Hi there!
This tutorial is going to explain how to draw lace. Even if you are a beginner at digital art, you can draw lace after you learn these tricks!
If you are drawing a comic or webtoon with grand ball gowns worn by princesses and duchesses, it can make your art and characters livelier and more detailed if the outfit they are wearing is adorned in beautiful lace trims and decorations.
With Clip Studio ASSETS, there are lots of lace and frills to download and use quickly and easily.
But what if you can’t find one that matches your art style, or you just want everything in your art to be created by yourself.
Lace looks complicated to draw, right? It has so much tiny detail! Who has time to draw all of that?!
With Clip Studio Paint, it’s actually very quick simple! In fact, one technique I am going to explain doesn’t even require you to draw at all!
★Prepare a canvas★
Before we start, let’s create a suitable canvas to work on. We will be drawing details that we don’t want to get lost in a tiny comic panel, so a big canvas with high resolution is going to be the best choice.
I like to set a canvas with 6000 x 6000 pixels (10 x 10 inches) with a resolution of 600 dpi. This is just what I feel is best to preserve detail without losing too much quality later. Of course, you can use whatever you think might work best or that your OS can handle.
You can turn the paper off, or change the color to something easy to see. Using white or black might be confusing since we are going to work in black and white.
Most importantly, make sure to set the layer settings to monochrome. This is going to make turning the drawing into a brush we can use later sooo much easier.
It’s best to draw in a vector layer to start. We will convert it later, but vector layers have higher quality lines and can be manipulated without distorting the resolution.
And finally, in the layer property, be sure to turn the border effect ON and change the border color (Edge color) to black.
This is going to make it so we draw black line art while making the basic shape of the lace in white. It isn’t completely necessary, but it helps with visualizing.
You can change the border thickness to whatever you like, I’m using around 15-20 to start but we can always adjust it later. Use what looks best to you with the size of brush you prefer.
Alright, now that we are set up, let’s start drawing lace! ✨
★Draw using the symmetry ruler★📏
The first technique is going to use the symmetry ruler.
This time we only use 2 lines on the symmetry ruler. This is going to create a single line down the center so that the design drawn will simply be mirrored on each side. It keeps everything looking clean and consistent!
Set up the ruler with these settings and drop it onto the canvas. It doesn’t have to be in the center, just anywhere with enough room to draw on both sides.
Choose whatever pen or brush you like to draw with and start drawing!
I start with a line. Then start drawing loops.
It’s already looking like lace, right? You COULD stop here. But let’s add more!
Start adding some variations in the size of the loops, or focus more in one area, creating more delicate details.
And done!
Here are a few other examples I made using this same process:
Something to keep in mind when coming up with your own lace is that floral patterns are extremely common designs. Even when it wasn’t intentional, the patterns always look a bit like a flower in the end.
Another key to drawing convincing lace is to make sure there are lots of “holes”, or thinner lines. The topmost image above is a good example of including lots of cut-outs and thin lines.
★Draw a doodle or message and modify it★✍
Alright, but what if you don’t feel like drawing all that? Or maybe your imagination is tired and you need a little boost to get started.
Just draw a scribble or doodle, something random, or write a silly message.
I’ll admit my handwriting isn’t the best, but that’s okay! It absolutely doesn’t need to be perfect. No one will notice once this is finished.
Click on the Scale/Rotate button at the top of the program.
This one circled red!⬇
Make sure that “Keep original image” is checked in the transformation settings window.
Now flip the image horizontally using this button:
(The left one is horizontal, the right is vertical.)
This will duplicate the image and paste the reversed one over the top.
Now it looks like this:
It’s starting to look like lace!
Repeat the process again, flipping vertically this time.
This can be used on its own at this point. But let’s keep working on it.
Drop the 2-line symmetry ruler on the canvas again. This time make sure that it’s placed in the center over your image. Then start drawing extra loops and details.
At this point, you can even cut into parts of the image or remove and change certain areas you don’t like.
I actually got carried away in the details…
Since it looks a little messy, I chose an area I liked and cut it.
Adding a white line helps when turning it into a ribbon brush.
I also copy and flipped the second section to the top to make it a full image.
And so I got two different patterns to work with out of one doodle!
It’s definitely fun to see what happens.
★Use the text tool to create a pattern★🔤
Wait… the text tool? That’s right! This technique is only going to use text.
No drawing required! Essential for beginners or those who don’t like handwriting.
To be able to type text, click on the text tool and place it somewhere on the canvas. Choose a font that you like, and type a message.
It can be a single word, a phrase, or even random gibberish. No one is going to know what it said in the end result.
Even a foreign print is acceptable if your operating system supports it.
Though, there may be some fonts that have copyright, so be careful when choosing a font. I try to use commercial free fonts.
After typing your message, rasterize the layer so it is no longer a text layer.
Just like the process before, using the Scale/Rotate tool at the top of the screen, flip the message. In the transformation tool settings, make sure that “Keep original image” is checked.
Now we have something like this:
I moved the image down like a reflection, but you can keep it over the image or move it elsewhere. Find what looks best for your own image!
Repeat the process until you like the result.
Then rotate the image until you get something like this:
Keep rotating until it is full circle. It should look something like this:
I only liked the middle part, so I cut it out.
Here is a step by step process:
Would you believe that I made all of the images below just from text using this process?
★Create a brush from your own designs★🖌
Now that we have all these pretty lace designs, let’s make them into brushes we can use for our art!
To turn an image into a brush, you’ll need to convert the layer first.
To do that, click Layer > Rasterize. Or you can right-click on your layer to open the same options. Alternatively, you can click Layer > Convert Layer and convert to a raster layer from the pull-down menu.
Once it is rasterized, you can register the image as material for use by clicking Edit > Register Material.
Name your new material and make sure the “Use for brush tip shape” is checked.
Choose a destination to save to and tag your design with keywords to make it easier to find.
Duplicate a brush similar to the one you want to make and add in one or more of your images as the brush tip. Then adjust the settings as you like!
Some images may need to be cut or modified to better suit the type of brush you want to create.
For example, the image on the left is centered and has too much space around it. It works like a stamp when used in a brush because nothing is “connected” and it will simply paste the image. If that’s the effect you wanted, then this is fine.
The image on the right has a tight selection around it and I’ve added a line that reaches outside the selection. This creates a seamlessness that works well for ribbon-type brushes. Because the edge is cut off, when used as a brush it connects to repeat the pattern.
Thankfully, it’s very easy to modify the image material and re-register it. Then just replace the brush tip to fine tune the result you want!
For lace, I think ribbon type brushes work best. But it depends on the style, type and what you prefer!
And if you used a monochrome layer to work on, the brush line and sub color can be changed to whatever you want when drawing, so it is very versatile!
★Closing★
Thank you for reading all the way through!
I hope that you are inspired to create your own lace now that you have seen how easy it can really be. It’s fun to play around and experiment with what might come out of a random doodle or phrase. The results are sometimes surprising!
Remember to leave a ❤ if you found it useful.
And if you have any questions, or need something explained further, leave them in the comments. I would be glad to help!
If you are interested in my art, you can check out the link below or in my profile.
Until next time!☆
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