This article is in Japanese. On sites other than Japanese, it is machine translated.

The hugely popular tone "IC SCREEN" (G-Too Co., Ltd.) used in analog manga production can now be used in digital manga and illustrations!

Not only for monochrome manga for submissions to magazines and doujinshi, but by using it for monochrome illustrations, you can easily create manga cover-style illustrations and more.

Currently, there are over 400 types of IC SCREEN Digital available in CLIP STUDIO PAINT.

Let's try using the tones favored by professional manga artists in your own work!

 

 

In this tutorial, we'll introduce the basic usage of IC SCREEN Digital and how to apply tones to monochrome illustrations, following the video by illustrator Deep Blizzard!

 

 

You can do it with this video! Digital Tone Installation and Usage Guide ✨【IC x CLIP STUDIO PAINT】/ Deep Blizzard

What is IC SCREEN Digital

IC SCREEN Digital is a digitalization of "IC SCREEN" manga tones provided by G-Too Co., Ltd., sold as image materials for use in CLIP STUDIO PAINT.

IC SCREEN is one of the most representative tone brands, loved by many manga artists and illustrators.

In addition to basic patterns like halftone dots, cross-hatching, and gradients, IC SCREEN's original delicate patterns such as buildings, plants, emotional expressions, and lovely floral designs are highly regarded.

 

 

If you have an annual or monthly usage plan for CLIP STUDIO PAINT EX (1-device plan, 2-device plan, Premium plan), you can download up to 30 types for free each month.

 

 

Additionally, if you are using other annual/monthly plans or the one-time purchase/perpetual license, you can purchase individual materials using GOLD on the CLIP STUDIO ASSETS website.

 

 

For more information on CLIP STUDIO PAINT purchase plans, please see below.

For more details on GOLD available on CLIP STUDIO ASSETS, please see below.

Download from CLIP STUDIO ASSETS

IC SCREEN Digital can be downloaded from CLIP STUDIO ASSETS.

Click "Details" at the top of the page, then select the "IC SCREEN Digital" tag under "Annual/Monthly Plan Benefits" to display only IC SCREEN Digital.

Effect and background tones are highly versatile, making them recommended for those new to using tones.

Select the material and click "Purchase/Acquire" in the upper right corner of the material page.

If you have an annual or monthly usage plan for CLIP STUDIO PAINT EX, select "Acquire with Annual/Monthly Plan Benefits".

If you are using other annual/monthly plans or the one-time purchase/perpetual license, select "Purchase with GOLD".

Downloaded materials are stored in the [Download] section of the [Material] palette in CLIP STUDIO PAINT.

 

 

<POINT>

If you cannot find the [Material] palette, it can be displayed by selecting [Window] menu → [Material] → [Download] from the top of the canvas.

Let's try using IC SCREEN Digital in monochrome illustrations

Let's apply the downloaded IC SCREEN Digital to the line art of a monochrome illustration and finish it.

*The steps are presented based on content reorganized from Deep Blizzard's video.

 

 

This time, IC SCREEN Digital is used for the ribbon of Aishi-chan in the foreground, the uniform of the black-haired girl, and the floral pattern in the background.

 

 

IC SCREEN Digital (Y-1639) used for the ribbon

IC SCREEN Digital (S-5009) used for the uniform

IC SCREEN Digital (J-475) used for the background

Create a selection

Create a selection where you want to apply the tone.

Select the [Auto select] tool → [Refer other layers] and click on the ribbon part to create a selection.

 

 

For more details on how to create selections, please refer to this article.

*(The selection is colored green here for clarity.)

Apply tone to the ribbon

Once the ribbon selection is made, drag and drop the ribbon tone (Y-1639) onto the canvas or the layer where you want to apply the tone, and the tone will be applied to the ribbon part.

If you want to move the pattern of the applied tone, select the tone layer, then select the [Object] tool and drag the tone on the canvas.

<POINT>

IC SCREEN Digital digitizes analog IC SCREEN products (including Youth and J-Tone) using a unique method.

Scaling tones up or down may cause moiré, so please use them at their original size.

Apply tone to the uniform

Similarly, select the uniform part of the black-haired girl and drag and drop the uniform tone (S-5009) onto the canvas.

Shave (erase) tones

There's a technique to shave (erase) tones to express light and shadow, etc.

Select the layer mask of the tone layer applied to the canvas.

You can shave tones by selecting a pen tool or a sub-tool like [Cross-hatching (for tone shaving)] in the [Cross-hatching] group of the [Decoration] tool and painting with transparent color, or by erasing with an eraser.

If you've shaved off too much tone, you can add it back by drawing again with a pen tool or similar.

 

 

<POINT> Brushes for shaving tones

Many brush materials for shaving tones are also available on CLIP STUDIO ASSETS.

If you want a more preferred way of shaving, we recommend downloading materials.

Using cross-hatching brushes or stipple-style shaving brushes can create a natural shave.

For more details on layer masks and transparent colors, please refer to this article.

Tone a gray-filled area to finish

For areas without patterns, such as shadows on faces and bodies, we'll finish the illustration by applying simple tones that can be created in CLIP STUDIO PAINT.

 

 

Create a [New Raster Layer] from the [Layer] palette to create a layer separate from IC SCREEN Digital.

Use the [Lasso Fill] tool or [Pen] tool to paint the desired gray density within the area where you want to apply the tone.

 

 

▼I painted the shadows on the face and clothes, and the tablet held in the hand, in gray.

With the gray-filled layer selected, you can easily convert it to a tone by selecting [Tone] in the [Layer Property] palette.

Finally, by placing a floral tone (J-475) in the background, the manga-style monochrome illustration using IC SCREEN Digital is complete.

By using IC SCREEN Digital, a gorgeous illustration has been completed!

 

 

Bonus: Useful Techniques to Know

Here are some useful techniques for applying tones and managing downloaded tones.

 

 

Stock Selections

If you want to use the same selection later or fine-tune it, save the selection.

 

 

Select [Selection] menu → [Stock selection]

The area where the selection was created turns green, and a new layer named "Selection 1" is created in the [Layer] palette.

 

 

For more details on stocking selections, please refer to this article.

Double-clicking the thumbnail of the "Selection 1" layer or the green square will recreate the selection.

With the selection deselected, you can use the [Pen] tool or [Eraser] tool to add or delete parts of the selection as if drawing with a brush.

This is recommended when you want to fine-tune a selection.

Manage Downloaded Materials with Folders

When you download many tones or other materials, it can sometimes become difficult to find the tone you want to use.

 

 

In such cases, you can manage them with folders.

From the top-left menu of the [Material] palette, execute [Material folder] → [New folder]

Drag and drop the materials downloaded from CLIP STUDIO ASSETS into the created folder.

You can manage only your favorite materials in folders, so organizing the materials you want to use makes them easy to find.

Furthermore, within IC SCREEN Digital, separating them into folders for effects, backgrounds, gradients, etc., will make them even easier to use.

Conclusion

Over 400 IC SCREEN Digital materials are available on CLIP STUDIO ASSETS.

Please download and utilize them in your work!

 

 

CLIP STUDIO ASSETS IC SCREEN Digital

You can watch Deep Blizzard's making-of video, where they actually use IC SCREEN Digital in a monochrome manga manuscript, below.

If you want to know more detailed usage, please check it out!

 

 

【IC SCREEN Digital】Deep Blizzard【Making Of】

*(The line art used in the tutorial can be downloaded for free. See below for details.)

Author Profile: Deep Blizzard

Real name: Deep Blizzard Illustia

Residing in the farthest reaches, as the "Demon King who makes your drawing fun," they engage in a wide range of creative activities, including tutorials for various drawing software, Live2D, and analog art materials. Currently, they post numerous drawing tutorial videos on YouTube and TikTok.

 

 

Official Site: deepblizzard.com

X: twitter.com/mao_Dbmiyuki

instagram: instagram.com/mao_dbmiyuki

TikTok: tiktok.com/@deepblizzard

Pixiv: pixiv.net/member.php?id=31365896

Youtube: youtube.com/@deepblizzard/community

 

 

IC SCREEN

IC SCREEN is a manga material in the form of film seals with patterns printed on them. Approximately 700 types have been manufactured and sold to date, making it an essential tool in the finishing process of analog manga production. In 2019, it inherited the popular art material "J-Tone" (planned and sold by J-Tone Co., Ltd.), which had been discontinued, and revived and released some of its patterns as IC SCREEN J-TONE.

 

 

IC

IC (integrated into G-Too Co., Ltd. in 2017) has been manufacturing and selling IC SCREEN primarily as a tool for manga manuscripts, designs, and illustrations for 50 years. Responding to long-standing requests from manga artists who transitioned from analog to digital drawing environments and hobbyists who draw, saying "I want to use IC SCREEN even in digital drawing," we developed IC SCREEN for use in digital drawing.

 

 

Official Site: https://www.icscr.jp

X: https://x.com/IC_korisu

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ic_manga

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/ICmangaofficial