Shrinking Massive Clip Studio Paint Pages into One Layer

In my project to move my Clip Studio Paint files to iCloud so that I can import them into CSP on my iPad, I ran into a big problem. When I tried to upload a file from my desktop computer, I received an error message that said I could not save the rile to a remote device (iCloud) because the file was being used by another service. iCloud was updating the file after a CSP autosave. I would have to wait until iCloud had transferred the autosave version.

On the iPad, I ran into a problem when I tried to download a file: CSP locked up while the file was downloading, sometimes for many minutes. Uploading files from the iPad caused the same lockup.

When I examined the file sizes for my CSP files, the cause of the delays was obvious: the files were enormous. By “enormous”, I mean 458MB. The smaller files ranged from 180MB to 300MB. It would be unreasonable to expect that these files would move quickly from my desktop CSP to iCould to my iPad. It was painful.

To make the process snappier I simply flattened the files. The 458MB file became a 65K file. In fact, all of the flattened files ended up being about 65k. They uploaded quickly, opened quickly, saved quickly, and were available on my iPad in seconds.

The problem with flattening files is that I no longer have the layers necessary for making major changes to the images. To preserve that information, my strategy is to save that information before flattening the files. I copied the entire project to a drive on my computer. If I need to redo the inking or color, I have a the complete page, with all of its layers, available.

Keeping two versions of the file is extra complexity, but it’s workable.

Another version of the jumping dolphin, this time with teeth

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Waves are hard to draw and paint, so I used the Clip Studio Paint Lasso File brush to scribble them in. Good enough? Maybe. Who knows! Perhaps I’ll find a better way to scribble them in tomorrow.

Today I ordered Bone, the 1300-page black and white version. I’ve been looking for a big comic series now that I’m almost finished watching GTO: Great Teacher Onizuka (on Prime) for the third time. I love that anime for it’s big heart and sometimes equally great stupidity.

By the way, that Bone link is an Amazon affiliate link. By now everyone knows that affiliate links help creators make a few pennies at no cost to you. I’ve never made a single penny from affiliate links. Perhaps it’s because I’m the only one reading this. So be it. I’m satisfied to be a legend in my own mind.

I forgot how to draw Jimmy Jay...sgain!

I’ve been drawing Jimmy Jay for three years and I still can’t draw him from memory. This time he has a nose like Tony Bennett and he’s talking out of the side of his mouth like he’s some kind of wise guy. I’m going to have to go back to book one and review my character notes!

Bezier Success

Today I managed to trace over my fan-art painting of Lum Invader from Urusei Yatsura with Affinity Designer. I could just as well have used Clip Studio Paint or Illustrator, but I’m determined to use Affinity Designer. I feel that, hopefully, with lots of practice, I’ll be able to work faster and draw my characters more consistently. I’m a dreamer.

Learning how to use the Clip Studio Paint bezier curve tool

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I spent an hour trying to get this guy’s hands looking right, and didn’t succeed. Working with Bezier curves is a challenge, but I figure if I keep hammering away at it, I will prevail. To quote myself, “If they can do it, I can do it.” Of course, I know that I can’t sing like Pavarotti or dance like Baryshnikov. But just maybe I can learn to trace over my drawings using the pen tool if I practice every day.

Re-doing Lost Pages -- the Sad Saga of Pages 60 and 61

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The reborn pages 60 and 61

With pages 59 and 60 irretrievable, I’m starting over. Losing the pages was a real bummer. I went into a funk for a couple of days. I wanted nothing to do with painting or drawing. The thought of abandoning the book occurred more than once. Then I got over it. As I came to my senses, I removed the emotion from the equation. I realized I could simply paint the pages again. The original pages had flaws; perhaps the do-overs would be better. Or perhaps they would have worse flaws. In the end, it doesn’t matter — I just have to get this book completed by doing the best that I can with the time I have.

Another go at using Clip Studio Paint's Colorize tool

CSP’s auto-coloring tool is a viable option for doing simple coloring. There is a pleasant overflow that would work in many cases and would have to be removed in other cases. It could be a big time saver. It would be easy to overuse this style. The lack of texture does result in a very “digital” look.

Tabby Cat Volcano Demon Casting an Over the Shoulder Wisecrack

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Tabby Cat is saying, “You know, when this water dries up, all of my powers will return. What do you think of that?”

My favorite Clip Studio Paint sketching brush is a sumi brush I downloaded from the Clip Studio Material web site. My second favorite brush is the default Design Pencil.

Christmas Eve 2021

Chirstmas Eve was a busy day of cooking brusselss sprouts and oatmeal cookies. Walking Nacho in the snow for the first time was educational — all of his favorite stops were snowed over and he was confused.

I’m tired tonight, but I found the energy to do a little sketch of some kind of cat-like creature.

And now, something different

Today I watched Ahmed Aldoori’s tutorial called Drawing Daces with Femaie Proportions and was inspired to give it a try. With lots of practice I believe I could do well by following his simple technique. It’s applicable to cute animals and even to evil animals.

Okay…technically, there really are no evil animals, except one — us. We’re the only species that would consciously make decisions that would make Earth unlivable.