This article introduces several ways to digitally paint watercolor-style pictures (particularly transparent watercolor).
It is intended as a collection of tips for those who have become familiar with the basic operations of CLIP STUDIO PAINT and want to broaden their range of expression.
By mastering the contents of this article, you'll be able to paint to the same extent as the example above.
Understanding analog watercolor techniques
First, let's understand what techniques are used in actual analog watercolor paintings and what characteristics they have.
The image below was actually painted with analog watercolors.
A: Wet on dry (layered paint)
The first paint is applied after it dries, and the next paint is applied. The overlapping areas will be darker in color.
Note that the edges will be darker in color. (This is called the watercolor border.)
B: Wet on wet
The next color is applied before the first paint dries.
If you apply water to the half-dry paint, a fluffy pattern called a "back run" will appear.
C: Gradient
D: Salt
If you sprinkle salt on the paint before it dries, the salt will absorb the water and create a unique whitish pattern.
E: Wet on Wet (Water)
First apply water, then drip the paint. This creates a unique blur effect.
F: Lifting (Wipe off)
After the paint has dried, wipe it off with a damp brush or tissue.
G: Dry Brush
Draw with a brush that is not very wet. Brush scrapes are common.
H: Combine with Line
Common materials used for watercolor line drawings are
pencils, colored pencils, waterproof ink pens, etc.
Another method is to apply the paint, then use a thin brush with watercolor paint to draw the lines at the end.
[About the paper]
Watercolor paper generally comes in three grades: fine, medium, and coarse.
The latter has a more uneven surface and a larger, more pronounced texture.
Also, when you draw a line, it will have a more rough, analog-like texture.
Recreating watercolors in digital illustrations
With the above characteristics in mind, let's think about how to recreate the look of watercolors digitally.
By incorporating some of the following points, you can create watercolor-like effects.
Texture that resembles watercolor paper
Watercolor borders
Wet-on-wet bleeding and shading that gives the impression of backrun
Rough lines like those drawn on paper
Utilizing layer effects
There are several ways to recreate watercolor fringe in Clip Studio.
In the example below,
Layer Properties > Effects > Watercolor Fringe
is used to add a watercolor-like border to a simple solid color layer. The watercolor fringe effect is also applied to the multiply layer where the shadows are added.
To give it an analog feel, the lines are drawn using the initial subtool "Real Pencil".
To make it look more analog, I clipped the "medium" texture from the default textures.
Layer Properties > Effect > Texture Blending
I used this, but you can also set the layer mode to "Overlay".
Blend the watercolor paper texture in any way you like.
Applying watercolor texture
In order to create a watercolor-like effect, this method involves pasting textures created with analog watercolors. This has the advantage of allowing you to use the deep shading of analog watercolors as is.
You can create your own textures using leftover paint, or you can look for ones available on ASSETS. This time, we will use a texture that we created previously. (It is available for free on ASSETS.)
① Paint the base color on the areas you want to paint. Any color is fine as long as it's easy to see. I blurred and thinned it in places with "Fiber Bleed Blend".
② Clip the color texture onto the painted base. I wanted the edges to have some definition, so I hand-added something that looks like a watercolor border with "Light Pencil".
③ I created a paint base for the redness of the eyes and cheeks on a separate layer, and pasted a yellow texture on it as in ①. I changed the color by painting green and red on top of it with the layer mode "Color". Change the color with your favorite layer mode, such as Overlay, Hard Light, or Hue.
④ I painted the shadows with a Linear Burn layer. I used the layer effect "Watercolor Border" that appeared in the previous chapter.
Use a brush
CLIP STUDIO PAINT comes with a wide variety of watercolor brushes, even just as initial subtools.
The brushes on the right are included in "Initial subtool > Color mixing." After painting a color, you can use these brushes to extend the color and make it look more watercolor-like.
The brushes on the left are included in "Initial subtool > Brush > Watercolor." The default blending mode is "Multiply," so the more you paint on the same layer, the darker the color will be. Switch the blending mode to "Normal" if you like.
You can change the blending mode here in the tool properties.
Now let's actually try using the default watercolor-style brush.
A: I applied multiple coats of paint using the "Watercolor Round Brush." It's simple, but the texture and shading give it a watercolor-like feel.
B: I applied shading with "Wet Watercolor," and then used "Bleeding Watercolor" to darken areas where there was not enough color. I then used "Fiber Bleed Blend" to remove color from the bottom right to recreate a backrun.
C: I selected the area to be painted and made sure it did not go beyond the borders, then dabbed the color with "Rough Watercolor." I used "Blend while preserving texture" to smooth the boundaries.
Tips for watercolor borders and blurring
After painting with a brush that has the watercolor border turned on, blurring some parts will give it more definition and make it look more like watercolor.
Also, if unintended watercolor boundaries appear when applying multiple layers of paint, you can blur the unnecessary lines with a blending brush or similar tool to make the uneven paint application less noticeable.
Customizing Brushes
Sometimes you may think, "I want to temporarily turn off the watercolor border," or "It's not a watercolor brush, but I think I could use it if it had a watercolor border."
In that case, try tweaking the brush settings a bit.
Tool property 🔧 mark > Watercolor border > "Watercolor border" checkbox
or
Top menu "Window" > Subtool details > Watercolor border > "Watercolor border" checkbox
You can control whether or not the watercolor border is on by turning it on/off here.
It's also fun to add a watercolor border to your favorite brush and use it to draw watercolor-style pictures.
The image shows a watercolor border added to the thick paint initial subtool "Gouache."
It could also be used to create a watercolor dry brush effect.
The thickness and darkness of the watercolor border can also be edited from the details of this subtool. Play around with the parameters to find the settings you like.
Other Tips
Use a gradient map
When recreating watercolor borders using brushes or layer effects,
- the border colors may look sunken
- the shades may look monotonous
This is partly because, even though there are differences in brightness and density, there are no differences in hue, which means the colors lack depth.
To solve this, we recommend using a gradient map.
Select Layer > New Tonal Correction Layer > Gradient Map from the top menu.
The watercolor borders are now more vivid, and the colors are richer as the hue changes from yellow to orange.
Even when using brush materials with colors that cannot be changed, using the gradient map makes them look beautiful.
I apologize for quoting from a paid original material, but this is an example of color change using a gradient map.
Parts drawn with analog watercolors are processed using a gradient map.
There are many gradient maps available on ASSETS, including free ones. Please try to find your favorite one.
Combine with analog
This is a bit off topic, but it's also easy and recommended to take a photo of your analog line drawing and color it in CLIP STUDIO. One of the strengths of digital is that you can use an infinite number of colors without having to buy new paints.
Make the line drawing a multiply layer, and color it as you like on the layer created below it.
If you feel that the texture of the paper is lacking, it's also recommended to apply an additional texture. In the example below, a texture (texture composite layer) is clipped to the color layer.
Self-made
This is kind of a bonus, but here's the making of the work at the beginning.
*In order to draw in my usual style, I used plenty of my own materials in addition to the materials introduced so far. Many of the materials are paid materials, but you should be able to create something similar with free materials if you find something with a similar feel.
I've made a rough making-of video for your reference.
For the line drawing and coloring, I mainly used materials included in the following set.
I used "sb Watercolor_Ink Pen" for the line drawing. It's like inking with colored ink + dip pen, or fine brush + paint.
I think you can use pretty much any pen with a watercolor border instead.
First, create a layer ("base" layer) under the line drawing as a base for coloring, and fill it with 100% opacity.
This will prevent the background from being see-through if you want to add it later.
Lock the transparency of the "base" layer and place the base color. Use a brush with texture, and blend in areas with strong watercolor edges with a stretch brush.
The main brushes used are as follows:
- sbWatercolor_Fluffy
- sbWatercolor_▲
- sbWatercolor_▲Stretch
- Fiber Bleed Blend (default)
As with analog watercolors, adding an accent color to the main color will make it more vibrant. This time, I used a light pink base and dark pink and light purple for the hair.
↑The base is complete.
If you can get the overall feel right at this stage, it will be easier to paint in the right direction. Keep in mind the areas that will be lit and the areas that will be in shadow.
It will look more realistic if you create textures with uneven shading, gradations, and background runs.
Put the line art and base paint in the "People" folder, and apply the default "Medium" material to this folder as a texture blending layer. Since we will be using textured brushes a lot, we lowered the transparency of this layer to 50% to prevent it from being too noisy.
Create a "Paint" folder and clip it to the "Base" layer. Add more layers to the "Paint" folder to paint the details.
*When drawing a large picture, separate the layers in this "Paint" folder for each part, or separate layers for the shadows. This time, the picture is simple, so we haven't divided the layers into many.
First, we'll start by painting the corners, which are the most noticeable features.
Use "sb Watercolor_Ink Pen" to paint the outline of the part you want to add shadow to. While leaving the necessary watercolor border, extend it with "sb Watercolor_▲ Stretch" using a smaller brush size.
Repeat this for all parts. That's pretty much it.
I keep these two points in mind when choosing shadow colors.
Choose a color that's a little darker than the part you're painting
Sometimes I pick up a color from a part nearby the part I'm painting (for example, use the purple of a ribbon for the hair shadow)
In areas where there is a lack of color, I add color using "sb watercolor_fluffy" with the watercolor border turned off. (Hair around the neck, etc.)
I painted the white parts of the eyes white with "sb watercolor_ink pen." I keep this in mind because I sometimes use white in parts of my drawings even with analog.
Once you've finished coloring, lock the transparency of the line art layer and trace the colors. I changed the color of the line art to brown and purple to make it soft and blend in.
It's easier to succeed if you use a brush with low transparency and eyedropper the color you used to paint.
Finally, a pure white background looks a bit dull, so I’ll fill it in with some materials to make it look more realistic.
I added more layers for the background under the "People" folder, grew leaves on the left side with "Branches and Leaves_Front_Blue" and decorated the right side with "Dotted and Rounded Lines_Blue".
I changed the color with a gradient map (purple grape) and added white to the base of the leaves with a dirt brush to make them blend in.
I then clipped the color layer and added a light layer of pink with the "sb ink smudge mix" brush. In addition to adding an accent, the person has a pink hue, so I wanted it to blend in.
Create another layer below and add purple with the "Watercolor Texture Dirt" brush. Add another layer and add flowers with "Puwa Flowers_Blue", then lock the transparency and fill with white.
The image is of flowers drawn with masking ink in analog watercolor, then thinly layered with wet-on-wet paint.
The brush material used for the background is included in the set below.
The final layer composition of the background looks like this:
Finished! Don't forget to sign it.
in conclusion
In this video, we didn't touch on the expression of salt at all, but there are many materials available on ASSETS that can be used to recreate salt techniques, so please check them out.
Even if you mainly work with digital art, I encourage you to try learning analog painting techniques.
Thinking about how to reproduce analog techniques digitally will deepen your understanding of the tools and expand your range of expression.
Clip Studio has a wide range of diverse functions, allowing you to take multiple approaches to the same result. ASSETS distributes a wide variety of materials that make this possible.
Try to find the way that you enjoy drawing the most. Have a good Clip Studio life!
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