The main purpose of this beginner friendly tutorial is to teach you how to create a simple demon and build up its graphics to express its malicity and creepiness. And how to balance the colours of its surroundings to further enhance the nightmarish effects digitally in Clip Studio Paint, in the most easy way possible.

 

INTRODUCTION

Let's learn how to draw and paint a ghoul.

and more. When we think about these creatures we think vintage artworks eerily depicting nightmarish creatures right? We are going to learn how to create that kind of creepy feeling artwork digitally in Clip Studio Paint - through the most easy way possible.

• In this tutorial you will learn how to paint and color a ghoul

 

• how to balance and blend colours to set the vibe easily.

 

• How to build up graphics using brushes from CSP's assets.

 

 

This tutorial is for those who use the Clip Studio Paint app on IPad.

 

STEP 1: PLANNING AND COMPOSING

Plan your nightmarish creatures and scenes in your mind's eye then draw it on paper or on the device you are using with clip studio paint. I use clip studio paint on ipad and the screen is slippery. It is quite difficult to directly draw on the screen, so I composed my artwork on a paper. My artwork is based on this ancient painting I saw in a book a long time ago. It was a depiction of the sleep paralysis demon. They are usually depicted as small ghoulish creatures. I used reference images from the internet to draw squatting humanoid creature (namely, I took Gollum's reference ^-^) and a sleeping girl image (sleeping beauty, duh)

You can always use references for your work. It doesn't matter if you are a beginner or not, references help you complete your work faster and efficiently.

So use references whenever you want.

 

After composing by hand, I scanned it and opened it in clip studio paint.

STEP 2: HOW TO SET UP YOUR CANVAS

Before importing your scanned drawing, you need to set up your canvas.

 

To set up your canvas:

Open Clip Studio Paint click [File] -> [New]. Set up your height, width and resolution, then click [OK]. Make sure the height and width of the canvas matches the height and width of your hand drawn image.

If you plan to print your work you can easily increase the resolution of the artwork in CSP.

STEP 3: HOW TO IMPORT YOUR SCANNED IMAGE IN CLIP STUDIO PAINT

Go to [File] -> [Import] -> [Image]

Select your image and import.

The image will open as a new layer.

 

STEP 4: HOW TO ADD CLEAN DETAILS USING PEN STABILIZATION

After the image is imported, create a new layer above the image layer and start adding and correcting details. Complete the line work with g-pen for thin and crisp lines. The g-pen is located in [Pen] -> [sub tool panel] -> [g-pen]. You can use other pens according to your own style. I used g-pen, because I wanted thin and crisp lines.

Activate the stabilizer feature of your selected brush/pen to create clean line work. Go to [Pen] -> [Tool Property] -> [stabilisation]. Set the stabilizer's performance according to your taste.

STEP 5: LAYING DOWN BASE COLOURS

After you are satisfied with your line work, start laying down base colours. Usually artists use brushes like gouache or oil painting to capture the setting and feel of a creepy vintage painting, right? And when you try that as a beginner, the colours overlap ending up in an unwanted shape...

Since my tutorial is MADE for beginners I will show you the easy way - use "India Ink" for your base colours.

 

India ink is found in [brush] -> [Sub tool panel] -> [India ink]

You can choose the texture as you prefer - I chose [ brush pen ] for flat colours without any transparency or mixing of colors..

Remember to choose the colours close to the look you are going for. For example, my picture's setting is night time. So I picked dark and dim tones from the [Additional Pallette] section.

You can access this preset pallette in [Brush] -> [Colour Set] -> [Additional Colour Set]

A good method is to colour different objects on different layers. Like, One layer to color the table, one layer for bed, another for the demon and so on..

This way the colors of the objects won't mix when you start blending them.

Also remember to place layers of the front objects above the layers of the background objects.

While colouring, erase any colours out of line and finalise the base colours properly, within the line work. And our base colors are set! ^_^

STEP 6: HOW TO ADD AND BLEND SHADOWS AND LIGHTS EASILY

This part will be easier if you used 3D models for reference since they already show the lights and shadows on the model itself. But because I didn't use a 3D model, I will use my common sense to find out the lights and shadows of my picture. I will use [Paint and Apply] thick brush to colour shadows, lights and midtones. The midtone is the base colour we just put down, so don’t worry about midtones too much.

 

Use [paint and apply] to get soft and flat colours. This is located in [Brush] -> [Sub Tool Panel] -> [Thick Paint] -> [Paint and apply]. Remember to set your preferences in the [tool property] panel.

These shadow and light colors should be in a layer between the layer of base colours and the layers of line work of each object

Lay down shadows and lights on all the objects on different layers then blend the colours. To blend smoothly, select [Blend] -> [Sub Tool Panel] -> [Finger Tip] and blend over the edges. Tweak your blending style in the [tool property] panel of [blend] section if you need to.

STEP 7: HOW TO BUILD GRAPHICS

The lights and shadows are now coloured and blended in place. Now it is time to build up graphics and make your artwork look awesome! To do this you take different kinds of brushes for different materials from Clip Studio Paint's Assets site.

 

 

For example, if you want wood patterned brush to build the graphics of the table, you can search it and find it in the assets site of CSP. Then you download the brush and access it in the [Materials] panel of the software.

To use the downloaded brush go to [Brush] -> [Sub Tool] -> [+Add Sub tool]

 

A window will pop up displaying all the brushes you downloaded from assets. Tap the brush you want to use then tap [add pallette]. The brush will instantly appear in your sub tool panel.

Now you can select the brush and easily use it on your canvas. You can change the brushe's size and opacity just like you change any other brush. Let's build the graphics of the table and the headboard with the wood brush we just downloaded. Use [Polyline] selection tool to select objects with straight edges like tables, beds ect. Then colour within the selection to keep the brush strokes in the selected area.

Just like this you can download different brushes and build up graphics of the materials/objects easily. In this drawing I used:

Noise brush = Wall and blanket

Hair brush = the curtain and girl's hair

Leather patterned brush = the ghoul's body.

Wood brush = table and headboard.

I linked all brushes below.

STEP 8: HOW TO BALANCE COLORS TO ENHANCE THE LOOK AND FEEL OF THE ARTWORK

First select the layer you want to change the colour of.

In the menu bar above tap [Edit] -> [Tonal Correction]. You will see different options in the panel to balance the colours of your work. I wanted to make to mine look dim and dark for a more eerie effect, so I changed its brightness and contrast by using the [Brightness/contrast] option.

 

STEP 9: HOW TO MAKE VEILS AND GLOWS

We are almost at the end of our tutorial. The only things remaining are the curtains of the window and glow of the lamp. First let us work on the glow. Its easier then it looks. First Make a new layer above all layers. Take the brush we used for shading, [Paint and apply] brush. Select the color of the glow, I took light yellow for the lamp. Go to [tool property] and Lower the brush's [amount of paint], [Density of paint] and increase [colour stretch] - keep the settings according to your preferences if needed. Also decrease [brush density]

Now increase the brush size according to the size of the glow you want and start colouring. This will give you the glowing effect. You may need to change colours to enhance the look. Try using different shades of light yellow, orange or red if you want. I used three different shades of light yellow. After putting the glow into place, change its effect as you desire. I used hard light effect.

 

To change the effects of a layer. Select the layer and tap [Normal] option located at the top of the [Layers] panel. A new panel of options will pop up displaying all the effects available. Select the filter that best fits your work.

Next, Let's work on the curtains. The curtain in my painting needs to look light, wavey and transparent. For this effect, I used the hair brush I downloaded from assets and changed its properties to create the veil.

To get the veil effect from hair brush tool, go to [Tool property] and decrease its opacity, amount of paint and brush density. Put its hardness to 3 squares and increase density of paint. Keep the size of the brush as required by your artwork.

Pull long strokes side by side to create the veil. You may use colours other than white, if needed.

 

STEP 10: FINISHING TOUCHES AND FURTHER COLOR BALANCING

It's the final step! You have made it! Congratulations!! Just add what's missing, fix what needs to be fixed and set up colours or tones using layer effects and tonal correction. Maybe add a few light rays and stars if you wish. See you soon!

 

TWT - @Rashida_M3