How To Make Your Own Custom Brushes

Hi guys! Even though I usually slip in tips about using decorative brushes in almost every post related to my comic or webtoon tutorials, this time I’m creating a dedicated article that focuses entirely on custom brushes.

 

In this article, I’ll cover how to download custom brushes from the Asset Library, how to create your own custom brushes from scratch, and even how to upload your custom brushes to the Assets so others can use them too.

1. Video Tutorial

This is the video I made that highlights the three main points I wanted to share, along with some speedpaint segments to demonstrate how I use custom brushes to decorate the comic panels I created.

2. Downloading Custom Brushes From Assets

The first point is downloading custom brushes from the Asset Library. Here, you don’t have to bother creating one from scratch, you can simply search for what you need, download it, and start using it right away.

a. Opening the Material Tab

First, you need to get familiar with what’s called Materials. You can open the Material tab by going to Window > Material, then selecting one of the available subcategories. Once you open that tab, you’ll be able to see all the materials you currently have.

b. Open the Asset Library

If you want to add more materials, you can download them from the Asset Library in Clip Studio. To access it, simply click the top button in the Material tab, as shown in the image.

c. Search Any Material You Need

Next, a new window will open, the Clip Studio Assets. Here, you can start searching for the materials you need using the search bar. Materials in the Asset Library are available in both free and paid versions, using Clip Studio’s own currency. You can pay with Gold or Clippy Points.

 

Gold can be obtained by topping up with real money or by participating in events that reward Gold, while Clippy Points can be earned through Gold membership benefits or special events as well.

d. Download the Material

Next, simply choose the material you want. Click on it and start the download. A notification showing the download progress will appear, just wait until the download is complete.

e. How to Use Your Downloaded Material

There are various types of materials available in the Asset Library, so let’s go through them one by one and talk about how to use each type.

1. Brush Material

You can click on the material you just downloaded to check its type. If it’s a brush, you can simply drag it into your brush tab to add it. After that, you can start using it right away.

2. Image Material

Next is the image material type. This means you downloaded an image, not a brush. So, you won’t be able to drag it into the brush tab to use it. To use it, simply drag the material directly onto the canvas.

After that, you can use any of the brush to decorate your drawing. Here my example for finishing my manga panel.

Interested in learning how to finish your manga or webtoon panels? You can watch some of my other videos on my YouTube channel or some of my previous tips posts. You can also read my webtoon here to see my works

3. Making Your Own Custom Brushes

Now, let’s learn how to create your own custom brush. There will definitely be moments when you can’t find a material in the Asset Library that matches what you’re looking for.

a. Prepare Your Pattern

First, prepare the pattern you want to turn into a brush. For example, I want to create a crowd brush to quickly add a sense of crowd and atmosphere to my comic later. So, I prepared several dummy character poses like these.

b. Select the Area

Next, you need to make a selection around the pattern you want to turn into a material. For example, even though I have five different characters prepared, I’ll only select one character that I want to register as a material.

c. Register as New Material

Next, you’ll register the selected pattern as a new material. To do that, go to Edit > Register Material > Image.

d. Saving Your New Material

Next, fill in the required details for the material you’re creating and choose where you want to save it. After you click OK, you’ve successfully created a new material.

e. Creating Brush from Your Material

Next, we’re going to turn the newly created material into a brush. The first step is to duplicate any existing brush, whichever one you prefer.

Next, open the Sub Tool Detail for the duplicated brush. Once the new window appears, remove any existing brush tip materials if there are any, before adding the material you just created.

Next, add the new material as the brush tip by selecting the material you created earlier. Once added, the brush will now use that material as its new brush tip. I've created materials for each character, even adding female characters too, so there are many different materials I use for brush tips, so that the brush mobs have many variations of poses too.

Now, you officially have a custom brush that you created yourself.

Sub Tools Setting For Your Brush Material

1. Color Mixing

Turn on Color Mixing in the ink tab, if you want the brush color to follow your current pallete. You don't need to worry if you previously created a custom material in full color, because if you activate color mixing, the material color will follow the color palette you choose.

2. Ribbon

Turn on Ribbon in the stroke tab if you want the brush to be continuous. suitable for decorative brushes whose concept is not a stamp, but more like lines, ropes, or frills

3. Spraying Effect

You can turn on the Spraying Effect Setting to make your brush become a scatter brush. This is suitable for making decorative brushes with themes such as noise, twinkle, particle

There are two important additional settings in the spraying effect. First, particle density determines how many objects will appear in a single line stroke. Second, spraying deviation, which indicates the distance between objects for your brush stroke.

4. Uploading Your Own Custom Brushes To Assets

Next is how to share brushes to the asset library so that the brushes you have created can be used by the general public. Since you’ve already created your own custom brush, we will start from how to export that brush.

a. Preparing Your Material

If you want to upload a brush, you’ll need to register the brush as a material first. Right-click on the brush and choose Register as Material. This also works for other materials like gradient maps, auto actions, or 3D models. You'll need to register the material as an asset first.

b. Go to Manage Material

After that, go to Clip Studio to manage your materials. Then select the brush you created earlier, right-click on it, and choose Manage Material.

c. Select Publish to Assets

Next, simply choose the option to Publish to Assets.

d. Give the Detail to Your Material

Next, you’ll need to fill in several details such as the title, thumbnail, description, usage instructions, and category tags for the material you want to upload. Once everything is completed, you can click Save and proceed

Actually, only two sections are required, the title and thumbnail. However, it's a good idea to also explain what the material is and how to use it. Even better, you can add tags to make your material easier to find by category.

e. Click Upload

Next, you can set the price for your material, whether you want to make it free or paid. Don’t forget to check the two required boxes at the bottom before clicking Upload.

f. Check the Status on Your Upload Page

Next, go to your Upload Page to check the status of your material. It will most likely be marked as Unpublished, so click Preview and Post to proceed with publishing it.

g. Click Publish

Once you’re completely sure everything is ready, you can click Publish on the material. After that, your material will be available for the public to use.