Hello! My name is Liz Staley and I’m a long-time user of Clip Studio Paint (I started using the program back when it was known as Manga Studio 4!). I was a beta-tester on the Manga Studio 5 program and for Clip Studio Paint, and I have written three books and several video courses about the program. Many of you probably know my name from those books, in fact. I write weekly posts on Graphixly.com and on CSP Tips, so be sure to come back every week to learn more Clip Studio Tips and Tricks from me!

 

In this article we will cover the following topics:

Mirror Your Art to Check Proportions and Compositions

Check Values with Correction Layers

Use Reference

Use Gradient Maps for Color Effects

Correction Layers Can Make Your Art Pop

 

Let’s get drawing

 

 

Mirror Your Art To Check Proportions and Composition

This tip has been around probably since artists doing oil paintings started having access to mirrors, when they would hold their drawing up to one to look at it in reverse and catch any errors with anatomy and composition! We can do this in digital art without a mirror just by flipping the canvas, and this tip has saved many of my drawings where I know “something is off!” But I can’t figure out what it is. By flipping the artwork we can see it with fresh eyes and pick out errors more easily.

 

But how do we flip the canvas? Let’s go through the very simple process with the illustration shown below! Normally I would do this in the sketch or inking phase, not when the drawing is fully done, but for illustration purposes we’ll use a finished piece.

 

 

Click on Edit - Rotate/Flip Canvas - Flip Horizontal.

Your drawing will reverse along the horizontal axis. Now you can take a look and see if the character design looks good or if the eyes and features are misaligned!

Tap Undo or flip the canvas again to go back to the original orientation. You can also flip the canvas vertically, shown below, to check your composition as well.

Check Values with Correction Layers

If you feel like your color work is a bit flat or dull or you have a hard time with the focal point of an image not being obvious, then this next tip will probably help a lot - and it’s easy to set up and then keep checking as you work too!

 

To do this we’re going to make a correction layer that, when active, will show our work in grayscale without having to apply other filters or accidentally make the artwork permanently in grayscale! Start by clicking on Layer - New Correction Layer - Hue/Saturation/Luminosity.

 

 

In the correction layer option window, drag the Saturation slider all the way to the left. Your image will change to grayscale mode as you do this.

The change we just made is on a new layer, so we can make it visible or hide it at will to check the values in our work. For instance, I noticed that the shirt and pants on the smaller character are very close in value, and the shirt collar on the taller figure is also close in tone to the character’s skin.

I adjusted those areas and turned the correction layer back on just to double check and now I’m much happier with the contrast between those areas.

Because the grayscale is its own layer, you can also make it visible as you are shading and highlighting to check your contrast as you work!

Use Reference

Some people will tell you that using reference is cheating, but that just is not the case! If you don’t learn how to draw something by looking at it, then you won’t be able to recreate it accurately! However, there are ways of using reference that are better than others. For instance, tracing another artist’s drawing and trying to pass it off as your own is not a good use of reference. However, tracing another artist’s work to dissect their style and then keeping that just for yourself is fine.

 

Using photo reference is one of my favorite ways to get interesting poses because I can see the real anatomy of the person, animal, or thing I am drawing. Don’t be afraid to bring the photo into Clip Studio and draw basic shapes over it to analyze the way they fit together!

 

 

And of course another huge benefit to creating with Clip Studio Paint is the huge number of 3D figures, poses, objects, and backgrounds that you can bring right into your canvas to draw from!

 

 

Use Gradient Maps For Color Effect

One of the things I love about digital art is being able to edit color and change them even long after I’ve “finished” my illustration. If you’ve finished a piece and just aren’t happy with some of the colors then the next two tips are for you. First we’re going to adjust the coloring of a character to make it better fit with the environment using a Gradient Map.

This change is also on its own layer so it won’t make a permanent change to your drawing, allowing you to turn it off or delete it if you don’t like the results.

 

To start click on Layer - New Correction Layer - Gradient Map.

 

 

In the Gradient set drop down you can choose from different sets of gradients that have been added to your copy of Clip Studio Paint. In the default gradient tool set there’s one called “Sunset” that is just perfect for this fiery illustration! Play with different gradients to see which one you like for your image best.

When you’re happy with the colors click OK. I didn’t like the gradient map influencing the fire areas of the image, but since it’s on a correction layer over top of the character art it’s an easy fix! Simply right-click (or long press on mobile) on the gradient map layer and go to Layer Settings - Clip to Layer Below to only have the map change what is directly below the layer.

I also lowered the opacity of the gradient map layer slightly to bring some of the original color back!

Correction Layers Can Make Your Art Pop

Along the lines of the last tip, the other types of Correction Layers are wonderful for making small changes to your images just to provide that last bit of color correction and contrast. Click on Layer - New Correction Layer and then select the type of adjustment you’d like to do. I’m going to choose the Tone Curve for this example.

Adjust the settings for the correction layer until you like the results. Click Cancel to stop making adjustments and delete the correction layer, or click OK to create the correction layer with the current settings.

Any and all correction layers you create can stack on top of each other, have the blending modes and opacity adjusted, and be turned on and off at will. Double-click the layer icon to adjust the settings if you’ve changed your mind!

Conclusion

I love both traditional and digital methods of creating art, but digital does have some advantages that you just don’t get with traditional supplies! With a few clicks and some special layers, you can easily change the look of your art without doing additional work!

 

For more information on CLIP Studio Paint, please visit https://www.clipstudio.net/en or https://graphixly.com