Transcript:
Hey, everybody, it’s LavenderTowne and recently I’ve been looking for something outside of Photoshop to draw my Webcomic and a lot of you had been suggesting Clip Studio Paint and so today I’m going to be drawing the next page of my Webcomic that I actually will upload alongside all the other pages in Clip Studio Paint a program that I’ve never used before, And then I’m gonna compare it to Photoshop and see how it stacks up. So just to make things clear. I am using the EX version of Clip Studio Paint. There’s two versions, including EX and Pro, and it sounds like Pro is actually the one with less features. So I went for EX just so that I have the best chance to have a good time with this program. Now Photoshop is notoriously expensive, and Adobe recently raised the price of their subscription service to Photoshop. So I feel like a lot of people are going to be looking for other ways to make their art and their comics. Now the good thing about Clip Studio Paint is it was actually originally called Manga Studio. So the whole thing is really designed to make comics. Now this was really surprising to me as someone who’s been using Photoshop and forcing it to sort of work for comics because there were so many things built into this program that made it very clear that they wanted you to make comics on it and just made it very convenient. So that was the first good point for this program. The first frustration I have with it. Though, is the fact that there is no way to just hold Shift and then drag for a straight line. Now this is a small nitpick, but there are a few different ways that you can make panels in this program, One of which makes a Vectorized panel that you can actually have a fill behind, which is interesting, but not something I would want to use. And there’s also clicking– Holding Shift. And then you see the lines sort of coming out of your cursor, and then you click again and it makes a generated straight line. Now there’s a subtle difference between having the computer. Hold your cursor straight while you actually use it versus having the computer make up a line between two points. And that is that you can’t freely adjust the weight and the pen pressure while you’re drawing the line. So it didn’t make my lines on this page. When it comes to the panels, a little bit less exciting, looking and that have a little bit less character, which is something that really bothered me. However, on the positive side again being able to import your own custom fonts as a make or break feature for me when it comes to my comics, and I actually found that my pre-made font was already built into the program. Because it was just pulling all the fonts that were already installed on my computer right into the program. So that was super convenient. Now originally, I was just going to try to use the trial version of this because the full EX version of this program is over $200 and I didn’t wanted to buy it without trying it, but it seemed like almost every feature that I was going to need in order to work on my comic were walked behind the limitations of the trial. So I just had to suck it up and give it a purchase. So I’m really hoping that I’m gonna end up liking this program. Otherwise, I just wasted, like, 200 bucks. But again, compared to the monthly subscription cost of Photoshop, it’s really not too much. So if this is able to completely replace it, it’s actually somewhat of a deal. Now there were a lot of little customizing things that I wanted to do when I open the program up. I changed the default text, size and font to the one I always use in my comic, and I also adjusted how sensitive the pen was to pressure because it was a little bit too. Even the way it came sort of out of the box, and that makes a lot of sense because, obviously. Hmong, an anime art, has a much lighter touch generally when it comes to pen pressure differences, whereas really cartoony Western art often has that, like more dramatic, thick line, kind of inking. So that’s one of the things that I did adjust right off the bat, And I still feel like there’s more that I’d like to change regarding the pen pressure because I still feel like I was straining a bit to get the kind of line variation that I tend to like in my comic. There are also some very smooth pens and not a lot of texture, even on the textured pen, so compared to the inking thick and thin pen that I’m used to using, It was definitely smoother than I was accustomed to. Though I didn’t mind it too very much. The inking features and Clip Studio. Paint are probably my least favorite in comparison to Photoshop, largely because the Pens that come with the program are all largely very similar. And you have to mess with them A lot to get the kind of variation I like. Also, it appears that most brushes or most pens that is that they have in the program automatically add a sort of fake flick at the end, So the old taper off, regardless of whether you actually did that flick in real life, which can make it a little harder to control, even though it might be easier for a beginner who has trouble with those flicks. If you’re used to doing them by hand, it can be kind of weird to see the program doing it for you, and sometimes you really don’t want it to do that. So it’s something that bothered me as a personal preference kind of thing. Though I should mention that I looked it up and it looks like it’s actually pretty easy to make custom brushes in this program. So if this was seriously something that I wanted to approach as my long-term solution for making Webcomics, I would think I would be able to make a reasonable dupe of that. Inking thick and thin brush in this program without too much trouble. It’s really the customizable elements of this program that make it seem so possible to replace. Photoshop, It’s one of the things that makes Photoshop really helpful. Is that even when they leave features out usually either a modder or even just the user can figure out a way to build brushes or tools or scripts to get done whatever job they need done. And I do think that looking at a lot of tutorials for it and things like that, It seems like it has a lot of that flexibility that makes. Photoshop so useful, And I should say that if you’re doing more detailed art or especially anime or Manga Style art. This program is pretty much pre-built with that in mind. So you might find that it’s basically perfect for you. If that’s the kind of style you guys like to use. Another thing I want to make really clear right now. Is that no matter? What program you use when you first open it if it’s not working quite right for you, don’t immediately panic and think that the program is not good because in every drawing program. I’ve ever used especially Photoshop. I found that I’ve had to make a lot of adjustments to basically every setting to make sure that it’s actually a good tool for me, and that involves things like moving around the workspace, So that all the windows that you need are actually open and then you close all the clutter that you don’t need and changing pen pressure, all of this stuff. It’s very standard for a program like this. So it’s definitely not something I would consider like a con of the program. It’s just sort of something that you almost always have to do. I think the only program that I’ve ever used that. I didn’t feel that way was probably like Paint Tool Sai. I feel like that program is so so friendly to the user. Right off the bat. But since I use Macs, I can’t really use Paint Tool Sai and I also believe that I think it’s abandonware at this point like it’s not being updated anymore, so I think it won’t be usable forever because they can’t keep updating it. Which is really a shame, because, yeah, it’s one of those drawing programs. I actually really love to draw in. But anyway, I’m getting a little sidetracked, So I’m almost done with the inking on this page and about to move to the coloring, and I do want to mention that I’m gonna do the coloring in a sort of normal way like I used to, when I was doing this comic in Photoshop, because I don’t want it to look drastically like different from the other pages that can be a real issue when you’re reading a comic and you notice, like sort of changes in the way that it’s starting to look randomly throughout the pages that can really break up like a reader’s experience. However, I am actually going to color it twice because lately. Clip Studio Paint has sort of been getting more attention because of this auto colorized tool or it’s kind of like a script or a setting, and it basically instantly colors. Your Leinarts without you really having to do anything. There’s two different versions of it One where you give a hints of where you want the color to go like you just put down blobs of the color that is right, and that will fill it out to the inked lines that it sees or there’s a version where you literally just click. Auto colorize on your Lineart layer. And it will just color it through. I guess Magic or something. It’s something that I had never tried before, and I really don’t automate most parts of my work, so it was something that I really wanted to check out just because it takes me so long to make these comics and especially since I started doing two videos a week on my Youtube channel, I’ve been really looking for ways to speed up the comic process, so I don’t have to miss updates on unfamiliar anymore. So, yeah, that was something I was really excited about when I downloaded this program and it’s one of the reasons I decided to actually purchase it rather than trying to make the trial work. And, you know, trying to work around stuff like that. I just really, I think that this program has a lot of potential and I wanted to give it a real honest shot. So now that all the inking is done, I took in a random panel from the most recent chapter, and I just started sampling colors from that little panel and it was very easy to add swatches. It was just like Photoshop like pretty much identical. So I just used the Eyedropper tool everywhere that I needed to pick up the color and put it into the Swatch set. And I should mention if you are someone who is using Photoshop right now? Clip Studio has a lot of overlap with Photoshop. So it won’t be very difficult for you to get used to this new program. If it’s something that you want to try out. Most of the shortcuts on the keyboard are exactly the same already. So you really don’t have to fiddle with that If you’re used to Adobe programs, So the Full Bucket tool on this program is super incredible. There’s a setting where you can actually have it. Take the selection that is already going to pick, and it just adds a little bit more color and a little bit wider of a range than it would normally. And that allows you to completely get rid of those like you know, those little like crunchy white pixels that you get in between your coloring and your lineart. Sometimes this completely eliminates that and makes it look so nicely done and so professional. The only way– The only time that I actually needed to go in and touch stuff up with the brushes on the hatching of the Fairy King’s nose and in his ears and compared to Photoshop where I pretty much have to touch up every area of lineart. That’s inside the face. This just really sped things up and made it such a more like enjoyable experience versus the very tedious and annoying experience of coloring with a Fill Bucket in Photoshop, Another feature that Photoshop should really have is the Gap Filler or a Gap Forgiveness kind of slider that they have in the Fill Bucket settings on Clip Studio Paint. I don’t know if they have a Tolerance, which is kind of like that in the Fill Bucket and adjusting that can give you better results with how much Photoshop notices, But if there’s just a straight up white gap in black liner, no matter where you set the Tolerance. It’s pretty much going to notice that gap and fill outside of the area that you want to be filled whereas. Clip Studio can actually close little gaps, depending on how you set the slider. So that was extremely convenient. It really sped things up for me, and it’s something that I really appreciate like. I noticed a actual difference in how I felt coloring this page versus in Photoshop, like it’s no joke and especially if you’re doing a lot of pretty hard coloring like in a comic, it will really make a difference for you. And how much you’re enjoying your drawing. There were moments where I actually forgot. I was using a new program and felt like I was just using Photoshop again Because of how similar their Layer Blending modes are and the Gradients. It all worked exactly the same, so I barely even noticed I was using a new program, which might be a benefit or a detraction, depending on how you feel about Photoshop. But I will say that since this program is one that you can just buy and own forever. If you’re someone who’s low on cash, it might be better to try out one of these rather than getting yourself hooked on to these subscription programs that Adobe is insisting on using despite everyone hating that. So, yeah, it’s definitely something to look into. I still don’t know. Honestly, whether or not I’ll be able to fully move over all of my comic work onto this program. I’m gonna have to fiddle a lot more with the lineart situation Because like, I said there were things that were making the lineart. Take longer and be more frustrating. But other than that, almost every aspect of working with this program was better for comics than it was in Photoshop. If you’re just an illustrator and you don’t really need to use comics, I still feel like this program will see you a little better. It’s a lot better to draw illustrations in a comics program than to draw illustrations in a photography program, which is what we’ve all been stuck with when it comes to you Photoshop. So now I want to show you guys what it does when I hit Colorize on this Lineart. So this is with no Hints. It just decided that it was gonna have this color palette and honestly, it looks really pretty and interesting. I mean, it doesn’t make any sense. It kind of looks like the autumn section of, like a Joannes sort of got oil painted all over my lineart, But then I wanted to try it with the Hints, hoping that maybe that would look a little bit closer to something I could actually put out as a. You know, finished page or something that I actually want to look like not just an experiment. So I gave it some Hints, and I use mostly the colors. I want, but I was, you know, sloppy with it so that I could still save some time even with this added step. And then I selected color eyes on that layer. It sort of colored it, right, But overall, it’s nothing that I would actually put out as a final piece instead of coloring the normal way, Though I didn’t actually waste this colorized layer. I ended up putting it as an Overlay layer over top of the whole comic, and it just made it look subtly more hand done and more sort of modeled and pretty. So I’m actually really happy that this tool exists. I’m just not going to be using it the way that it was intended or originally designed. So final verdict time. I honestly think that Clip Studio. Paint is a really good tool, and I feel like if I learn to use it better. It really could become my primary drawing program. If you are a comic artist, please let me know in the comments down below what you are using, and if you like it. Thank you so much for watching till the end, and I’ll see you next time. A big thank you to all of my patrons, including Bella Story, Calponpon, Cassitariu’s Clockwork Construct, Dionysius Haggorillaz, Dr Casket, Elizabeth Alban Hope Chilsome Imagine Creation Jjj, Joseph Copal, Carla Tapia, Katdid Thatcuter, LeBlehBlehBleh, Megan Claire, Midnight Doodles, Mikeadacytl, Okamorei, Ollie, Rome, Espinoza, Rosy Warlock, Sgt Pendulum, TheArtsyMoose, YaBoyST and Zoey Stardust.