Hello everyone! In this tutorial I will explain some ways to create and animate magic effects by taking advantage of Clip Studio Paint Ex's special features.

There are many magical abilities to master, but with patience we will level up our sorcerers!

I hope you find it useful and have fun.

Before starting, I recommend checking out my tutorial on blending modes, as many of the effects depend on their use. ▼

Video Tutorial

I recommend watching the video tutorial to see my process.

This time, I set it in a fantasy video game style!

You can activate subtitles in:

Settings - Subtitles - Automatic Translation - Choose your language ▼

LV. 1 | Basic Glows

The first thing we're going to master is how to create luminous effects using Blending Modes and Blur Filters.

I've already explained these types of techniques in several of my tutorials, but let's review them.▼

I have a pedestal with an Orb on separate layers as the base for my effect.

First, we create a new layer above the orb and set the blending mode to Screen.

With a Soft brush, we paint the base of our glow.

We create a new layer above the rest and set it to Add (Glow) blending mode.

With the same brush, we paint details on the pedestal's surface and more intense glows on the orb.

Simply by modifying the brush size, we can create different types of detail.

The Add (Glow) blending mode makes it much easier to achieve intense glows and colors. At this stage, we can experiment with color variations and other blending modes that can give us different results, such as Hard Light or Glow Dodge.▼

For graphic elements like runes or arcana, I like to use blur filters to create luminous effects.

First, we duplicate the original layer and set it to Add (Glow) mode or similar.

Then we go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur. And we play with the blur value until we get the desired result.▼

To make the effect more interesting, I duplicate the blurred layer and apply a radial blur filter. I place the filter's origin at the center of the orb and play with the values until I get an interesting result.

To finalize the effect, I add a new layer in Hard Light mode and paint with a particle brush▼

Something important to consider when painting magic effects is the contrast with the background.

Generally, a luminous effect will look brighter and with vivid colors on a dark background.

Whereas a dark magic element, for example, might look better on a lighter background.▼

LV. 2 | Magic Tools

For the second level, let's take a look at some tools and techniques we can use to create our effects. ▼

The first tool is a Basic brush with opacity and size control.

The idea is to paint the approximate base of our effect, in this case a flame, and using transparent color, we erase to define the shape. This way, we can use the same brush to paint and erase, sculpting the effect as we go.▼

Once the base is defined, we select a lighter color and, on a new layer, repeat the same process to paint the details.▼

With this technique, we can create any shape we imagine.

The second is the finger tool, found within the blur sub-group.

This brush stretches the pixels of the layer and allows us to obtain organic results in an interesting and fun way.

First, we paint a base and then, with the finger tool, we stretch the paint to achieve the fire shape.▼

Once the base is defined, we do the same with the light color.▼

To create magic in a Cel shading style, we can use the Lasso Fill tool.

This tool allows us to create solid fills with a selection lasso dynamically.

Just like with the basic brush, we alternate between Solid Color and Transparent to sculpt the effect.▼

Once the base is defined, we create another layer with the lighter color.

To finalize these fires, I used a soft-edged brush and 2 layers. One in Multiply mode and another in Add (Glow) mode.▼

In Clip Studio Assets, we can find a large number of special brushes that allow us to create effects immediately. It's a good idea to use them as a base and integrate them into the style of our illustrations.

Some of the materials I use.

https://assets.clip-studio.com/en-us/detail?id=1407128

We can combine tools and filters to obtain unique results.

An interesting way to get immediate and organic results is to use distortion filters.

LV. 3 | Magic Fire

At this level, we explore a way to create magic fire with color control, in a very dynamic way. To create the effect, we create a layer and fill it with black. Then we place it inside a folder and set the folder to Screen mode. We add a new layer where we will paint our effect and create a gradient map to give it color. Now, when we paint with white, we automatically achieve a vibrant color effect!

 

To add texture, we create a new layer and use the Perlin noise filter. We experiment with the values and then set the layer to Overlay mode. Immediately, everything we paint turns into fire! In the video, I explain how to do it, but if you want, you can check out this material that uses the same principle.

LV. 4 | Fire Animation

By leveraging the properties of Perlin noise, we can create a simple animation with two keyframes!

LV. 5 | 3D & LT Conversion

I use 3D objects and the LT Conversion function to extract lines and thus create translucent effects. Very useful for working with powers in comics!

Conclusion

There are many ways to create magic effects. In this tutorial, I tried to cover versatile techniques and take advantage of Clip Studio Paint's features. I hope it was helpful! See you in the next tutorial :D