Introduction 📢

Hello, I am Lepus Nix and I am here to share a tip that will help you imagine and draw room backgrounds easily.

 

At the end of this tutorial, making your own room scene, from different angles, should be an easy task.

A-Preparing 🛠️

In this tip, we are going to learn how to make a cozy room for one or more characters.

 

“Cozy” has a different meaning depending on the character's personality, but generally it defines a place where that character will feel safe and comfortable.

 

Here are some 3D room samples from the asset store.

💡Note: For couples, married couples and roommates, unless they share a common interest, they might both have their own cozy place somewhere in the room or in the house.

 

▶️ A-1-Imagining the room💭

To imagine the room, it is necessary to understand what kind of character we are making it for. Here are some hints on the thought process of room creation:

⇨Give 3 traits (at least) to the character(s) that will be reflected in the room ;

⇨In what era is the story set ;

⇨What is the character most looking forward to, when they go to their room and give it a spotlight in the illustration.

 

⭐Tip: Most rooms either put the bed or the desk with a computer on it, in a good spot but some characters might just enjoy the view from their balcony or window leaving it unobstructed.

 

 

To create a room, it is important to understand its composants:

➩one door at least ;

➩one window at least, unless it is a sealed room ;

➩Walls ;

➩a roof.

 

With those in mind, sketch the room layout from a top down view to be used as a reference.

➩Start with the walls ;

➩Add doors and windows ;

➩Place the furniture.

 

⭐Tip: It could make it easier to imagine the rest of the house, like how many rooms are there and where the room you are drawing is placed inside it.

 

▶️ A-2- Preparing the 3D assets🛏️

In this tip, we are going to use 3D objects to set up a whole room. A room made on a 3D layer has a few advantages :

➫it can be set in any angles and converted to lines and tones for an easier line work ;

➫it can be copied into new files as it is ;

➫it can be modified anytime.

 

To make a room like this, it will be important to gather all the 3D models that could be used in the room.

➫Clip studio already has pre-made 3D models for objects and scenes that can be used ;

➫More 3D models can be found on the clip studio asset store ;

➫Other assets with the fbx and obj format can be dragged and dropped in too.

 

💡Note: 3D objects can either be dragged and dropped in or registered as materials through Clip Studio Modeler or to the item bank.

 

The following 3D model file formats can be imported:

➟CLIP STUDIO 3D Character format (extension: cs3c) ;

➟CLIP STUDIO 3D Object format (extension: cs3o);

➟CLIP STUDIO 3D Background format (extension: cs3s);

➟Others: fbx, 6kt, 6kh, lwo, lws, obj.

 

More formats can be imported from older versions of Clip Studio Paint (c2fc and c2fr), check the details here:

 

B-Setting up the room 📦

There are many 3D assets in the Clip Studio asset store to fill the room of your characters.

By using the previous sketch, it will be easier to define what the room needs.

 

Here is an official room asset that can be used right away.

 

⭐Tip: Some older 3D assets are only available on the browser version of the asset store, downloading them will not directly put the asset in the materials folder, it will have to be done manually.

▶️ B-1-Basic 3D manipulation ⚙️

3D materials can be found in the 3D materials folder or in the download folder. you can access those via the menu [Window]→[Material] or by clicking on the file folders on the right side of the interface.

Drag and drop the 3D material that will be used into the scene. A 3D layer will be created for it and the tool will automatically change to the [Object] operation sub tool.

 

💡Note: Once the 3D material is in the scene, it might be too big to manipulate, to address that, Click the [Center Object] button [+] to automatically adjust it in the middle of the scene.

Here is a quick guide to the buttons available on the screen:

i- To operate the camera or choose presets ;

ii- To operate the object around the scene and/or reset those operations ;

iii- For advanced operations:

→ a - To activate or deactivate magnetism ;

→ b - To select other 3D objects available in the scene and access their properties ;

→ c - To modify the object and its layout.

 

⭐Tip: The camera can be controlled with the mouse when no button is active.

→ Hold left click to rotate in any direction ;

→ Hold right click to zoom in and out ;

→ Hold middle click to pan ;

→ Rolling the middle button will change the perspective.

 

💡Note: The list of 3D objects in the scene can be accessed in the tool property of the [Object] operation sub tool or by clicking on the wrench near the selection arrows. The list allows easier selection of the object or even its movable composants. it is a very useful tool and the lights can also be selected easily that way.

 

It is also possible to move, rotate and scale those selections or the camera in the [Allocate] and [Camera] section of the sub tool detail.

 

⭐Tip: It is possible to place 3D models of characters directly into the scene, to help with the composition.

The moving tools that will be very useful here are the buttons to place to ground level and to move the object on the ground.

▶️ B-2-Easily place the 3D object📐

A 3D material can be selected as a whole with a left click while using the [Object] operation sub tool. Selecting one will reveal a spherical new interface.

Clicking any parts of that interface will highlight it with an orange color and allow the user to do various operations.

i- The arrows will move the object in that direction while the sphere in the middle will allow all directions ;

ii- The inner curves will rotate the object on that axis with visual control of the angle;

iii- the outer circle will change the scale of the object.

While placing the objects in the 3D layer,

➬Start with all the biggest ones ;

➬Place the walls and/or the door and the windows to have an Idea of the room layout ;

➬Place all the decorations and lights ;

➬Try having a character or two in the room to have a feel of the height.

 

💡Note:

➬Each time an object is added, it will automatically follow the perspective setting of the scene.

➬Dragging and Dropping an object on a table will place it on that table.

➬To easily place something try selecting the object it will be on and use the camera presets to change the view.

 

Here is a room I filled with 3D assets from the asset store.

 

💡Note: With the "Ver.1.12.7. Update", using 3D models will be easier. It will allow operations on multiple objects and saving camera settings.

C-Making the illustration🖼️

▶️ C-1-Lines and tones conversion (LT)🖋️

Once the room is finished, find the angle to get the desired shot of the room and place the light source where you need it.

 

Right click on the 3D layer and select [Convert to line and tones…].

 

There are some options there but I would suggest using the options below.

➯Keep the Line Width to 2px at least ;

➯The accuracy of detection will change the amount of details that will be converted ;

➯Keep [Smooth] on at the highest level to have clear lines ;

➯Keep the [Extract the line of texture] as it will give more details in a second outline layer ;

➯Put the tone work on or off if you need an idea of the shadows on different layers.

 

The result of the conversion can be used as a very detailed sketch to build up your room background.

▶️ C-2-Lineart✒️

The lines obtained through the conversion can be used as a sketch reference for the lineart. By converting a 3D room, we saved time on working on the perspective and the layout of the room.

 

To do the lineart easily, we will use the curve subtool on a vector layer.

➱ Change the color converted sketch lines to ease the lineart process (or change the opacity) ;

➱Create a new vector layer ;

➱Draw the lines using the [Curve] sub tool without worrying too much about lines crossing;

➱Delete line excess with the [Vector] eraser or the [Hard] eraser ;

➱Adjust lines using the [Object] operation sub tool ;

➱Merge some lines using the [Connect Vector] lines sub tool.

 

 

💡Note: Check my previous tip for more details on using this process.

⭐Tip: Draw some elements on other vector layers so you can remove and replace them easily.

▶️ C-3-Colors and mood🎨

To color the lineart,

➱Make a layer/group for each colored elements of the scene ;

➱The color of that element can be changed easily using the [Convert to drawing color] edit option ;

➱For shading, use the shadows from the 3D layer or the tone from the converted layers ;

➱Use correction layers, and Hard or Soft light blending modes to improve the mood.

 

⭐Tip: Assign a key to the [Convert to drawing color] edit option to speed up your color choice. Check my tutorial on weather to learn more about gradients and blending modes.

Thank you, and congratulations, on reading this far. I hope this will help you for your illustrations and webcomics backgrounds.