Clip Studio Paint
In depth Magical character art
Selenada crafts a stunningly detailed artwork using the wealth of tools in Clip Studio Paint
For this illustration, I was asked to create a fun, bright image with the theme of making artwork magical by the developers behind the digital drawing app Clip Studio Paint.
Although it was my first time painting with the software, I found myself completely immersed in the world of digital art from start to finish. It features a wide variety of brushes and I loved how the colours mix and blend just as they do when working in traditional media.
In this walkthrough, I’ll show you how to use Clip Studio Paint’s many features to make each stage of the painting process smoother, from the first sketches right the way through to the painting and making those final tweaks for the perfect image. Now I’ve tried the app, I can’t wait to explore more possibilities with it in my next artwork!
1 Rough sketches
Start with a few rough colour sketches to meet the brief, aiming for simplicity. I like to keep lines and colours on separate layers so the painting process is easier later on. At this point, I avoid polishing any details, as the concepts are still fluid and subject to change. This allows me to focus on the overall composition and mood without getting distracted by any intricacies that may evolve.
2 Model exploration
The 3D design models in Clip Studio Paint offer an easy way to explore various angles and compositions, and are good for getting accurate proportions and hand placement. With this tool, I adjusted the character’s pose for precision and realism. This guarantees the finished art is both natural and balanced.
3 Repaint the sketch
Once the sketch is approved, start to refine it. I embraced a shift from a galaxy to a rainbow theme, integrating a new background and reworking the brushstrokes to unleash a spectrum of colours, lifting the backdrop’s luminance and injecting a burst of vibrancy.
4 Refine sketch lines for painting
Hide the colour sketch layer, and refine or remove unnecessary details. During this process, I used fine line brushes found in the vast library of Clip Studio Assets. These tools enable precision when you’re defining contours and enhancing the clarity of the composition.
5 Colour block with Lasso Fill
Block in the shapes of the skin, clothes, hair and paint splash on separate layers with the Lasso Fill tool and Alpha
