Video

Intro

Hello there, this is Tamil. Today I wanted to go over Simple Mode in Clip Studio Paint.

 

Sometimes I do not want anything fancy on my screen. I just want to sketch and not deal with extra buttons! Simple mode is great for that! I am happy we have this new mode that artists can use and experiment with.

Start Simple Mode

So how do we even use simple mode? Well…it’s very simple. ( I had to )

 

I am using an iPad, so I will be showing how to use that in this tutorial. If you are using a different type of tablet, I am sure it will be a very similar experience.

 

There are two main ways you can turn Simple Mode on.

You could click on the CSP logo on the top left corner.

Or you can click the 3 lines and click switch to SImple Mode. The result will be the same.

This is how the simple mode looks like! Even though it’s easy to use, there are still some functions I would like to go over just in case. I missed some functions until reading the manual later.

 

1 - Brush Size

2 - Brush Opacity

3 - Layers

4 - Undo Redo Buttons

5 - Tool Panel

6 - Save and CSP button

7 - Export and Settings

Layers

Layers is the most important thing I wanted to mention here. You can expand the layers for more functions with a swipe!

As you can see it expands when you do it. I like to play around with both because sometimes I need more screen space. Sometimes I just want to use 2 layers and relax. It depends on your painting.

You can find these functions if you click on the layer too, but I like the shortcut.

 

1 - Show / Hide layer

2 - Delete

3 - Blending Mode

4 - Clip to Layer below

5 - Lock transparency

6 - More

7 - Opacity Bar

 

Option 6 will give the same options like in the right side, but you might miss out on extra functions there. I have not known about this for the entire time I was using it, so I am happy I can share it here with you.

If you click on the layer you will only see the top functions. I did not find duplicate or merge with layer below! For months I thought it was just a feature missing in simple mode, but no.

 

You just need to scroll a little below and it will show more. I wish I knew this when I was starting out.

As the final. You can of course click on the word “Normal” to switch the blending mode to something else. For example, Overlay.

 

The big plus sign is for adding new layers. If you hold it, it will give a few extra functions like adding images, but I rarely use it.

Tools

Tools are on the left side of the Simple Mode. A lot of them are missing, but in a really neat way. I only use a few when sketching, so it feels refreshing when I have less buttons.

 

Main buttons are almost the same as the Clip Studio Paint icons. Brush tools. Selections. Tranforms and such.

You can also tap on the tool twice to see preferences on some of them. For example on the fill tool.

Only the core settings are here. Nothing too fancy, which is a really nice way to play with the tool.

There is also a small panel below for extra tools and functions if there are any. The same preferences are on the right button too. It depends which one you prefer.

Import Brushes

Simple mode comes with simple brushes that are default. Sometimes you have to transfer them manually, sometimes they just sync with regular Clip Studio Paint. In either case, it’s good to know how to import brushes to iPad if you never done it. This will be a quick guide.

First we just need to go back to the main menu with CSP button. It will be on the top left corner.

After that we just need to click Clip Studio Paint Assets. This will take us to the CSP assets website.

 

Just pick whatever brush you want to download and click on it.

After that we can just click download. Lots of brushes are completely free. I just chose this one to play around with, which was a lot of fun! Highly recommend marker brushes.

I am not sure if it’s exclusive to the browser I was using, but sometimes it will ask to say ok at the buttom and it’s easy to miss!

Finally, we can just import it. In the brush panel there is a small button at the button that we need to click. Then we go to downloaded material. Then just click the brush you want to import and click ok.

 

The brush should appear in regular Studio Mode and in Simple Mode.

Export and Settings

The last thing I wanted to go over is settings and export! In case you want to see more, you can watch my youtube video if you are a visual learner.

 

 

To access settings, just tap the top right button on the screen.

In here we can export the image and the timelapse. By the way, timelapse keeps recording no matter in mode you are working in. It will keep everything, which is a nice feature!

 

Open another canvas will allow you to create a new document with new dimensions.

 

Flip horizontal is also here which is great! I use it a lot to check for mistakes.

 

Canvas settings will allow us to us to edit the size of the canvas in case we want to make it bigger or smaller.

 

Switching back to regular studio mode is going to be here as well. It feels seamless when using. No loading and no lag. It’s amazing :)

 

In settings we can access some of the gesture shortcuts.

 

 

You can see that there are many functions here, but it’s actually pretty easy to use. The thing I turn off is draw with finger. I never use my fingers for painting, so I just turn it off.

 

Touch gestures are all on for me. I do not change it at all, but it’s great to read those just in case you never learned all of them.

 

Another thing to watch out for is brush cursor. If you want to see your brush shape, then you can turn it on in there. Depends on the brush I am using. Sometimes it’s on, sometimes it’s not.

The end

Thank you for reading! I really appreciate you spending time with me. Hopefully you learned something.

 

Let me know in the comment on youtube if you feel like I missed something or enjoyed a specific part of the tutorial ^-^

These are my socials in case you wanted to check out more of my art :)