Clip Studio Paint Process Tutorial: Ghoulia! (Patreon)

I've been drawing Monster High portraits as polish warmups for the past few months and honestly IT RULES. It lets me flex all kinds of art/texture/color muscles that I usually don't get to, in the context of my has-to-be-somewhat-coherent-does-not-provide-much-opportunity-for-sparkles OGN. In the interest of that, I remember how useful reading tutorials were when I was coming on up learning how to draw/use various programs, so here's a step-by-step process tutorial on how I created my last warmup portrait, everyone's favorite nerdy zombie, Ghoulia Yelps.

Remember: Start a new layer for EVERYTHING!

P.S: All tools used here can be found regularly with Clip Studio Paint or in the CSP asset store for free, eyy

1: Sketch

I always start with an ultra-quick sketch of the image, making sure I more or less get where everything's gonna be placed, plus - probably the most important part - get the emotional gist / physical gesture of the character in question. I love gesture, you guys!!!

2: Inking

I make comics so I ink everything, come @ me bro. I actually ink on several different layers because I'm super paranoid and never know when I'll need to overlap, separate, or erase parts of lines (that's how I get everything to look so flowy - I ink each overlapping line and then go back and erase the tips/ends of lines that shouldn't be there). You'll notice I inked Ghoulia's glasses a different color here - that's cause I got ~*~special plans~*~ for them later, plans that involve gradients and gradient maps. Shhhhh.

3: Background

I aaaallways color relatively, which means I use colors that depend on the colors around them to be coherent - eg, though Ghoulia's skin is grey, it may look different depending on the setting, lighting, etc. Starting with the background gives me a reference point for all the other colors that'll go into the image.

4: Skin!

With each MH portrait I do, I try to use some new tools I haven't checked out yet, and here I tried a new coloring brush! I reeeeeally like silky/smooth/thick/etc coloring brushes because I like layering shit on really really heavy. You might like a different kind of coloring texture! I get most of them from the Clip Studio asset store, and typically choose a "painterly" or blendy brush for color. (Lines are a different story - messy textured nibs for me please!)

In order to build depth, I first decide what color the shadows and highlights are going to be (here, the shadows are blue and the highlights are green). For shadows, I use the same coloring brush, adjusting for size, and move the color to be darker, more saturated, and closer to the shadow color (aka, nudge the color a liiiiittle bit closer to blue). 

After painting in the shadows, I use the same technique but opposite for the highlights: starting with Ghoulia's regular skin color and lightening the color, reducing the saturation, and moving the color closer to the highlight color. Keep building and painting (and don't get too married to the idea of using a SPECIFIC color - painting is about mixture!), and you'll build depth in no time!

5: Hair!!

I color hair in a few stages!

- Lay down the base hair color

- Use a soft coloring brush to do broad-strokes shadow and highlight areas

- Using a smaller, firmer brush, add in lowlight stripes in a darker, offset color to the hair.

- Add in highlights with the same small firm brush, and some alternate-color (see here: purple!) stripes for variation.

- Using a translucent watercolor brush, or a hair highlight brush (check out the Clip Studio asset store for some awesome options), set it to white, or a nearly-white color the hue of your lighting source, and add in a halo of light around the crown of your character's head, and any other voluminous sections. If you like, use a hard eraser to erase small stripes in the highlight for more volume.

6: Glasses

This one is easy - I selected the red of Ghoulia's glasses, applied a red-white-red gradient (here I used a gradient map with anondized red metal from the asset store), and voila! For a shinier metal look, ensure the white part of the gradient is thin.

7: Lips

For ghoulia's lips, I wanted a classic cherry-red lip gloss, so I laid down a dark red color with a small airbrush (pic 1), added dark red shadows using the Shadow airbrush (pic 2), added light pink highlights with the Highlight airbrush (pic 3), and then added some glossy shine using an opaque watercolor brush on her lower lip, in white (pic 4)!

8: Eyes

Oooh but the eyes are a PROCESS. 

- First we lay down the bright blue that'll be the basis for the eye color. 

- Then, using a thick coloring brush, we dab in darker areas around the shadow of the iris and lighter dabs on the lit parts. 

- Using a thinner version of the coloring brush, build up darkness and light.

- Then, go back in with a firm, thin brush to add a layer of dark color detail (2nd to last image). 

- Finally, apply some shine in white or light blue (blue for the eye color!) with an opaque, skinny brush on top! (I like to use the nib or opaque watercolor brush set to tiny!)

9: Eyebrows

Fill them in using one of the darker shades of your hair color - here I added a little light at the tops of them for lighting purposes.

10: Earrings

Here I used a zipper end brush from the asset store too, partly because ain't nobody got time for that, partly because the little technical details being brushes/assets makes the organic linework of the rest of it pop!

11: Fishnets

Now here's something I used a brush for specifically to achieve that artificial look! I applied a fishnet brush from the asset store curving along Ghoulia's arms, applying pressure where her biceps would be, and then went in and erased the excess (check out the mid-erase on the right!)

12: Shading on Skin

On a new layer (you've been layering, right? ...right??), take a broad coloring brush and swipe in wide areas of shadow using a dark, but saturated, color (here I'm using blue). Once you're done, set the Layer style to Soft Light and adjust the opacity to your liking.

13: Deadfast Comic Cover

Going in and laying down some basic comic book floppy issue front/back cover stylin', using the same brush as I used for Ghoulia's lineart. (Yep, the drips too!) Pro tip: If you're drawing blocks of text, parallel lines in a cluster work GREAT.

14: Eyeshadow

Here I applied some dark grey eyeshadow for Ghoulia using a layered, semi-transparent watercolor brush. Just apply like you would normal eyeshadow - here I did her upper lid and lower eye corners!

15: Nails

First I laid down a dark red base color using the coloring brush (opaque paint), then layered a glitter effect brush lightly over the top. Since I'm going for a literal brushed-on glitter nail polish overcoat look, I just left the glitter as-is!

16: Finishing touches!

Filling in her hair clips, and adding some light sparkle with an effect brush on her nails and glasses - and we're all done! <3 Go Ghoulia!

Thanks for coming on an art adventue with me! More illos, comics, tutorials, nonsense, and goth stuff to come, as always! :)