Introduction

Hi! It’s Hanairo! Today I want to share what I know about “Layer comps”.

I would say I’m still pretty new to using the layer comps feature (added in ver. 3.0), but I have found it super useful, and convenient! If you are also someone who always has 100 or more layers, makes a lot of character design sheets, or can’t decide on an element in your drawing, then you will find this useful too!

⚠ Layer comps can only be used in Clip Studio Paint EX ver. 3.0 and up.

I am using Clip Studio Paint EX ver. 4.0

What Are Layer Comps?

Layer comps are a way to automatically hide and show multiple layers at once, by recording a set group. You can register various “groups” as layer comps to easily switch which layers are visible, and which ones are not.

Say you have a character and you want to give them an outfit, but the outfit you draw isn’t quite what you wanted.

You are still undecided, so you want to keep it around and draw a new outfit. Now you may have so many layers that it gets confusing as you’re clicking the eye on and off.

Maybe normally you would create a folder containing all of the layers you need, and that would help the problem somewhat. But with layer comps, you can switch between the two or more outfits you’ve created with just. One. Click. And here’s how!

Creating, Saving, and Deleting Layer Comps

How to Create a Layer Comp

First, set up all of your layers the way you want them to be recorded by clicking the eye to the left of your layer.

An eye means it’s visible, and no eye means it’s hidden.

Then go to the layer comps window.

If you can’t find it, look under “Window>Layer Comps”, and make sure you have at least ver. 3.0

Click the “Add layer comp” button in the bottom right, and name it if you want.

If you plan to eventually export that layer comp, I don’t recommend using any characters like \/;:”*<>| as file names cannot contain these.

Now that “group” of layers is saved, and you can set up another one. Turn off all of the layers you don’t want and turn on the ones you do want, then go back to the layer comps window and click “Add layer comp” again.

You now have two layer comps to switch between! Keep in mind that this saves the layer’s visible status, not the over-all content of the layer. If you edit a layer that is saved to a layer comp, it will be updated accordingly, and the same goes for if you merge or delete any of those layers. So just be careful of that!

How to Overwrite or Delete a Layer Comp

You can overwrite layer comps by selecting the one you want to save over, and clicking the “Save layer comp” button. You can delete them with the “Delete layer comp” button.

You can also overwrite or delete multiple layer comps at once by checking the boxes to the right of the eye.

On the bottom left we have the “Added layers are visible on all layer comps” button.

When selected, any new layer you create or copy and paste will automatically be visible on all layer comps, even if they were saved before clicking this button. You could use this to add a signature, or any other details that you want to be included in all versions.

At the top is the “Last document state”, this returns every layer’s status to how they were before you clicked on a saved layer comp.

The Many Uses For Layer Comps

Alright! so now that you know how to make layer comps, let’s see all of the ways you can use them for your convenience!

Character Designing

I’ve already been over this a little bit, but layer comps are extremely helpful when designing characters! You can add various designs, outfits, and hairstyles. Or even have multiple character sheets on one canvas, and switch between them with ease.

This is a big help when deciding colors too!

These characters are side by side to show the variations, but they are actually all from the same base using different layer comps.

Facial Expressions

Whether you can’t decide on a facial expression to draw for your character, or you want to make a page showing all of their different emotions (happy, sad, angry, etc.), you can create a different layer comp for each face!

Manga/Comic Editing

If you make manga or comics, layer comps could be an easy way to save your work in various languages! Or if you simply want to hide all text or sound effects, you can do that too.

You could also save a colored version, and a black and white version if you want.

Sketching to Finished Illustration

I often find myself having to look at my sketch even in the coloring phase, like if I forgot to draw something or I forgot where I wanted the light source to be. Well, you can use layer comps to easily see your sketch if needed!

If you can’t decide on a background or filter/effect, then why not do both? Make separate layer comps for each version of your final illustration!

When you are ready to export your finished picture, you can export multiple layer comps at once. Just go to File>Special Export>Export layer comp, then select your file type and name.

If you check this box, it will only export selected layer comps; if left unchecked, it will export all layer comps.

And now all of your desired layer comps have been exported!

Outro

That is all the tips I have for using Layer comps. I hope this helps you understand how to use them easily and efficiently! 😊 Now go have fun making all kinds of art!

If you’re interested, you can view my art gallery on my website linked below. ↓↓↓

See you next time!