of the colored square, save and repeat the steps above.

Spacing & Gaps

To fix spacing and gap issues in your pattern, resize or move the designs around to fill in the space better. Again, save the file, then repeat the steps above.

Conclusion

Now that you’ve created your first pattern, you’ll be able to create even more seamless patterns in no time. What new illustrations will you create with your pattern material?

 

If you found this tutorial helpful, don’t forget to like and share it!