How to paint Magic Effects on CSP

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mdnfly

Intro

Hello everyone! Today I will be showing how I create various magic effects and hopefully it will help you and inspire you to create your own illustrations using magic!

We will be going over the basics of glow effects and use it to make magic effects.

YouTube Video

Basics of "Glow"

To start off, we need to learn how to make objects glow using layer modes and features inside Clip Studio Paint.

Disclaimer: There's many ways to make an object glow in this program. I will just be sharing some of my most convenient and favorite ways.

First, I add a new layer on top of my object (I'm using a circle to demonstrate) and change the layer mode to add (glow).

Using a soft brush from the clip studio default brushes will help create a soft look to the light.

After getting that ready, you can start to paint around and on top of the object using the soft brush. Personally, I picked a reddish color first to match the base color on top of the object and only after added a lighter color as shown in the image above.

After doing the things mentioned above, you should likely see a glow around your object in your illustration.

That should cover the basics of glow!

How to paint smoky magical elements!

Now that we've covered the basics of how to make objects glow, we can move on to painting glowing smoky elements!

To draw the smoke, I will be using a specific brush named "Bong Pen" that I will link so you can use if you want to. (It is a brush I found through the clip studio asset store!)

I first find a base color. I chose a blue color and made random strokes going upwards using the brush above. If you need references for this step, don't be scared to use it!

After using the base color, I choose two lighter colors and build up the colors from the middle as I have shown in the picture. I'm aware it can look messy at this step but trust the process!

Tip: When choosing lighter colors, I highly recommend slowly shifting towards warmer tones.

Next, use the same pen but switch to the checkered transparent box so the pen turns basically into an eraser. Use the pen to erase parts of the strokes created earlier from the different colors.

Lastly, create a layer on top of the smoky shape and change the layer mode to add (glow) once again. When you're done with that, you can use a similar color to the smoke and paint on top of it using the soft brush. If things don't look the way you want it to, keep experimenting and adding on to it!

That covers it for how I make these smoky magical elements!

How to paint magical orbs!

For the final magical effect I will be showing how to paint today, we have orbs!

Before I show how I paint magical orbs, I will mention a particle brush I used for a finishing touch to the orbs as you can see in the picture above. It is also a brush from someone on the clip studio asset store!

For the magical orbs, I start off with a circle. Then, I'll add a new layer on top of it and change the mode to add (glow). Make sure to clip that layer to the original shape.

I'll then use a soft brush to paint around the edge and middle of the orb.

Next, I will flatten the layer I had previously created and make a new add (glow) layer on top. This layer will not be clipped to the layer below it.

I will do the same thing as I did before where I go around the edges and the middle circle. Since it is not clipped, it should have a glowing effect.

Tip: Remember to choose warmer colors to enhance that glowing effect!

Lastly, you can use the special particle brush I had mentioned above and add the details on the orb!

That's all I would do to create these magical orbs!

Thank you!

If you're reading this, thank you for sticking to the end! I hope my tutorial helped you in what you were looking for.