Combining solitary pages into two-page spread with Clip Studio Paint EX

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These odd-sized pages have been combined into a two-page spread

Over the 18 months I’ve been working on this book, I’ve used several painting programs besides Clip Studio Paint — Krita, Photoshop, Procreate, and Rebelle. What I didn’t think about when I used those programs was getting the page size right. It didn’t occur to me that Clip Studio Paint EX can only combine pages into two-page spreads unless the pages are exactly the same size and resolution.

I’ve accumulated twenty pages with the wrong dimensions or resolution. Some pages were A4 size and 350 dpi, when they should have been 11.40x9.00 inches at 300 dpi. I spent the day changing nonconforming pages to exactly 11.40x 9.00 inches.at 300 dpi.

Some of the pages, like the example above couldn't be scaled without loosing content. I had to resize those files by scaling them up or down, resulting is some blank areas at the top and bottom. I first scaled the image to 11.40 inches wide, then changed the canvas size to 11.40x9.00 inches.

I’ll have to rework all of the pages that were imported at the wrong size. I could have avoided that extra work if I had been diligent about adhering to the project page size set in the StoryIP) -> Page Manager.

It’s been another live and learn day.

Pages 44 to 47 Are Taking Shape Out of Sequence

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Today I sketched page 45, where Betty and Tuca see the volcano demon close up for the first time, and pages 46 and 47, a two-page spread where we, the readers, see the demon taking a nap in her fiery cat condo. The volcano demon seems to be actually a monstrously large tabby cat,

To get that fiery look I painted some flames then applied a hard mix mode to the layer. Other modes — linear burn, add, color burn, etc — looked okay too. Hard mix was the most dramatic.

Page 24, with Dialog Ballons

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Page 24 is now finished enough that I can move on to the next page, which will be a two-page spread showing Tupa and Betty emerging from the tunnel with the abandoned Moai City in the background. That will be another big challenge.

Pages 8 & 9 Are A Two-page Spread

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The story continues….

The kids made it to the drifting rowboat safely. It turns out that Betty may be the faster sprinter, but Jimmy is an ex-Olympic 1600 meter medalist. He got to the boat first and helped an exhausted Betty climb in.

I still have work to do on the waves and dialog, then it’s off to pages 10 and 11.

An Almost Final Look for Pages 3 and 4

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Yet another version of the two-page spread for pages 3 and 4. The margins are the “safe” area, It’s a half-inch from the margin to the bleed line. The half-inch margin give the content some breathing room.

The background is on a separate layer. I’ll tweak the background so that it accommodates the spine area. It won’t be perfect, but it will look okay…I hope.

Clip Studio Paint Ex is awesome. Now that I’m comfortable with it, I’m spoiled for other painting programs that lack the useful production features in CSP. Perhaps I will someday have time to write about CSP’s virtues. Until then, I’m just going to revel in its goodness.