Set Up Your Canvas
If the art might ever be printed (stickers count!), start at 300 DPI. For screen-only art, 72 DPI is fine. When in doubt, go bigger: you can always shrink art without losing quality, but you cannot grow it.
The Stabilizer Is Your Friend
Every pen tool has a Stabilization slider in the tool property panel. Turn it up and CSP smooths your shaky lines as you draw. High values feel like drawing through honey but give beautiful clean curves; find the number that feels like your hand on a good day.
Layer Tricks Worth Learning First
- Clipping layers: clip a layer to the one below and your shading stays inside the lines automatically.
- Lock transparent pixels: recolor your existing lines without slipping off them.
- Reference layer: mark your lineart as the reference, and the fill tool on other layers respects those lines.
- Layer color: tint your sketch layer blue so inking over it feels like working on real animation paper.
Free Brushes Forever
Clip Studio Assets (built into the app) has thousands of free downloadable brushes, from textured pencils to pattern stamps. Searching there before trying to make your own brush will save you hours.
Exporting
File, then Export (Single Layer). PNG for web and stickers, TIFF or PSD if it is headed to print or Photoshop. For sticker work, export with a transparent background so the cut line can hug your art.