Using photos in illustrations can be a fun way to explore new ideas or find new ways to finalize a drawing. In the workshop video below, you can follow me along as I go over 3 different ways to use photos.

 

Along the way, you will learn to utilize the following Clip Studio Paint Features:

- The Sub View Menu

- The Lasso Tool

- The Transform & Mesh Transform Tools

- Layer Masks

- Correction Layers

- Artistic Effects

- Layer Blending Modes

 

For a short summary of the video, please read on below!

Method 1: Using Photos as References

The Sub View Menu

If you’ve watched or read some of my previous tutorials, you might already be familiar with the Sub View Menu. This is a handy way to keep multiple references right next to your work area. It includes multiple features, and recently was updated to even include a gallery view option that allows you to quickly jump to specific reference images when you have a lot loaded in!

 

If you do not see this window, please activate it under “Window” > “Sub View”.

Creating References by Combining Photos

However, maybe you want a reference for something that does not exist. A fun way to do this could be to combine existing photos from interesting buildings you’ve taken around the city, or photos licensed under the Creative Commons CC0 license, which allows you to modify and edit a photo without even needing to attribute its original creator. You can find photos like this on websites such as Unsplash, Pexels, Wikimedia Commons, or others.

In the workshop, I show how I combine a variety of elements from different photos into a new reference, that I then draw over. The reference is only intended as a loose guideline that helps me out, and if you look closely, you may see that there are plenty of details I either omit, add or change in the final picture.

 

However, by directly manipulating and stitching together photo elements, I’m able to experiment in a different way from straight up sketching. If you are unfamiliar with drawing buildings, this could be a good way to come up with your own one to draw!

 

This method can also be used to create new references for fashion outfits, or fantasy creatures.

I achieve this mainly by using the Lasso or Auto select tool (keep in mind that you can add things to your selection by holding down Shift, or remove things from your selection by holding down Alt), then copy pasting elements together.

 

Next, I adjust their size, rotation, or perspective with the Free Transform tool (you can quickly access it with Ctrl+T). Optionally, I can also use the Mesh Transform tool to grab individual points and create bent shapes with the photo.

 

When I have created my reference, I overlay a slightly transparent white layer, and then create a new layer that I draw over the reference on.

Method 2: Drawing Over Photos

Drawing over photos can be a fun way to skip the background creation process or achieve a unique look. There are multiple approaches to this:

Adding Cartoony Characters to a Photo

You’re by no means limited to it, but I personally think this approach can work well with macro photos, as they allow you a different perspective on the world. And who’s to say that there aren’t small little fantasy creatures hanging out below your gaze unnoticed?

 

There are a few tricks I would recommend for this kind of approach:

Creating a Folder Mask

If there are elements in your photo that you want to hide your characters behind, it’s easier to just draw your character fully and then hide parts of them by putting the entire artwork in a folder, adding a layer mask to the folder (circled in yellow) and then using the eraser or brush tools to remove or add to the layer mask. This way, you can retain your drawing, and maybe move things around later, while retaining the mask.

Blurring Foreground Elements

If your photo has blurry elements in the foreground, it might help also blurring illustrated elements that you might want in the foreground. You can achieve this using the “Filter” > “Blur” > “Gaussian Blur” tool.

 

Keep in mind that if you apply the blur while having a layer’s transparency locked, the edge of the illustration will remain sharp, so make sure to deactivate this option.

 

Additionally, if you apply the blur while parts of the layer are located outside the canvas, and you then later move the rest of the layer back into the canvas, you will see that the blur only applied to the parts of the layer that were present on the canvas at the time of the filter application.

Adding Atmosphere

Adding some lighting and shading to your illustrated elements can help make them feel like they truly belong in the picture, even if they are drawings. Compare the two images above - even very simple lighting effects (they can of course be more detailed if you’d like!) can help to really make characters feel like they belong in the scene. A mushroom casting shade on a sleeping sheep, or the little farmer being caught in sunlight.

 

An easy way to achieve this is by moving all your artwork in a Layer Folder, then creating a layer above it and using the “Clip to Layer Below” feature (circled in yellow). This allows you to paint over only your artwork.

 

Additionally, you might want to use specific Layer Blending modes here. To find more about the variety of modes, please refer to my other tutorial:

Adding Characters to a Pop Art Background

Clip Studio Paint also includes some features that allow you to manipulate photos. This can help you create various pop-art-like backgrounds that might work particularly well with character artwork you want to really have stand out, such as with a paper-cutout style in my example.

To achieve the paper-cutout look, simply add a bold white border to your character artwork. This can be done by opening the “Layer Property” window, and then selecting the “Border effect” option.

One way you can simplify an image is to use the “Posterization” effect. (Another way to affect the outcome of this effect is to blur the image before applying it.)

 

Unfortunately, I rarely like how this effect makes the colors look. One option to deal with this is to create a second layer with the “Gradient map” effect. Here you can pick from a variety of color options, or create your own that can help give an image a more unified color palette.

Keep in mind that you can still add spots of color by either creating a new layer above the background, and setting the blending mode to “Color” and then simply drawing on it. You can also utilize the Layer Mask feature and use an eraser on the Correction Layers to have some sections of the image retain their original color (by erasing the mask on the “Gradient map” layer) or their original detail (by erasing the mask on the “Posterization” layer).

An alternative to the “Posterization” method can be achieved with the “Filter” > “Effect” > “Artistic” tool. Simply mess around with the variety of options here until you find something you are happy with - and once again, keep in mind that you can combine it with other effects partially through the use of layer masks.

Adding Realistic Characters in a Horror Setting

You could also try to paint more realistically rendered characters into an image. One application of this technique that I find fun is creating horror-style photos to show off monsters.

 

In this example, I actually combined a small building detail and the body of a sheep from photos I took instead of painting something manually. However, I still adjusted the shading of these elements manually utilizing the previously displayed methods.

 

However, there are three more methods I used here to help blend the character with the background more:

Adding Noise

Adding a new layer, then using the “Filter” > “Render” > “Perlin noise” feature, I created a noisy texture. When I then set that layer to be over the rest of the artwork and change the blending mode to “Overlay”, this creates an effect that emulates camera grain.

Adding Motion Blur

Using the “Filter” > “Blur” > “Motion Blur” feature, I was able to make the creature appear as if it is moving. This can help obscure the monster’s features and let the viewer fill them in with their own imagination, and create a sense of danger from the creature moving towards or around the viewer.

Emulating Chromatic Aberration

Finally, I wanted to emulate another camera effect: the slight edge of red and blue you can sometimes see on a photo if you look closely, also called Chromatic Aberration.

 

To achieve this look, I merged all the layers of the final image, then copied that twice, applied two different Gradient Maps to it (Red & Blue), set the Blending Mode of those layers to “Pin Light”, lowered the opacity to around 30% and then moved the layers around slightly.

 

Since this also made the image a bit darker, I also went ahead and created a new “Brightness/Contrast” Correction Layer below these two layers where I brightened the image a bit.

Method 3: Using Photos for Textures or Effects

Finally, it can always be fun to use photos to create textures or effects in your drawings. There’s a variety of different looks you can achieve with various methods, so I will just show you how I achieved the example above:

I took my basic drawing, added a photo of raindrops (that also happened to have similar colors to my drawing!) and applied the “Filter” > “Blur” > “Spin Blur” effect to it.

 

Pay attention to a small red X that appears on your image when you apply this filter! You can drag and drop it around to determine the point from which the “Spin Blur” effect originates.

 

Then, I set this layer to “Pin Light”, copied it, and also manually adjusted the layer mask with various brushes.

Thank You!

That’s it for this tutorial! Thank you once again for reading or watching it. I hope that it helped give you some new ideas for your artwork; or exposed you to some tools in Clip Studio Paint you might not have been aware of yet.

 

If you have any questions, let me know! And if you created any artwork using these methods, feel free to show me - I’d love to see it! :)