Hey guys for this Tips of the Month I’m going to help you create great backlighting with amazing effects to make your art seem like something out of an anime. Completely beginner friendly to artists and new CSP users 😊

Understanding the Basics: What is Backlighting?

Backlighting is when the primary light source comes from behind the subject, facing towards the viewer. It creates a luminous outline around the figure, emphasizing shape, volume, and often—mood.

In storytelling terms? It is emotional and symbolic. It creates:

->Tension(hero entering a battle)

-> Hope(sunrise from behind)

-> Mystery(shadows in the front, a glow in the back)

Foundation: Setting Your Light Source

Before you start drawing, decide on the light direction—your whole rendering depends on this. Ask yourself:

1. Where is the light coming from?(Behind, but slightly above? Or to the Side?)

2. What type of light is it?

-> Hard light(sharp, dramatic edges)

-> Soft light(diffused, glowy)

3. What mood do you want?

-> Warm sunset glow?

-> Cold moonlight?

★ Pro Tip

In Clip Studio Paint, you can use a 3D model or a quick sphere study to visualize light and shadow before applying it to your full piece.

 

First select a 3D Model you can find through the arrow of the right side of your screen. Drag and drop the model on the canvas.

If the model isn’t selected use the Object tool to select it and click on this small Wrench icon

A “Sub Tool Detail” Dialog box will appear on which you have to click on the Light Source option.

 

Then you can move around this ball and see how the position of light source affects the model :3

OR you can also find thousands of helpful resources online for your specific pose ٩(ˊᗜˋ*)و ♡

GETTING TO KNOW CSP

One main process you’ll always see me use in the tutorial is

 

1.   Finding Light Source

2.   Overlay -> Multiply -> Hard Light ->Soft Light -> Finishing Effects (All layers are Clipped to the Character Layer, the option for which you can see in the image below)

3.   Adjusting the Opacity (how opaque a layer is) of every layer till it suits my needs. You don’t have to follow mine and can experiment with that option till you find a satisfactory result (Option shown in the image)

4.   Adding additional Soft Light layers (not clipped) on top of the art for the background

5.   Finishing effects with CSP’s inbuilt tools and ASSETS

 

All ASSETS used by me will be linked below

★ Layer Knowledge

You can experiment with the various layer options. Some of them produce almost similar effects but are for different uses so feel free to check them out ;)

The ones I’ve used in this tutorial are

1.   Overlay

2.   Multiply

3.   Add (Glow)

4.   Soft Light

LET'S GET STARTED!

Here’s my character for today’s lighting study. As you can see I’ve made him have a small smile, important detail cause we’ll manipulate this same smile in different forms via the lighting. You won’t even think it’s the same person by the end result ;)

Backlighting Study 1: SUNRISE

For this scene my main goal is to portray my character almost at peace. (or heroic if you wanna go that way)

 

I start with overlay-ing the art with yellows and blues to create the effect of him being under the rising sun. Then I adjust the opacity of the layer according to my needs.

I use a new multiply layer and paint the art with dark greens and ochres for the shadows, again adjusting the opacity to not make it 100% dark.

Next I start with drawing hard shadows using Add (Glow) layer on the character. I make sure of my Light Source and work from there.

 

**For beginners my tip would be to imagine the precise location of the light and how it would fall on each feature of your art. This process becomes simpler the more references you see/ using CSP’s sphere light study which I recommended :)

 

Here you can see I only highlight parts of his hair, slight skin area and his shirt (left side)

Additonally you can also how I decided to highlight the right side of the character too (although less visible) with a deeper orange to show how the intensity of light falling there is less.

Since my light source is on the left side, the right side highlights will have less intensity which can be portrayed by a darker colour**

Notice how I have lightly erased parts of the glow using a soft eraser to make the lights look more natural and blended in. (You’ll learn more about this step in Study 2)

I use one soft light layer to make him have a yellowish look  and then I add another add (glow) layer and airbrush soft light from all directions

★ Effects

I make a normal layer above the art (not clipped to the drawing) and use the Dappled Light effect which can be found in the Decorations brush to create soft effects (soft light layer)

To finish off the piece, I use an ASSET to create sun’s particles effects which completes the whole thing :D

AND WE’RE DONE!!

Backlighting Study 2: HARSH UPLIGHT

Ohh so you want to make an evil character and have them introduce under dramatic lighting huh? 👀 Well I’ve got your back for that lets get started!

There are 2 ways we could go about this:

1.     Above light source

2.     Below light source

For this tutorial I’ve chosen the first option but you can also achieve the second one by finding amazing references online ദ്ദി(˵ •̀ ᴗ - ˵ ) ✧

Off we go doing the same thing (except we’ll have a dark background for this one so the glow on his face is REALLY brought out). I put a blue overlay, and a dark bluish multiply layer (make sure to use different colours of dark blues or indigos to make the shadows more dynamic!)

★ Creating Harsh Shadows

Sooo this is an important step for this lighting cause I reallyyy want the lighting to make the character stand out and look evil. Here’s my steps on how I visualise the Glow effect to effectively use it (∩˃o˂∩)

Switching On the dark background for better visualisation

Now we proceed with the same steps

A soft light layer for the soft shadows and then using these airbrush particle effects and Hatching to create beautiful effects for the touch up

And we’re done ;)

One main thing I love about this piece is how you can see the lighting of just the area above his bottom lip and NOT his whole smile, almost creating an effect of him not smiling and looking cynical >:3

Backlighting Study 3: ROMANTIC GLOW

Making something romantic? Worry not I’ve got you covered here too. First thing’s first I apply blush on the character’s face for the correct expression. Then I choose the light source to be on the right side this time.

Then the same old steps for Overlay, Multiply and Add (Glow)

1st soft light layer

2nd soft light layer on top of the art and not just character

I finish the piece of with the beautiful effects provided in CSP, and adding this one Glitter layer from the Decorations brush and blurring it all out.

And we’re done :))

End Notes

Really hope you guys enjoyed this tutorial and got to learn something from it. Personally I love playing with different types of lighting so I had fun with all the experimenting! See you soon <3

 

ASSETS Used

1. My Lineart Brush:

2. Sunlight brush used: