Hello! My name is Liz Staley and I’m a long-time user of Clip Studio Paint (I started using the program back when it was known as Manga Studio 4!). I was a beta-tester on the Manga Studio 5 program and for Clip Studio Paint, and I have written three books and several video courses about the program. Many of you probably know my name from those books, in fact. I write weekly posts on Graphixly.com and on CSP Tips, so be sure to come back every week to learn more Clip Studio Tips and Tricks from me!

Sometimes you just want to draw a character and not have to worry about a background, but you also don’t want to just have white space either. Here are three things you can do to make your piece look more finished without having to create a tedious background!

In this article we will cover the following topics:

The Long Shadow

Abstract Shapes

Focal Point

Let’s get drawing!

The Long Shadow

This technique does require a few steps, however it’s probably my favorite one on this list because of how cool it looks! First we need to make a silhouette of our character. To do this I’m going to select outside of the character on my line art layer using the wand selection tool. Be sure to get any inner areas in the selection - my example required selecting where the arm is bent because it obviously wasn’t included in the initial selection. 

In the launch bar beneath the selection, click the “Invert Selection” icon. Now we have a selection in the perfect shape of the character!

Create a new layer below the character and fill the selection with a color of your choosing. You can also set this layer to Multiply and adjust the opacity if you wish. I did so that the shadow color would mix with the purple background color!

Now you can deselect the silhouette either by using Ctrl+D or tapping the Deselect icon in the selection launch bar. 

Next we’re going to make it look like our silhouette is a long shadow going across the background to give some depth! Go to Edit - Transform - Free Transform. Then use the control points around the outside of the bounding box to stretch out the silhouette until it looks like a cast shadow.

Try to keep the point where the shadow meets up with the parts of the character that touch the ground in mind! The feet areas of my silhouette got a bit misaligned, so to fix this I did Edit - Transform - Mesh Transformation after doing the Free Transform to move just the foot areas back so they’re in the right position.

Apply the transformation once you’re happy with the shape.

Now let’s add a bit of blur. Go to Filter - Blur - Gaussian Blur. Make sure the Preview box is checked and move the slider until you like the amount of blur around the edge of the shadow. 

Now you can add a bit of a fade to the furthest away part of the shadow using a soft eraser, and add a bit of color variation in the shadow if you’d like to make it look a bit more realistic. 

And now we’ve made a simple cast shadow that looks great as a background!

Abstract Shapes

This one is simple but it can still go a long way to making your illustrations look finished without making a lot of extra work for yourself. 

Start off by making a new layer below your character. Then use one of the Marquee selection tools to create a shape on the new layer. I chose a square, but you can use a circle, rectangle, or anything else your heart desires! Fill the selection in with a color of your choosing.

Duplicate the shape layer and move the duplicate to offset it from the first shape. Change the blending mode to something like Multiply (you can use other blending modes as well, so experiment and see what looks best!)

To add a bit more interest, you can use the steps in the previous section to create a silhouette of your character and slightly offset it to make a drop shadow. 

Blur the drop shadow using the Gaussian Blur filter, change the blending mode, and lower the opacity. You could also use a layer mask to show the shadow only on the background shapes if you’d like!

Focal Point

I feel like this one works best on a close up shot, so I zoomed in on my drawing for this example. This is an easy way to make a cool focal point to draw the viewer’s eye.

Fill the layer behind your character with a dark color. Then create a new layer above the character. Use the polyline selection tool to make one or two “triangles”, leaving a strip open where you want the focal point to be - in my case it’s my character’s face. Fill these two triangles with a dark color and set the blending mode to Multiply.

Next add another new layer and set the Blending Mode to Add or Add (Glow). Use yellow and a soft airbrush to make a line over where the dark areas stop to add a warm light. 

Conclusion

Adding a background can make your illustration look polished and finished, but it doesn’t have to be complicated!

For more information on CLIP Studio Paint, please visit https://www.clipstudio.net/en  or https://graphixly.com