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KennethLopezJr921
Nov '23

A month ago for my birthday, I got Clip Studio Paint as a replacement for the program I've been using for my comic and all of my digital illustrations; Photoshop. Over the past year, its performance has taken a sharp down turn due to frequent crashing and annoying bugs Adobe still hasnt taken the time to fix, and my tolerance for such things has died out completely so I needed a new art program. Being in this community for a such a long time, I decided to go with Clip Studio Paint because of how hyped it is. I've been using it from quite some time and so far, I have mixed feelings about it. While I do think its a good program, I feel like it is overhyped because in some places, it feels a like downgrade compared to photoshop. Like you cant overwrite a saved selection like you could in photoshop, there are legit no layer effects, it seems to not want to save files that get larger than 100MB, brushes imported from photoshop perform worse in CSP, and from what I can tell so far, cell shading is going to be a lot more tedious and frustrating because the only way I've found is a combination of the brush tool and bucket tool -_- (not that I use that method in photoshop but I mostly did that when I first started using it and I was able to find other methods of shading that allowed me to sit back and not hunch over my tablet all day). Now to be fair, I am willing to write most of these issues off as me being a complete newbie. Which is why I'm asking for help because I want CSP to be the program but from what I can tell, it sometimes feels like a step down from photoshop.

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    Nov '23

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    Nov '23
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Lensing
Nov '23

I don´t like the clip studio interface, I customized it but still don´t like it.
The move tools are not practical, it´s complicated to move things around
on the canvas and that´s something I´m doing all the time in other programs.

Photoshop is the better program, it´s just too expensive.

Autodesk Sketchbook is way more user friendly, especially when you zoom in
and out a lot and cut and move things.

I will still use clip for the flatting process because I like the lasso tool, I also use
the program to customize panels. Even though learning how to customize the
panels + moving them took me a while and it still often doesn´t work

NickRowler
Nov '23

As someone who also had to switch from Photoshop to CSP, I agree. There are a lot of features missing which is super frustrating.

I think my best tip is to keep practicing and playing around with tools. You can also customize key shortcuts to be more like Photoshop. You can also move windows around until you find something that fits.

KelheorRegular
Nov '23

Did you get an Ex version? Because Pro should be much better, at least I don't see the problem with layer effects. I don't have special tips as I only lined the comic (no coloring) and did some illustrations in CSP, but the cell shading must be better in CSP. You might want to read on Ice cream tool, and I don't know what you used for cell shading in Ps, but CSP just as well has the lasso tool and whatnot and it's bucket is much better than Photoshop's. As for brushes, well yeah, you should probably spend some time finding substitutes. I actually thought that the Ps brushes should work ok, but you can get a variety of brushes for free, maybe some of them will even be better.

KennethLopezJr921
Nov '23
Lensing

You do bring up a good point about the price thing. I remember wanting to get photoshop at home, since I had started editing comic pages in that program during school and I didnt want to risk getting a different program that wasn't compatible with psd files which I now know isnt an issue, but a huge barrier was the price tag. The only reason I was able to get it was through the adobe creative cloud subscription with the student discount (I was in high school at the time) and even when I got it, I still couldnt use it since I didnt have windows 10, and the only way I could install it was to create space on my then really small hard drive, but I don't have any external drive to back up those files and yes, my situation was that convoluted. That was the only time I had issues with hardware until this year where I had to upgrade my graphic card driver 2 times within 6 months each other just so photoshop wouldnt crash every day on me. Its also that reason (having to seemingly overhaul my entire computer just for it run well) that I wanted to move away from it completely.

Speaking of flatting, it seems kind of pointless and not as good as it is in photoshop. Like I save a selection and if I go in, reselect it, and add to it, I cant save what I did to the existing selection. The only thing I can do is make a new selection layer which is really inconvenient. I would just use the bucket tool going forward but that method has its own faults too.

KennethLopezJr921
Nov '23
Kelheor

Oh no....I did buy the EX version because it had more features and was specifically geared for comics. And when I say buy, I mean I bought it outright and didn't pay for the subscription. If what you say is true then Im fucked :cry_02:

For cel shading, I mostly used the pen tool to make vector shapes, and would use a combination of intersection and subtracting selections to fill in areas and prevent areas from being filled in with the wrong color. CSP does not have that unfortunately. The only method I found for cel shaidng outside brush and bucket is the lasso fill which I feel like is more of a gimmick and not a tall I would use heavily in the future. I havent heard of the ice cream tool though. How does it work?

KelheorRegular
Nov '23
1

Ah, then maybe I mixed those two, sorry! I mean the more expensive one (yeah, just looked it up, sorry for the mix-up)
Yeah, CSP's lasso is not as great as PS's unfortunately, or at least I haven't find the way to use it better.
Ice cream tool is a superior kind of bucket.

I am trying to find the CSP tutorial on cell shading by one artist which seemed good, if I would, I will post it later ^^

Upd: Oh, I just looked and there's Bezier curve and lasso fill in the Straight Line tool, maybe it will be a good Pen substitute??

Shanny8
Nov '23

I've been using both on and off since I've been doing digital art, and while I cant say I'm deeply entrenched in both to know full functions, I have since let PS go because with every new update they kept taking away features that I liked, and added stuff that I didnt like or thought was pointless. I do have an [ARRRR] version of PS that I still use mainly to format pages that I've done in CSP...

I havent had issues with the lasso tool except on the polygon setting where they make it hard to "lasso in" tight areas(with small corners/spaces- and that's with BOTH programs. I dont have any particular issues with flatting since I just lasso and use the paint bucket; the only issue that I has with CSP when I first got it was that I didnt like its gradient effects- I felt PS's gradient FX looked better so for a long time I'd color my pages in PS...I just started coloring in CSP back in 2020 since Photoshop's updates kept pushing me away from general basic use of the program. Clip Studio's gradient tool has gotten better since, so that was another reason I was able to let go of PS usage by a great extent.

I just imported some lightning brushes over to CSP from PS and so far I havent had any real big issues with them

BoomerZ
Nov '23

CSP is a drawing program, photoshop is a photo manipulation program that can draw on. For cell shading, just make a new layer under your line art (but above you paint layer), draw the area you want filled with pen tool, on the fill tool turn on scaling mode so it fill under your line work, go over with Paint unfilled area tool to get rid of any small 1 pixel dots, and then just adjust opacity to shadow on that layer. very quick and easy.

KennethLopezJr921
Nov '23
Kelheor

Just tested out the Bezier curve tool and its probably the closest thing to photoshop pen tool csp has, without the ability to save paths though. I'll do more tests with it later. As for the ice cream tool, Im not sure how to use it currently :sweat_01:

KennethLopezJr921
Nov '23
BoomerZ

Not what I was exactly asking but thanks anyways. Also is there a way to add to saved selection layers? From what I can tell, you cant make any addition to saved selection layers if you reselect it. It will only give you the option to save it as a new selection layer which can be pretty inconvenient.

BlairFujin
Nov '23
KennethLopezJr921

Have you been using it on raster or vector layer? Lines created on vector layer can be edited later on (but you can't add fill on it, you need to do it on a raster layer underneath it)

KennethLopezJr921
Nov '23

I've been using raster layers for colors and line art. I never do both on the same layer, period.

Shanny8
Nov '23

(I think) they were referring to filling in blacks; you can't fill in blacks on a vector layer- you have to make a raster layer below it to fill in black areas...

KennethLopezJr921
Nov '23
Shanny8

Hmm I see. I can understand where you are coming from with the PS Updates. I never really had a problem with them until recently because they've been adding so much new stuff that's really gimmicky and A.I. oriented, meanwhile an annoying glitch that has been present since March of this year has yes to have been addressed or fixed by any of the updates. Its really annoying ngl

KennethLopezJr921
Nov '23
Shanny8

Aaah I see! That isnt an issue for me since I barely use vector layers at all. Im not really a fan of them if Im being quite honest :sweat_02:

KennethLopezJr921
Nov '23

Its occurred to me that in order for to help better explain what Im looking for (in terms of cell shading in CSP), I should explain my shading process in excruciating detail. I hope I can post this all...

For cell shading in photoshop, I've been using the following tools
-Brush
-Bucket
-Lasso, Polygonal, Magic Wand tools (for saved selections)
-Pen Tool

Even though my process has been shaken up over the years, I've mostly used the pen tool to create the shading and shape outlines. I also use for isolating certian areas that a saved color selection would fill in with the wrong color; pretty much areas not isolated by inked lines. I mostly use it for characters like this one:

As you can see, the area around his eyes is white, but as you can also see, there arent any inked lines to separate that from the blue. So a selection made by the wand tool or going in with the bucket tool wouldn't work, especially if I want to keep that area isolated during shading. So I would go in with the pen tool, create a vector shape in the area I dont want to be blue, and when I start filling in those areas, I can right click on the saved path, click 'make selection' on the drop down menue, and then click "subtract from selection". I also use this type of method for shading, where I'll also click "Intersect with Selection". This is pretty much how I've done my color/shading for a while now. As for the bucket tool, I mostly used it as an optional way of filling in stuff while not using the keyboard commands for fill. This goes way back before I knew that by checking off "all layers", you could use it outside the line art layer. The brush is mostly for making small additions to the shading but I only started using it recently as a replacement for the pen tool for my latest episode which was in color. A lot precise but very tedious.

But this method wont work in CSP due to the lack of any pen tool (at least photoshop variant of it. And while you can save selections via selection layers, I dont know of a way of adding onto them without making a new selection layer. This issue is only relevant now since Im making a new cover for my series in it, but it isnt the only thing Im struggling to grapple with or get used to in CSP

BoomerZ
Nov '23

Why do you need to do it this way? What is the point?

RedLenai
Nov '23

I'm someone that switched from Photoshop CS2 to Paint Tool SAI then to Clip Studio (With Medibang Paint Pro and Krita in between)

Literally all of what I've used except for Clip Studio was pirated, free or outdated. I bought CSP for only $20 USD back I think 4 years ago, it was on offer through a website I don't recall anymore and never faced many issues compared to the other programs.

It's just a matter of time to get used to it and explore the program, and CSP Pro is not that bad for making comics, it was even more comfortable for me than PS or Medibang.
For coloring I simply do the following:

  • Sketch in one layer
  • Lineart in a vector one
  • Base colors using the fill with no gaps tool (Ice-Cream one from ASSET Store)
  • Shadow in multiply layer
  • Light in Luminous layer

Still, if you want to take full advantage of CSP, I believe in this thread I've shared a guide for people who switched from Photoshop to Clip Studio

https://forums.tapas.io/t/the-tapas-art-master-library/780154

ThunderChicken
Nov '23

I feel your pain. I only got back into drawing last year after a 20 year hiatus and I downloaded Krita. I've gotten fairly good at using it (though I say it myself), but it crashed far too often on my Surface Pro 8 (Core i5, 8GB RAM). It was so bad that I had to change the settings to automatically save every minute. I was becoming frustrated, so I downloaded CSP (the subscription one) because it seemed to be the go-to software.

And I got totally butt-lost. I could not get it to do anything that I wanted to do, so I kept on going back to Krita. I even got to the point where I could tell when it was going to crash - there's a memory usage bar at the bottom, and if that sucker gets orange or red, you'd better save your work now!)

Meantime I replaced the Surface Pro 8 with a Dell Inspiron 7630 2-in-1. Core i7, 16GB RAM, and, most importantly, a 3480x2400 OLED screen. And that has made all the difference. The faster processor and more RAM has completely fixed the crashing in Krita. It's been a delight to use.

Meanwhile, I'm still paying for a subscription to CSP. We're coming into winter, which means that I should have more free time to try it again (and to try and learn it). I really want to give it a shot, because it looks like it's got a lot more features than Krita. It's just really, really complicated.