•Intro

For the longest time I struggled with making backgrounds. I never had enough imagination to come up with a background myself and always need references.

But I found a way to make backgrounds using photos and I’m gonna share it today!

 

 

It’s a technique I recommend using for making webcomics as it makes the drawing process faster.

 

 

All pictures displayed are photos i took myself in my neighborhood.

 

I apologize if the pictures’ quality are mediocre.

•Convert to lines and tones

This is a technique that requires the EX version. The second I’ll show doesn’t though.

 

First, import the photo of your choice in your canvas.

Duplicate the photo layer at least three time’s

Click on the photo layers and rasterize them.

Right-click the photo layer and click « Convert to lines and tones ».

This is what it’ll look like (if one of the other photo layer below is visible).

Apply the Artistic filter on the photo layer below the line layer we just made with the « Convert to lines and tones ».

Arrange the colors to your liking with the Hue/Saturation/Luminosity.

Then , you don’t necessarily have to but I usually use this auto-action on the layer (the color one not the line one).

Go back to the line layer and use the [Remove dust] on it to get cleaner lines.

I then go ahead and erase lines that don’t make sense myself.

Then use the perspective ruler and make it match with the photo’s current perspective.

Make sure your pen has [Enable snapping] on and draw lines where it’s missing while following the perspective.

Go ahead and clean up the colors with the bucket tool too if needed .

Usually if the photo I’m using has a sky in it I’ll select it and delete it.

To go faster instead of drawing it myself, I’ll import a sky image material in a layer below the color layer.

To create more atmosphere I’ll use a gradient on it.

Then on a multiply layer on top of the color layer i draw the shadows matching the sky.

Then it’s optional but i usually change the line color and add texture on overlay mode and there you have it!

•Trace over your photo

 

This is the second technique which is actually pretty simple , all you have to do is line over your picture. This technique might look more natural than the first one I showed you.

First , import the picture you want in Clip studio.

Apply the perspective ruler to your photo and make it match with the photo’s perspective.

Then basically trace over it while following the perspective.

Make sure your pen has [Enable Snapping] on.

This is approximately what you should end up with.

Then simply color it with the bucket tool.

Just like before I added a sky image material in the back and applied a gradient on it.

Then i color-pick the most present color from the sky

Make a new layer on top of the color layer only in the color i previously color-picked from the sky

And put it in Multiply mode.

I then either with an airbrush or the eraser gradient tool erase a part of the multiply layer and make a new layer on Glow dodge mode (on low opacity) and draw a bit over the building.

 

Note that with a multiply mode layer i already drew the shadows.

Then either change the line’s color or reduce it’s opacity a bit.

 

Don’t forget to draw details like the bushes and it’s done!

•Use photos of textures in your backgrounds

You can use textures you took pictures of (or find some on internet) and apply them to your backgrounds.

This is a picture of a wall i took in my neighborhood, we’re gonna use it and apply it to a drawing.

This is the base drawing.

First import the texture in your canvas.

With the Free transform tool I apply the textures like I want .

I merge the textures layers and applied the overlay mode on it.

Then with the selection tools , select the objects you don’t want to be affected by the texture and delete those parts in the overlay texture layer.

Then change the texture with correction layers or by adjusting the opacity of the layer to your liking.

And that’s it!

•Exemples of the techniques I used

Here are some exemples of backgrounds where i used photos:

Thanks for reading!

That was it , I hope this helped you and I’m sorry for the pictures being low quality.

 

If you want to see more of my art I welcome you to my Instagram account:

See you next time!👾