Clip Studio - Colorize (Patreon)

First of all you'll need a lineart to work with. I just drew up something simple and forgot Noct's tail. Because I prefer to draw in Sai I did the drawing in there and then saved it as a psd so I could open it in Clip Studio.

You'll need the latest version of Clip studio but if you own a licensed version of Clip you should be able to update it for free - that' what I did.

For anyone thinking to buy Clip Studio - bide your time, they're often having sales so you would be able to get it for less. Either way it's a very useful and affordable program and it's very similar to Sai. 

Next you right click on the layer with the lineart. Choose Layer Settings followed by Set as Reference Layer. 

Create a new layer under the Lineart and colour however neat or messy as you please.

While you're on the colour layer click on Edit up at the top. Roll down to Colorize (Technology Preview) and then Use hint image and colorize. It will bring up a little loading box and then the changes appear.

It essentially blurs the colours while using the lineart as a guide though there is still a bit of shadow around it.

You can use accent colours and play around to get something more suited to you but at the same time its a great start to a picture.

It also is SUPER fast.

Once you have this much you can start correcting areas and use layer properties for shadows and highlights. 

► Tip 1: Create a white layer that you can use as a clip layer underneath and you will get rid of that shadow around the pic.

1. I duplicated the lineart, changed it to white and filled it. 

2. With the above layer under the colours. On the colour layer right click and go into Layer Settings and then Clip at Layer Below

3. See the difference (also I accidentally closed out without saving the previous so thank goodness this is quick)

► Tip 2: Drai mentioned to me that some people split the line art for the facial features onto a new layer because when it's very detailed the colorize can get muddled.

It is so hard to type colorize instead of colourise x''D 

Mostly just play around and discover how it reacts but honestly it's a real time saver.