Compatible with Clip Studio Paint Ver. 1.10.2

 

[1] Basic operations of the gradient tool

(1) Specify the area you want to draw with the [Selection area] tool, etc. in advance. When drawing on the same layer, the selection is unnecessary.

 

(2) Select [Gradient] tool on the [Tool] palette, and select the settings to use on the [Sub Tool] palette.

In this example, we will select “Foreground to background”.

 

(3) Select a random drawing color on the [Color Wheel].

Here, the main color is set to a light yellow and the sub color is set to a light green.

 

(4) Click and drag with the cursor over the canvas to draw the gradient.

[2] Specifying gradient colors

For the sub tools of the [Gradient], there are ones that reflect drawing colors or background colors, and ones with specified colors.

 

By using the setting that reflect a drawing (main) color and a background (sub) color, all colors between the twi colors can be expressed in the gradient.

To use a gradient for a specific color combination extensively, or to draw gradients of three or more colors, create a gradient with individual settings in the [Edit gradient] dialog.

 

(1) Select the [Gradient] tool and click the thumbnail part of the [Tool Property] palette.

 

(2) Select the node (marked ▲) of the color to change in the [Edit gradient] dialog.

 

(3) Set the [Color] and [Opacity] of the selected node.

When selecting a specific color, select [Specified color] and specify the color on the color chip.

 

(4) Click the bottom of the gradient to add a new node.

 

(5) In the same way, set the position and color of other added nodes.

For example, when you want to place a node halfway, or arrange nodes in regular intervals, you can adjust the value of the [Position] with numeric values instead of dragging.

 

[POINT]

You can use the left and right arrows to switch the selected node when the nodes are close to each other.

 

Delete unnecessary nodes by dragging them outside of the frame, or by pressing the trash can icon.

 

(6) After completing the gradient settings, add the current setting to the [Gradient set].

 

(7) Load preset gradient settings and created gradients by double clicking on them in the gradient set list.

 

Create vivid gradations using **Perceptual** (Ver.2.3 or later)

In Ver.2.3 or later, you can select from four types of Mixing mode from the Edit gradient dialog. By using Mixing mode, you can create more realistic and vivid gradients.

Mixing mode

Brightness correction

Brightness correction can only be set when Perceptual is selected. There are 5 levels to which the brightness of the gradient color mixture can be set.

・When using Gradient map on a Tonal Correction layer, you can also select Mixing mode in the same way as with the Gradient tool.

・In newly installed Ver.2.3 or later, after adding the default gradient tool or resetting it, the corresponding gradient setting will be set to the mixing mode Perceptual and brightness correction will be set to High by default.

For more details on the new mixing mode Perceptual, please refer to the article below.

 

[3] Gradient drawing target

By setting the tool options of the [Gradient] tool, select whether to draw a gradient directly on the currently selected layer or create a gradient layer and draw on it. In the initial settings, the drawing target is set to [Draw on editing layer] but you can change this as you need.

 

When using the gradient layer, settings such as the angle and color can be changed afterwards with the [Object] tool. In addition, since masks are created automatically, the range of a gradient can be specified later. It is useful to create a gradient layer when using it as a gradient tone with a monochrome draft.

 

On the other hand, you cannot directly draw on a gradient layer, so adding/editing gradients and mixing them with other colors is not possible. Moreover, a layer is created for each gradient, so it is not suitable for superimposing multiple gradients at once.

 

[4] Gradient for manga

For monochrome manga, you can draw a gradient with a range from black to transparent.

In the initial settings, the [Drawing target] is set to [Create gradient layer].