WEBTOON Basics Creating Your Own Brushes and Materials
GCC Academy
Hello
I am Webtoon Artist Joomyung, and I'm in charge of this Clip Studio lecture
Clip Studio is a professional webtoon program widely used by everyone
from beginners to professional creators
Nowadays, not only independent creators
but also studios and companies use Clip Studio instead of Photoshop for their projects
Clip Studio offers a variety of features tailored for Webtoons and comics
It is a professional program optimized and verified for stability
when creating Webtoons
Today, we will cover the basics of starting with Clip Studio
and learn the essential skills
We will explore how to begin using Clip Studio for Webtoon projects
and maximize its efficiency through various examples
I'm sure this will help you work on your Webtoon project
Let’s start by understanding the basics of using Clip Studio
The flow of this lecture
will cover the program’s structure, interface, canvas setup, and tools
Structure and Interface
When Clip Studio is launched
you can press the blue button on the left side of the interface
to open Clip Studio Paint
Turn off the new window for now
and let’s first go over the basic interface of Clip Studio Paint
When Clip Studio Paint is running
the section at the very top is called the Tool Bar
If you click on each tool in the Tool Bar
you’ll see that all the features available in Clip Studio
are categorized for easy access
Below the Tool Bar is the Command Bar
The Command Bar is a convenient area
where you can place frequently used functions or assign shortcuts
Since many users now work on tablets
you can assign shortcuts to the Command Bar
or use it intuitively with touch controls
Now, let’s start from the far left
The Tools section is located on the left side
and it contains all the tools used in Clip Studio
Within the Tools section, the panels are
Sub Tool
Tool Property
Brush Size
and Color Circle
On the right side, you’ll find panels for Navigator, Layer Properties, and Layers
This entire layout, composed of these panels, is referred to as a Workspace
To put it simply, you can think
of the Workspace as a desk for drawing
This workspace can be rearranged to suit your preferences
and you can also save the layout you create
Let’s start by adjusting the workspace for easier use
The current workspace layout is the default setup of Clip Studio Pain
so we’ll reconfigure it into a layout that’s more practical for use
You can click and drag each panel with your mouse
to reposition them or even detach them entirely from the interface
Before customizing the workspace, you can also remove tools you don’t use
Click the X button at the top-right corner of a panel to close it
If you close a panel, don’t worry
Go to the Window menu at the top and re-open it
As mentioned earlier
think of the workspace as your drawing desk
It’s always a good idea to organize your desk before starting
From the left side, place the Sub Tool at the top
followed by Tool Property underneath it
Drag them into position accordingly
Finally, place Brush Size at the very bottom
For unused tools, detach them from the interface and close them
For the right side, place the Color Circle at the top
Below that, add the Layer Property panel
Panels or tools that aren’t used can be removed
At the very bottom, place the Layer panel
Since the layer panel often contains a lot of information
it’s a good idea to make this panel larger
Next to it, you’ll find a small Material Folder icon
Clicking on it
will reveal that materials are organized into folders by category
It's a lot of information and can reduce the drawing space
We’ll minimize it for now
You can always expand it as needed
The basic setup of the Clip Studio Paint workspace is complete
Once you’ve created a personalized workspace
Go to the top
to Tool Bar
Choosing Register Workspace to save your layout
I’ll save my workspace as
Webtoon Workspace 1
Canvas
Now, let’s explore Canvas settings in Clip Studio Paint
To open a new canvas
go to the Tool Bar at the top
click File
and select New
In the New Project Window
you’ll find options for the type of project
Illustration
This option is for creating a single standalone illustration
Webtoon
Specifically designed for creating webtoons
Comic
Suitable for creating multi-page comics
The fourth option is Doujin Entry
It is ideal for creating doujinshi or page comics with publication in mind
Following that is Show All Comic Settings
which allows you to further customize
the configurations for comics or doujinshi as needed
Next, Animation
Clip Studio Paint isn’t just limited to illustrations or comics
It’s also a highly versatile tool for creating animations
That’s all for the basic categories under Open Canvas
Let’s now try creating a new file
I’ll start by selecting the Illustration category
Here, you can name your canvas
Let's call it Illustration Work 1
As you scroll down
you’ll notice a Presets section
Clicking on it reveals a variety of preset paper sizes
While there are many preset options available
I won’t choose one just yet
Below the presets
in the Canvas section, you can adjust the size of your canvas
The width, height
and resolution can all be customized here
You’ll also find an option at the bottom to change the default expression color
If you select Custom
you’ll see additional settings paper sizes
like B4, B5, B6, and A4
They are commonly used paper sizes
For this demonstration, I’ll go with A4
Currently, the resolution is set to 72 dpi
If you click on the arrow next to the resolution
you’ll see a range of resolution options to choose from
For digital work like posting online, 72 dpi is an adequate resolution
However, for detailed artwork, 72 dpi might be too low
If you’re working on illustrations, it’s recommended to choose a resolution of 300 dpi or higher
At 300 dpi, your work
will not only be suitable for web posting
but also for printing or publication without quality issues
When I initially selected A4 size and then adjusted the resolution afterward
the width and height didn’t automatically adapt to the resolution
To fix this, select a different paper size and then switch back to A4
This will adjust the canvas dimensions to match the new resolution
As we scroll down further
we come across the Basic Expression Color setting
While the default is set to color, clicking the arrow
provides three options
color, gray, and monochrome
The color option allows for full use of a wide range of colors
while gray enables black-and-white work with a rich grayscale
Monochrome restricts you to pure black and white without any mid-tones
For this demonstration, I’ll select color
Continuing down, there’s an option labeled Paper Color
If you uncheck this
the canvas will appear completely blank without any background color
With the option checked
a white background is automatically applied
Clicking on the color section
allows you to customize the background color of the paper to suit your preference
Moving further down, there’s the Template section
If you check this,
the materials panel will open
showing a variety of templates provided by Clip Studio Paint
These can be applied to create new files
For now, I’ll skip using this option
Below that, we have the Moving Illustration Creation section
which allows you to make moving illustration
It is handy for creating animated illustrations or even emojis
At the very bottom, there’s the Timelapse Record feature
This records every step of your work on the canvas
and compiles it into a video
For this demonstration, I won’t enable this option
Now let’s proceed to create the canvas
Once the canvas is ready, we'll draw a few lines with the brush tool
Drawing Lines with a Brush
I’ll start by using the default G-Pen brush
provided by Clip Studio Paint to draw a line
If you’re opening Clip Studio Paint for the first time
you can also adjust the pen pressure settings to match your drawing style
Go to the top menu
select File
and scroll down
to the Adjust Pen Pressure Detection Level option
Clicking this
will open a dialog box where you can fine-tune your pen pressure settings
You can proceed with the default pen pressure settings
but you can also enable the Show Pen Pressure Graph option
This will display a graph that dynamically adjusts as you draw
When I draw a line, you can see the graph
reflecting the changes in pen pressure
You can also reset the settings to their default state
or manually adjust the graph
As mentioned earlier, the graph can always
be reset to its default settings
so feel free to experiment with it
I’ll adjust the curve slightly downward
to make the pen pressure more responsive
Since you can return and tweak these settings anytime
I recommend trying different configurations
Tools
Now let’s move on to the tools panel
Think of it as your pencil case
within Clip Studio Paint
Starting from the top
I’ll explain the most commonly used tools
The first tool is the Magnifier
This tool allows you to zoom in and out of your canvas
making it a frequently used function, I recommend you remember the hotkey for this
No matter which tool you have selected, whether it’s the Pen
Magic Wand
or Selection tool
you can activate the Magnifier
by holding down Control and Spacebar
or Alt and Spacebar
This allows you to use the Magnifier temporarily
You can click to zoom in or out
or hold the shortcut keys and drag for more precise adjustments
Next is the Move Tool
Within this, we see the Hand Tool
The Hand Tool lets you move the canvas freely
The Rotation Tool allows you to rotate the canvas as needed
Following this is the Operation Tool
which is versatile and can manipulate objects on the canvas
To demonstrate this
I’ll quickly draw two examples
I just drew something
on a Raster Layer
And let's create a Vector Layer
So I have two drawings here
I will talk about the raster
and vector layers in more detail at another time
Back to the operation tool
when using the object tool to select a raster layer
you can directly select and move the layer with the drawing
Now let's go to the vector image
Here, the details of the points and lines within the vector layer become visible
The object tool comes handy when working with vector layers
I'll talk about this again later
Next is Layer Selection
The layer selection tool allows you to drag and select an area
automatically moving to the layer with the drawing
In the layer section
when you use the layer selection tool, it moves to the layer corresponding to the selected area
Even if the drawings are on separate layers
this tool allows you
to select all relevant layers simultaneously
So we can select two layers together
The layer move tool
enables you to move the contents of a selected layer
Let me select the raster layer and move it
and the drawing within that layer will shift accordingly
Now, select and move the vector layer
then the contents of the vector layer will move as well
Next is the selection tool
which is an essential tool frequently used during work
The first option within this tool is the rectangular selection tool
which allows you
to select objects or drawings within a rectangular area
Below the selection tool, a set of options
known as the selection launcher appears
Let’s explore the options in the selection launcher
from left to right
Deselect
It clears the current selection
Crop Canvas to Selection
It trims the canvas to match the selected area
The next tool is Invert Selection
which reverses the selected area so that the outside becomes active
The Expand Selection option
When you click on it
it asks how many pixels you’d like to expand the selection by
It's by pixels
I'll increase it by 10 pixels so that we can see it
It is 10 pixels bigger
Similarly, the Shrink Selection option
reduces the selection area
Now let's reduce it by 20 pixels
It's useful for refining your selection boundaries
The Delete button
removes the contents of the selection area
Note that this operation is layer-specific
so ensure the correct layer is selected before using this function
Let's come back
Next is Delete Outside Selection
To explain this
Let me duplicate and merge layers
Delete Outside Selection
It removes everything outside the selected area
Next is Cut and Paste
Let's try it
We have a new layer here
It cuts the content from the selection area
and pastes it onto a new layer
Next is Copy and Paste
Let's do it
We have a new layer
It duplicates the content of the selection area
and places it onto a new layer
Let's come back
Next, Resize, Scale, and Rotate
Click on it
It allows you to resize, scale, or rotate the selected content
Next is Fill
It fills the selection area with the currently selected color
The New Tone option
allows you to add screen tones within the selected area
You can adjust tone settings like this
You can add screen tones like this as well
Finally, Selection Launcher Settings
It let you customize the options
that appear in the selection launcher
You can select each like this
to remove
or add tools and functions to tailor the launcher
Let's stop here for the Selection Launcher Settings
Next, Auto Selection Tool
This tool automatically selects a region
It's a little open at the bottom here
Let's close it up and select it again
The Auto Selection Tool
It's a frequently used tool
Next is Eyedropper Tool
For this, let me fill this with a color
Click the color with the eyedropper tool
to select it and reuse it elsewhere
Next, we have a variety of brushes
We have pens, pencils
brushes, and airbrushes
I recommend you try these and find which is your favorite
Next is Decoration Tool
It's a particularly versatile feature in Clip Studio Paint
It allows you to decorate your illustrations with pre-made textures
Like this
The brush with decorations are added right away
I can make the flowers too
It can add a nice touch to the drawing with decorations
You can purchase or create your own assets
for further personalization
Next, Eraser Tool
It comes with a hard eraser, a soft eraser, and a vector eraser
I'll talk more about the vector eraser later
Next is Blend Tool
This tool allows you to mix different colors seamlessly
For example
let me add some blue next to the red
And let's blend the two
As you can see, the two colors are nicely blending in
You could blend the two
or use Blur
or use Fingertip to bring the color in
Next is Liquify Tool
It enables you to manipulate the pixels of a completed drawing
This tool is incredibly versatile
allowing you to adjust of your artwork as you need to
Like this, you can move the pixels around to adjust the drawing
Next is Fill Tool
which allows you to fill selected areas with a solid color
Let's undo the coloring
Choose a color you like
pour it in
You can fill that color in the drawing
It's also called Bucket Tool
Next is Gradient Tool
It lets you create gradients of colors
It comes in handy for adding background textures
Next is Shape Tool
It enables you to draw various geometric shapes
including straight lines, curves, rectangles, ellipses, and more
Next, Panel Border Tool
It's useful for comic or webtoon creators
allowing you to create and manage comic panels easily
With this tool, you can organize
your artwork into distinct sections or folders
Next is Ruler Tool
It gives you rulers like straight, curved
shape-based
and even specialized rulers to assist in drawing
Next is Text Tool
You can add and edit text directly within your artwork
I can write a text like this
It's versatile enough to not need a software like Photoshop
Next is Speech Bubble Tool
It enables you to create speech bubbles easily
It's a unique feature of Clip Studio Paint
Next is Line Width Adjustment Tool
It lets you adjust the thickness of existing lines
By selecting this tool
you can widen or narrow
the line thickness as needed
So you can make it thicker
or thinner, like this
This feature supports both raster and vector layers
At the very bottom is Drawing Colors
You can set the main and sub-colors for your artwork
There’s also a transparent option below the main and the sub
You can't choose a color here
You can select colors directly from the color circle
or double-click the drawing color
to open the color settings window
This concludes the overview of the basic interface
workspace, and essential tools
We've learned to use Clip Studio Paint
In the next session, we’ll dive into sketching and pen strokes
Thank you
Structure and Interface Structure Features in Clip Studio Paint are categorized Workspace with tools arranged for Webtoon
Interface Rearrange the workspace configuration for ease of use Change and delete tool positions using drag Save your own workspace as a tool window workspace
Canvas Classified by category, so you can set the canvas to suit the purpose of the work Clip Studio provides various papers, and you can set the width, height, resolution, and basic expression color
Can set various resolution options, and resolutions above 300 dpi are easy to upload, print, and publish images on the web
Gray: An option for grayscale drawings with rich mid-tone Monochrome: Allows only pure black and white without mid-tones
Template: Templates provided by Clip Studio can be used to create new files Time Laps: Records all canvas work processes and can generate videos
Tools Magnifier: Zooms in or out on the canvas Hand Tool: Moves the canvas Layer Move Tool: Moves drawings within a selected layer
Rectangle Selection: Selects and transforms content within a rectangular area Eyedropper: Extracts colors from painted areas
Liquify: Adjusts pixels to modify the drawing Shape Tool: Creates various shapes and lines Line Width Tool: Adjusts the thickness of drawn lines
Color Selection: Allows choosing main and sub-colors for drawing