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!

For a lot of artists, special effects such as glowing can be intimidating, especially if you are new to the digital art space. However, this is a very easy effect to achieve with just a few layers, two blending modes, and one filter! 

In this article we will cover the following topics:

Creating a Glowing Item

Let’s get glowing!

Creating a Glowing Item

First we’ll need some shape to turn into a glowing object. I am going to use these heart and star shaped gems on this character’s corset. My shapes have line art already so I wanted to start by turning that line art from black to a dark version of the base color instead. To do this, select the line art layer and then click the “Lock transparent pixels” icon in the Layer palette. This will restrict and brush strokes to areas where there are already filled pixels for this layer. Now I can use a pen tool to fill in the lines around my heart and star. 

With the lines dealt with, let’s move on to creating the glow! On a new layer above your previous layers (including the line art!) fill in the shape of the glowing object with a more saturated version of the base color.

Duplicate this flat shape layer and set the top copy to the Add blending mode and the bottom copy to Color Dodge. Refer to the screenshot below to see what the layer set-up should look like so far.

Make sure the Color Dodge (bottom) layer is selected. Then click on Filter - Blur - Gaussian Blur.

Check the “Preview” box if it is not already checked so that you can see a preview of the blur results. Adjust the strength until there is a glowy blur around your base shape. Your Strength setting will depend on the size of your canvas.

Next I want a little bit of the colored line art to show around the glowing, so to bring it back first I’ll switch to the top copy of the layer. Then, using the Wand Select tool, select the flat color on the layer.

Click the “Shrink selected area” icon in the Selection Launch bar and adjust the shrinking width. The value you use will depend on your image’s size and also the size of your line art.

Next invert the selection by clicking the Invert Selected Area icon.

Press Delete on your keyboard or the “Clear” icon in the selection launch bar.

Go to Filter - Blur - Gaussian blur and slightly blur the edges of the Add layer.

Now add another new layer on top of the previous layers. Set this layer to Add blending mode as well. Using white or a light version of your glow color, add a light area to the middle of your glowing object.

You can also use your glow color on this layer to add light to any nearby surfaces so that the glow effect looks even more convincing.

Use Gaussian Blur on this layer as well to soften any edges.

Feel free to lower the opacity on the very top glow layer to adjust the effect to your liking!

Conclusion

This effect is super simple to create and can lend a whole lot of personality and polish to your illustrations, whether you are making a glowing LED or magical light, you can use this to add light to anything you can dream up!

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