Here I will show you how to create an animation with a camera pan around a character. A concept that shows a character from all sides makes them more lively and also provides us with extra information, for example, about profile views and the back of clothing.

Clip Studio Paint offers practical options for this.

 

This tutorial is quite complex, but it is also suitable for beginners. However, you should be familiar with the basic functions of the program.

All materials in this tutorial are either standard parts of Clip Studio Paint or available for free on Clip Studio Assets.

 

Have fun moving!

 

Planning

It's worth having a rough plan of what the animation should look like beforehand. We need:

 

Reference material: sketches, photo for poses, approximate color palette

For the camera movement: 8 views at 45° intervals

 

The output format should be GIF.

 

Create Illustration with Motion

Select File > New > Illustration with Motion, 8 frames, 6 fps

I'm creating the file in 16:9 format in case I want to upload the animation as a video later, e.g., to YouTube. A standard is 1280 x 720 pixels.

 

The figure should be visible from 8 different angles, so we need 8 frames.

Speed: Since we will only be painting 8 frames, choose the smallest value, 6 frames per second, so that the animation doesn't move too hectically.

 

Clip Studio Paint automatically creates a document with an animation folder containing 8 empty animation cels. (We will ignore this folder for now.)

 

Tip for Beginners

If you have never worked with 3D figures, you should first familiarize yourself with how to handle them. Experiment with how to rotate, scale, and position them.

You will need this tool when working with 3D figures:

Object selection, to activate the 3D figure.

Adjust 3D Drawing Figure

Select a standard 3D drawing figure into your document and position it in the center of the canvas.

Activate the figure and click on the palette in the bottom right. This opens "Sub-Tool Details." Here you can change the figure as a whole and in detail. The currently active mode is displayed in blue.

My figure is a bit roundish and has comic proportions, meaning a slightly larger head. I adjust the body shape until it feels right to me.

 

Tip: Save Body Shape

If you want to use this body shape more often, save it as a material. Click here

A dialog box opens. Enter a name and save the body shape in the corresponding folder. You can also select a suitable image by clicking on the folder icon next to "Material image".

 

Determine Pose and Position

Let's see if we can scan the reference pose...

Select your reference image

The result... not quite perfect, so some adjustments need to be made.

 

Carefully optimize the pose. Select individual body parts and position them with the 3D manipulators (the colorful ellipses), not by moving the limbs themselves. This gives you more control.

 

This already looks good

Now select the camera angle with the complete frontal view from the presets and rotate the figure so that the face is completely visible. (Make sure here that you are actually rotating the figure and not moving the camera.)

Adjust Light

To have clearly defined shadows later in the illustration, go to the render options in the Subtool palette > Assign and set "Method" to "Toon"

 

You may need to balance the different light sources so that the figure and body shape are clearly visible from every angle and the shadows look interesting.

There are 3 light sources that you can edit separately: Ambient light, Parallel light 1 and 2. For ambient light, you can only change the intensity and light color. For parallel lights, you can also change the light position. You can leave the light color white everywhere.

Here you can see my settings. I have arranged the parallel lights on different sides of the figure so that the back is not completely in shadow.

 

One Image per Position

We need the 8 figure views on a transparent background, so deactivate the visibility of the paper layer.

Activate the 3D figure layer and select the frontal view from the template palette, then go to the Layer palette and select "Combine Visible Layers". Give the newly created layer a meaningful name, e.g., "1/1" or "Frontal".

Then deactivate the visibility of this layer.

Activate the 3D figure layer again and select the left view from the templates. Again, create a new layer from this view using "Combine Visible Layers" and give it a meaningful name, e.g., "L 1/2". Deactivate the visibility of this layer.

 

Repeat this process for all other views: Right Profile, Right and Left Three-Quarter View, Back View.

Now the right and left one-quarter views are still missing; unfortunately, there are no presets for these.

After some experimentation, I found it easiest and fastest to position the camera by eye. (Since each image is only visible for fractions of a second, it doesn't have to be mathematically exact, just convincing.)

It is important that you move the camera here, not the figure itself. In this animation, we rotate the camera around the figure. The figure itself does not move.

Animation Test Run

In the animation folder, create a separate folder for each layer. "Create folder and insert layer" or Cmd/Ctrl-G

Move the different views of the figure into the correct order in the respective frame's folder: Frontal view into Folder 1, 3/4 Left view into Folder 2, etc.

 

If the timeline window is not yet open, open it now.

Your workspace should now look approximately like this. You can play your animation at the bottom of the timeline.

Color and Shadows

Duplicate each of the 8 figure views in the animation folder. These layers will later become the shadows.

Set the duplicates to Multiply, visibility to 30%, and lock the layers so you don't accidentally work on them. Deactivate the empty layers in the animation folder.

 

I copy my color palette from the reference file to a new layer. (Be careful not to put it in the animation folder)

I always like to have my palette directly in the document. (You can also create color swatches if you prefer to work differently)

 

Now you can elaborate on the 8 views of the figure. Erase the drop shadows on all layers and fix the transparency.

My character wears a futuristic outfit with boots and gloves. I roughly color the basic shapes with the Lasso Fill tool. The lines on the figure help me with orientation.

Once you have decided which part has which color, duplicate the colored layer and move it aside as a reference for the other views.

 

Roughly color each view. The grid lines show you how the clothes fall over the body. You don't need to paint light and shadows yet, that comes later. Test the animation. (I experimented a bit with hair flying in the wind here)

Paint Details

Time for details. Unlock the transparency on the front view layer to define hair and clothing. My character's clothing is close-fitting but has dimension. (Here it's helpful to make the shadow layer invisible occasionally so it doesn't distract.)

I'm now working with the Curve tool to adapt the lines nicely to the body shape. Again, I'm not going into too much detail yet; I want to bring each view to the same level first.

 

Once I'm satisfied with the front view, I'll continue with the left profile. I've re-copied the front view layer as a reference for the details. I don't want a realistic drawing that looks like 3D animation, but rather a handmade, loose look.

Optional: More Details

If your figure should get some extras, use the still empty layers in the animation folder. Create them as clipping masks so you don't paint outside the figure, and drag them below the shadow layers. Also, lock the already colored layers so that nothing in the basic design can be destroyed.

For each view, paint, for example:

with Airbrush:

some pink on the facial features, knees, and elbows.

with Fineliner, Marker, and opaque brush:

Hair details

Textures

Seams

Ornaments

 

The grid on 3D figures helps with orientation here.

 

When you are satisfied, reduce the detail layers and the colored figure layers to one layer.

 

 

 

Finish all views in this way and export a GIF as a test.

 

Enter the desired size and set the loop count to "Unlimited" if you want your animation to play in an endless loop.

How does it look? For a simple "flat" look, you could stop here.

Or continue with shadows and some effects.

Shadows

Unlock the layers you created under "Color and Shadows".

To get clearly defined shadows and get rid of the grid lines, I use a practical function in Clip Studio under "Layer Properties". I set the expression color to "Monochrome" and adjust the sliders until I like the type of shadow. I don't want outlines and in some places, not such intense shadows. Depending on the setting, the drop shadow can also disappear. (I made it disappear for this tutorial so it doesn't get too extensive.) Attention: "Reflect layer opacity" must be deactivated, otherwise the layer will be displayed 100% opaque.

Now go to "Convert Layer" and set the expression color to "Color" because we will need mid-tones in the next step.

Adjust the opacity of the shadow layers so that the shadows look good. Do this for all shadow layers. Also, set all shadow layers as clipping masks to the layer below. Your animation folder should now look something like this.

You now know roughly where the shadows are. Now get creative: choose a brush with which you can smudge and blend the color, e.g., "Wet Blend" among the watercolor brushes.

Blur the edges of the shadow until they look painted. In some places, like the edge of the T-shirt, I need extra shadows. I'll just paint those with a black watercolor brush.

(You only ever need black for shadows.)

 

The figure thus gets a loose, expressive style.

 

Do the same for all shadow layers.

 

You can now give your animation a colored background and some texture.

 

Export a GIF in the same way as before. Done!

 

Thanks for reading and trying it out!