An extensive guide to CSP Brushes - all you need to know and more

Clip Studio Paint comes with a range of tools that are already installed, and are plenty and enough for you to dive into the Digital Art World.

 

That being said, a vast variety of additional brushes are available for your use. In fact, if you're not yet using CSP brush assets, you are missing out.

 

 

This guide will lead you through major points - what are these assets, how and where to get them, personalization of your tool palette, my personal favorites + brushes demo, and links to tutorials on how to make your own brushes. There is a small bonus challenge at the end.

If you already know how to deal with CSP assets, you can skip the Basics and plunge straight into the action.

BASICS

What are assets?

Assets, or materials, are valuable thingies: brushes, background pictures/textures, and 3d models, whose purpose is to:

 

• simplify the painting process so you don't have to pray to Art God all the time

• speed up the painting process so you can hit that deadline

• bring your art to the next level

 

 

Basically, they are instruments. And very cool instruments at that.

materials made by the artists, for the artists

Today, we’ll focus on Sub-Tools (meaning, brushes, pens, markers), ignoring the 3d models, patterns, and other amazing stuff that you can download from the CSP asset page.

 

 

 

So,

 

CSP comes with a set of already preconfigured sub-tools. There are various inking pens, gouache/oil brushes, watercolors, etc. You can do a lot with that. But, you can also install additional brushes that correspond to your artistic needs better.

 

They can either perform an already existing function differently (ex: a soft pencil), or they can perform a new function altogether (ex: a brush specifically for clouds, fur, flames).

You can get them from the CLIP STUDIO ASSETS page. Some are free, for others you have to pay.

 

Another thing you need to be aware of is that licenses can vary - some (most actually) are free for commercial use. But, better safe than sorry, so before you download the asset, check its license and what you are allowed to do with it.

 

 

 

How to download

 

You can either head to the web page of CSP Assets (the last link above), or directly open the Assets page from the software, in the section ‘Service’ -> ‘Clip Studio Assets’

 

 

I added a screenshot, but you can scroll down and see the short video as well.

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How to import

When you download a CSP asset, it will be added to your CLIP STUDIO.

 

To manage it, you can go to the ‘Manage Materials’ section.

From there, go to ‘Your Device’ -> ‘All materials’ folder → ‘Download’ folder. There, you will see everything that you have downloaded.

 

This short video shows you how to both download and import the material into Clip Studio Paint. It also covers the next section - on Sub Tool Palette Personalization:

Below you have the textual description and several more screenshots in case you will need them.

 

• Start your software.

• Open the [Materials] palette. Find the tool that you want to import.

• Drag the tool from [Materials] palette to [Sub Tool] palette.

Your new material will be added at the end of the list:

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Personalize your [Sub Tool] palette

A more detailed explanation of the Sub Tool Personalization part of the video. (For the time being, I haven't yet added the subtitles, so the text below might help you more)

1) Personalization of Sub Tool palette - PART 1

What’s cool about CSP, is that you have a giant community of artists. From all over the world. That also means - a giant community of people who speak many languages.

 

CSP translates the guides, tutorials, and software too. When you search for material, its name will be auto-translated. But, when you download it, it will be named in its original language.

You’ll probably want to rename it.

Or, even if it’s already in your language, you might still want to rename the downloaded asset.

• to Rename your asset:

 

 

-> Access it from the [materials] palette.

-> Select it.

-> Go to the bottom right corner, and choose the gear icon that’s right next to the heart icon. This will open the [Material property] window.

-> There, you can change the Material name.

---Remark 1:

you can also change the image of your material, change its location, as well as add tags that will help you search for that material later.

 

---

Alternatively, you can access it from the [Sub Tool] palette.

 

->Select the material in your [Sub Tool] palette

-> right-click it

-> Select the ‘Settings of sub tool…’ option

Now, you can change the name of your tool, but ALSO you can change the tool's icon and its background color.

2) Personalization of Sub Tool palette - PART 2

When you download a lot of materials, it’s hard to keep track of them. You might want to organize them in your own way.

 

I have around twenty brushes for clouds. Keeping them in an existing Sub Tool group, like oil brushes, is a lot of pain! I want to have a separate Sub Tool group just for clouds, because my cloud brushes deserve that special treatment

Well, here’s what you do:

Once you’ve added your material to the [Sub Tool] Palette, select it, and drag it into the upper right corner of the [Sub Tool Palette]. You should see a single red line appear at one side. That’s when you should let go of your material.

 

Below I'm adding the previous video, but with a timestamp at 2:50 for this step. If you skipped the previous section, you can still watch the video without all the intro.

Now, you have created a new Sub Tool group. By default, it will have the same name as the first tool that you dropped into it. But, you can change that.

Right-click on the name of your Sub Tool group. Select ‘Settings of sub tool group…’ Enter whatever name you want.

This way, you can keep track of your brushes.

You can also move the brushes from one group to another, or delete them.

---Remark:

to delete a Sub Tool group, you have to empty it. So, either delete all of the tools it contains, or move them to another Sub Tool group. Then it will disappear automatically.

Remark:

 

Remember, the Clip Studio Instruction Manual is your friend.

The sheer amount of info it contains is both incredible and invaluable. You can also browse the tips made by other artists, either here, or find them on youtube.

[The arrow means: "You now." T-shirt says: "Artist forever"]

 

 

We’re done with the basics. The knowledge you now possess will guide you through the dangerous Art World where so many innocent souls perish.

 

 

 

Onto my personal favourite brushes: the bestest of the bestest, the pinnacle of the ASSET world, the ultimate tools!

 

(cough, cough, just, stuff I like)

 

 

Buckle up, it’s gonna be one hell of a ride.

 

PERSONAL FAVOURITES - FREE

 

[Image says: "Stuff that I like"]

 

 

All the tools I mention here are free to download.

 

--

Remark:

before you download, read the info provided by the creator. Oftentimes the description of the tool will contain tips on how to use and configure the tool.

--

Pencils/Pens

1. HiBi Pencil by HisB

The Hibi Set contains 4 tools - three pencils of various softness and one pen.

--- 

 

 

[HiBi pencil version 2] is my favourite one. It really does feel like a soft pencil and it’s very easy to draw with. When set to a small size, it gives you clean, sharp strokes (like any pencil would). When set to a big size, it's great to use for rough sketches.

You'd think that it doesn't matter what pencil to use, but geez, making the strokes with it feels good. [The word good is meant to be italicized, but I can't format the text here, because the auto-translation will not translate it. So, just know that "good" is emphasized. Seriously good. Image below to convey my feeling after I use it.]

The author warns that it's optimized for graphics displays rather than tablets. For me, that’s perfect, since I use a graphics display. But, that means that I don’t know whether it’s suitable for everyone.

 

But, even if you can't use the HiBi Pencil v. 2, HiBi offers two other equally good pencils that are in the same pack. The [Soft] pencil is also nice for sketching, when set to a big size. Here's more info+a small sketch with the [Soft HiBi] pencil:

The pack is worth the download.

 

 

 

 

 

2. Manuscript pens - Zaka & Sara by Hmm...

Both feel great. The original purpose of these two tools is for manuscripts and manga, but my preferred use is sketching. When I want to take a break from pencils and make a pen sketch, I pick either one of these two pens.

 

[Sara] pen is more spontaneous for me. It's also darker and thicker than [Zaka], so I pick it more often. But that’s a personal preference.

 

It reminds me of a gel ink pen, which I love to use when doing traditional art.

They are a great addition to the collection of your assets.

 

(The link to the time-lapse to these sketches is after the review of the next pen)

 

 

 

 

 

3. Mameo Pen by Mameo

Unlike Zaka or Sara, the pen by Mameo has a more “unstable” thickness of the stroke. It goes from thin to thick very easily. That’s neat when the piece you’re inking has a lot of black parts that need to be uniformly black.

 

Anyway, the reason I put it into My Favourites is that, once again, I use it for sketching. The sketches done with [Mameo] are messier (at least, when I do them T_T ).

The set has three pens, but I use only one of them, for the especially messy sketches -

Mameoペン 中

 

It's second in the list, marked with orange. I highlighted it on this image:

I illustrated this guide using this Mameo pen.

 

 

As you now noticed I have a lot more favourite pens than pencils...I truly like sketching with gel ink pens in real life...

 

 

 

Here's the video where I put the three pens demonstrations together:

:D

 

 

 

 

 

 

4. Ink brush by Aeridis

 

I use this one for my linework. I set it to big size (as the author recommended). It gives you a range of lines but works especially well for thin lines. If you do illustrations, I'd recommend this one.

So, I have my sketch, in pencil, and then I go over the sketch with this pen/brush. After that, I can colour.

 

Example:

I sketch very messily. This pen helps me get that clean look.

 

 

The video below shows me redoing the line work of my old drawing, because I forgot to draw on a vector layer T_T .

Using this [Ink Brush], it was easier to get thin lines compared to the previous tool I used (from default pack):

 

 

And here's the second stage of the sketch that you saw previously (in the section on the [HiBi] pencils). I did the line work with this [Ink Brush]:

A little bunny made with the same tool. If I made this bunny into a brush/stamp, do you think it would be popular?

That’s it with my favorite pens. I had a couple more, but these are the ones I use most. Now let's talk about painting brushes.

 

 

 

 

 

Painting brushes

• Thick coating Brush Set by ×ェ×

It's great. I love it. The creator mostly made it for drawing coating&fur and details, but it's one of my preferred "abstract"/"impromptu brush sets. I won't narrow it down to one tool, because the beauty of this set lies in combining different brushes.

Like here:

 

Yes, the sketch doesn't look great-great, but it gets the point across and shows various brushstrokes you can do. It's easy to capture the feeling or the moment.

The set has 20+ brushes, several tools for smudging, highlight, and erasers. During one sketch I usually use half of that. I haven't tried working in colour. Also, the base of the sketch is made with a water pen - the tool I’ll talk about in the next section.

 

 

 

 

Watercolor-related

1. Juwa/Zara watercolor by 27pt

This is a very nice set of watercolors.

 

Juwa is rougher/fluffier than Zara. Both types are good. The set of brushes consists of two normal brushes, two brushes for smudging, and two brushes for mixing color. I especially like the smudging tool.

 

Here's a demo of a watercolor parrot, completed in Zara watercolor (no erasers, no pencils - only three Zara brushes: normal brush, brush for smudging, and brush for mixing color). Not a polished piece, but gives you an idea.

 

The parrot has a crazy look in its eyes...

Very good both for vibrant colors and pastel tones. I feel it has the potential for being a cloud brush as well (I will talk about clouds in detail later on)

The guide made by the author gives you a more advanced explanation over the differences between Juwa and Zara.

2. Water Pens by 墨佳遼

Contains two tools - a water pen (the one you saw me use for laying the foundation of one of the sketches) and water chalk. You can use them in combination with watercolors.

You can also play around with it. I'd say I feel a bit like a sculptor when I use the water chalk.

It's a good alternative to a Virtual Reality headset for artists who can't afford an actual VR headset :')

Here I didn't use any erasers.

 

Overall, it's a great tool to study lightning, or facial features. It also pushes your ability cause you can't use too much of it, and have to keep track of your shadows - similar to when you’re painting with watercolors.

I set the water chalk to a big size, and then simply vary my pressure.

 

The whole face was painted without changing the size of the brush.

These are two useful tools that you can get for free, and they are definitely worth a try. Even if you're not interested in drawing wrinkly grandpas and fishermen, it's still a great pair of brushes to have in your collection.

 

 

 

Clouds

There’s so much to say about these brushes. Or rather, so much to show.

 

╭(♡･ㅂ･)و ̑̑

Hohoho, this section takes the cake!

Just look at these:

Don’t they look marvelous?

 

The first brush set I will talk about is this one:

1. Cloud brush set by 27pt

 

This package has 6 brushes for clouds. In the description, the creator kindly explains each type of cloud (this is the 2nd time we see this creator, and they are truly great at making good descriptions for their brushes!)

You can enable and disable the white-watercolour-edge to get softer or sharper-looking clouds.

I think that we should all know how to paint sky and clouds from zero, but when you’re in a hurry, or the clouds are an additional element to your pictures and not the centerpiece, then these are your go-to brushes. All of the images that I provide in this section contain some type of brush from this pack - it allows each sky to be different, and despite the relatively small number of brushes - only six, which isn't a lot for clouds (trust me, I know) - I'd say that it is a lavish brush pack.

2. Cloud brush set by ぱーらめんと

This is another collection of cloud brushes (here, there are 15+ different clouds). You can change the highlight of the clouds.

A god-tier weapon. I feel like I’m playing God when I stamp these clouds.

3. A pair of cloud brushes by aoyoshinike

Finally, here’s the set with two brushes, with which you can draw your own clouds from zero. I use it to lay the foundation of clouds, or to make my clouds more diverse!

I like this set because although it's simple compared to the rest of the brushes mentioned in this section, it's enough to make your very own clouds. And you can use them with other brushes, to, as I said, diversify the skies.

 

 

 

That’s a lot of brushes for clouds, but I love them. I put all these sets together because I find they work best when you combine different brushes from each pack to get the most variety.

I can not get enough of cloud brushes. I am guilty of being a mortal human whose feet walk on earth, but whose mind soars up in the sky. And with these amazingly amazing brushes, I feel just a tad closer to the celestial vault.

 

Remark:

You can use these brushes in combination with the following gradient pack.

(Not a brush, but I did use it here, and it'd be a shame not to mention)

 

Gradient pack by magicalmagical:

ヽ(:3ﾉ ヽ)ﾉ

Plants

Collection of weeds by Nora/Noah/Nora

 

A variety of weeds that I find perfect in the background when I'm drawing comics. Some contain white by default, but you can remove the white during the sketch process (edit, convert brightness to opacity). The colour of the outlines can be changed to whatever you want. Some brushes contain 3 types of strokes within them, so you get a randomized looking grass patch, instead of a stamp-like repeat.

---[Image below says: "Ribbon of weeds"]

Hair

Hair brushes by ニャタBE

I rarely get to use hair brushes (a particular hairstyle is needed, or the art style doesn't allow for a pre-built brush to be used), but when I have the chance, I use them as it speeds up the process.

This is a Hair set, that turns your strokes into an outline for hair. I mostly draw hair myself, but when I need to draw very long hair, and the style I'm using is like comics or manga, then that's the brush I go for. It's a set of brushes so there's plenty of variety.

 

 

Whilst I use almost all of the brushes in the set, there is one that I like in particular. It's the Hair Fix (I highlighted it with yellow on the image below):

This is used for singular hair strands. And what's cool about this little brush is that it will drag out the colour, and the whole strand of hair will be of the same colour as the place where you started drawing it.

[Image says: "the brush drags out the colour"]

 

 

So, if you started drawing it from a white pixel, the strand will be white. If from a black, the strand will be black. It doesn't matter what the colour of the brush itself is, it will paint only in the colour of the pixel from which you began your brushstroke.

 

A fun brush to use. I apply it in different settings even when I’m not drawing hair.

 

 

 

Fancy materials

1. Brush set for Air particles by ねこやま✤

These little gems can be used not just as air feeling particles, or camera blur/dust. Here's an example (just exploring the possibilities)

Feels quite festive, doesn't it? Play around with light, and that's kinda what you can get. The artwork above doesn't really do justice to the brushes...

I used:

 

• City light brush (number 2)

• Starry sky brush (number 3)

• the thin brush for hair, from the previous list (I told ya - it's versatile) for the strands

• default dry gouache, and default thin gouache brush, for highlights.

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Adding sparkles is something I look forward to in the drawing/painting process. This set of brushes is lovely to me.

 

2. Bubble brush set by ぱーらめんと

Bubbles are fun fun fun.

Slap a dark background, set the bubbles to glow, and boom! You have a beautiful background for your mermaid, or your drowning pirate, or your seaweed if the seaweed is the main character of your story.

Look at this. Looks at this and tell me you don't want to use these.

"I don't need to use them." Says you.

"Shhh! You know no life, young one." I will reply.

You don't know life. Here, I combined all 4 brushes of the pack and played around with overlays, light, etc. And that's just me playing around.

These brushes are fabulous.

Do I use them often? No. Do I need them? Probably not.

But that's not important. Because there is but one question that needs an answer:

[ image says: "Does it spark joy?" ]

Yes. Violently.

 

 

And finally,

 

3. Blood brush pack by 까만볼

Draw blood, drops, wind. Add action to your sketches with this brush pack! It has 13 brushes from splatters to splashes.

Chances are you don't have this brush pack yet - because it’s newly released. At the time I’m doing this showcase, the brush has only been up for 3 days.

---

And, because I like using brushes in situations where I’m not supposed to (styles for which they were not meant to be used), here's an impromptu sketch using only these brushes when sketching a portrait:

Feels alive.

In only 1 day this brush set was able to win my heart and make it onto my top list.

--- 

And that's all. I know I put a lot of brushes in here, but, let me tell you, I did cut down the Favourite Brushes list in half. My heart was bleeding as I was getting rid of other brushes. After all, this tutorial is about top of the top.

 

 

WHAT’S NEXT?

If you didn’t find the brush you’re looking for, you can always create your own.

That was also one of the topics for the Monthly Tips back in June of the last year.

#MonthlyTIPS202006

It has some nice tutorials on how to create brushes, so, you can check that out if you’re feeling adventurous:

BONUS Art Challenge

So, since you've lasted so long, here's a bonus challenge:

 

Remember when I said that the default gouache brushes are great? Well, I was messing around, and I found out that the default thin gouache brush of the CSP brush subtool, will give you a nice 'floof' when you increase its size.

 

When I set it to a big size, I use it for ruffled hair, fur, grass patches - fluffy stuff. With that being said, here's the actual drawing + an intriguing storyline that took me a long time to think of.

 

✧･ﾟ: ✧･ﾟ: 　　 :･ﾟ✧:･ﾟ✧

 

This is Steve:

Steve is sad because the weather is freezing and he is cold.

Let's make Steve happy by giving him a coat!

Here, for the coat, I used the thin gouache brush included in CSP by default. I varied its size (from small to very big) and changed the colours of the paint. Looks not too shabby for a fur coat?

My point is that you don't always need fancy brushes. A lot can be achieved by playing around and adjusting the already existing default ClipStudio tools.

So, here. We gave Steve a coat. Now Steve is warm and has a big smile on his face:

Everyone deserves a nice set of warm clothes!

✧･ﾟ: ✧･ﾟ: 　　 :･ﾟ✧:･ﾟ✧

 

So, are you up for a challenge?

 

Redraw Steve in your style. I welcome you to make the most beautiful, fluffy fur coat. Whether you use default CSP tools or other special brushes is up to you. Twitter and Instagram hashtag:

#GiveSteveTheCoat. It's an ongoing challenge to showcase your style + your brushes, and it has no deadline.

 

AFTERWORD

I think that in the end, what matters most is the actual skill that you have and not the brush. You can have the Ultimate Brush or the Bestest Inking Pen, but it won’t help if the distance between the eyes and the nose is messed up. So, don't forget - it's not all about the brush. It's about training your eye and training your hand.

With that being said, brushes also contribute to your artistic journey. A brush is like a font in a UI design - it can make or break your work. A good brush can even hide or correct blemishes and slip-ups. It can also push you to think outside the box. Or, better yet, it's so good that you can't stop drawing.

I wish you to find your Ultimate Brush as soon as possible.

 

 

May you overcome every art block on your way, and never stop creating!

 

Good luck

(•̀o•́)ง

Acknowledgements

The wonderful creators of the materials:

 

You check out their profiles to follow them, or to see other materials that they've made.

Ain't it nice to see so many people interested in arts gathered in one place?

Thank you, ClipStudio, for creating this place

 

What a community!

COMPLETE LIST of mentioned materials

Don’t forget to like the brushes if you end up using them! Show these artists love!

 

 

P.S. Don't forget about the #GiveSteveTheCoat art challenge either~

 

o/