By default, Celsys let you launch the CLIP Studio app, which is sort of a launcher app to manage your services with them. In there is an option to launch CLIP Studio Paint, but some of us prefer a one-click solution to the actual painting app. Thankfully that’s doable, you just need to know where …
When I started using the iPad version of Clip Studio Paint it wasn’t exactly obvious to me how to access cloud files from providers other than the CLIP Cloud. Whenever I tried to open a file, all I saw was two options: on my iPad iCloud Drive (Apple Cloud) I’ve just figured out how to …
Photoshop’s Blending Options are so powerful and useful, it’s easy to forget that there are other ways to accomplish the same thing. Case in point: the Stroke Effect, which lets us create an outline around an object. It’s essentially an outline we can apply, which can be used to separate a transparent object from the …
I’ve been puzzled by something for the longest time: when I inspect my keyboard shortcuts in CLIP Studio Paint, what is defined does not match what I need to press for it to happen. Conversely, defining a custom shortcut will sometimes show a combination I haven’t pressed. That’s just “normal” the Bizarro World of CSP! …
I’ve been having a hard time pasting in special characters from a script in Clip Studio Paint. I mean those that you don’t commonly find on a US keyboard, like German Umlaut characters or French accents. Although the characters arrive where they should via copy/paste from another app, the font does not match. I couldn’t …
To draw with symmetry, we can create a symmetrical ruler and start drawing with any brush we like. When we switch over to the eraser tool however, only one part of our line is erased. In other words, it won’t obey symmetry by default. It’s relatively easy to make that happen, albeit so unintuitive that …
Photoshop has a neat feature that lets us make adjustments only to the layer directly underneath, rather than all layers on the stack. It’s called a Clipping Layer. Clip Studio Paint has the same feature, but it doesn’t work by ALT-clicking in between layers. Instead, right-click on the adjustment layer (left thumbnail, NOT the mask), …
Image Layers can be rotated, flipped and mirrored in Clip Studio Paint. Choose the Object Selection tool (cube icon), then select the layer and take a look at the Tool Properties. There are two icons with arrows here, one to mirror the layer from left to right, the other to flip it upside down. Hope …
I just got hold of a Clip Studio TABMATE controller. It’s a little Bluetooth gadget you hold in your left hand while you’re drawing on a tablet with the other (or vice versa). I always wanted one of those so I don’t have to stretch my arm to reach a bazillion shortcut keys, and to …
The process of drawing panels for your comic might seem a little intimidating when you first try it out in CLIP Studio Paint. We all feel that way. Once you get used to it, you’ll be flying around. Let me show you how it works. You can create panels in two ways: either by using …
I’ve just worked out how to put Clip Studio Paint in full screen mode. This is in version 1.10.x on Windows (the Mac version behaves a little different). There are in fact two ways to make this happen. Head over to the Window menu, then at the very bottom there’s an option called Hide Title …
Manga Studio (or Clip Studio Paint as it’s now called) has a very versatile brush engine. We can customise our own brushes too, so that we can “paint” with our own images – just like the ones above, all of which come with the app.
The process is less than intuitive, but once you’ve done it a couple of times it grows on you. I tend to forget how these things work pretty much instantly, so here are some notes on how to create a brush from a seamless tiled image in Manga Studio.
In my previous article I’ve explained how to use Radial Symmetry in SketchBook Pro, and because I can never remember how to use it it Manga Studio (or Clip Studio Paint as it’s now called), I thought I’d explain it here for future reference.
The Radial Symmetry feature has been part of Manga Studio since version 5.0, but it’s slightly complex to get started with it if you’ve never used it before. Radial Symmetry is created with a Ruler Layer, so I’ll explain how to create and use one.
Here’s how to accomplish this rather daunting task:
Manga Studio has a nice feature that makes colouring areas on another layer a breeze: Reference Layers. The idea is that you draw your line art on one layer, but fill in your colours on another layer. The concept is the same as the Colour Drop feature in Procreate, but Manga Studio has a few …
I’ve been very happy with the performance of Manga Studio 5 on my Surface Pro (1st generation). Today I’ve discovered that there was an upgrade to to Manga Studio 5.0.6 available and installed it. All is working fine on Windows 10!
So I thought, perhaps I’ll try it out on my Mac too. Admittedly it’s been a while since I’ve used it on my desktop, simply because it’s just not as enjoyable to draw on my Wacom Intuos than it is to draw directly on the screen of my Surface Pro. But with a bit of practice I’m sure I’ll soon get back into it. Besides, Manga Studio is an awesome weapon to have on your graphic arsenal.
To my shock and surprise though, I’ve discovered that Manga Studio (before AND after the update to 5.0.6) had a huge brush lag problem out of a sudden! Where did that come from? Last time I checked, my hardware was working perfectly fine with Manga Studio!
By brush lag I mean, “make a stroke on the tablet, and see a line appear 1-2 seconds later on the screen”. Yes, it was that bad. Unusable is the word I’m looking for.
So what changed if it wasn’t my hardware?
I tell you what’s changed: El Capitan has been released, and being the avid geek that I am, I’ve updated my quad core Mac Mini to the latest and greatest OS X. El Capitan has been very good so far… until I’ve tested Manga Studio today! Yikes! I certainly had no such issues when I upgraded my Surface from Windows 8.1 to Windows 10. There had to be a way to get rid of that brush lag on my Mac too – and I think I’ve figured it out.
There is a (completely undocumented) way of importing 3D objects into Manga Studio 5 scenes. While you won’t find this described in the handbook, or even anywhere on the menu, it does work – if you know how. This works with both the EX version and the non-EX version of Manga Studio 5. It’s as …
Manga Studio has a great feature called Materials. These are akin to Photoshop’s Patterns, but I find they are implemented so much better in Manga Studio. In the olden days, traditional Manga tone artists would cut out small pieces of a pattern out of a larger piece of paper, then stick it to the coat …
Here’s a sketch of Sydney. She comes free with every copy of Poser. I wanted to see how I can use Poser as a figure reference builder and then trace over it in Manga Studio.
Today’s creative project was a Business Card Layout for Oliver Spanuth. I’ve made sure to keep in line with his website layout, again using Carrara Pro to create the 3D caustic glass letters. The backside is a picture of Oliver’s set, which he took on his Nokia mobile phone while shooting a video for San Glaser …