Clip Studio Paint on Linux?

[clownvomitz]

so i've been having this dilemma for the past few months regarding starting to use linux or not on my desktop, especially as my hatred for windows 10 grows more and more with each passing day. i know i'll probably start with mint, since i'm a little nooblet when it comes to this kind of stuff, however i'm unsure if Clip Studio Paint would work?? i've tried looking elsewhere for help regarding this and apparently a lot of discussion about this topic on reddit has been purged. does anyone have any insight regarding this? i'm completely new to linux as a whole so i may be kinda clueless here. thanks!

[ffaf]

Hi!

On Linux, there is this program called Wine, which you can use to run Windows programs.
Unfortunately, Clip Studio paint seems not well supported, and it is quite some hassle to get it to work on Linux.  I would not suggest this to a Linux newcomer.  (Quite frankly I would not suggest it to an experienced user either, such setup seems wobbly and prone to frustrating breakages.)

I do not know if you have already looked into it, but if you have not yet: check Krita out!  It is a beloved program, open-source, comes in Linux Mint repositories (no installing third-party software, no configuration hell), and might be what you are after.

[clownvomitz]

@ffaf thank you for the insight!

i have heard of Krita! i tried it once many years ago and it didn't stick, maybe it'll be worth it to check it out again... i remember the layout being a bit confusing to me, but also i was younger back then that i'm sure it'll be a much different experience now. it'd be nice to have a open-source program that isn't so touch and go like CSP tends to be

[tarraxahum]

I've been through this earlier this year, and (as a Linux newb myself) I can tell you it's doable through a program called Bottles. This tutorial worked for me. But it works kinda wonky, the timelapse feature is a bust and the launcher is struggling a bit. Ultimately I lost all my brushes and setting 'cause I did not backup them correctly, so I decided I may as well try a native drawing program instead.

Switching from CSP to Krita went rather smooth, although its text tools are a hastle and a half (which is a bit of a bummer when switching from manga-oriented Clip, but perhaps it's time for me to learn how to letter my comic like the big girls). The pre-installed brushes were very much more impressive than what CSP got on launch. And Krita has multiple presets for layout so I found something familiar enough!

[clownvomitz]

@tarraxahum oh wow, okay! i don't tend to use the timelapse feature in CSP anyhow, so that isn't too much of a deal breaker for me... though thank you for the heads up regarding brushes and the launcher!

at this point i'll probably try to play around in krita for a bit before deciding which route to take regarding CSP. it's at least reassuring knowing that the switch went well for you! i have heard good things about krita through the grapevine over the last few years so maybe embracing a switch is a good thing.

[arcus]

I got Clip Studio Paint ver. 1 working and wrote about it here. My settings imported fine, all I had to do was copy the CELSYS folder in Documents on Windows to Documents in Wine. It has a weird bug with the menus, but that could be an issue with how I have things set up specifically.

Linux comes with official Wacom drivers built in. If you have another tablet, try Open Tablet Driver.


I second using Krita. It lacks tools for working on comics, but for illustration it's fantastic. There's a lot of cool brushes and tools for it, some of my favourites:

Brushes:

• Memileo Impasto Brushes (performance heavy)
• Sketch V2.
• Dry & Dirty Bundle
• RapidFire ETERNAL, a kit of Brushes for low-end Computers
• Expressive Inks
• Concept & Illustration V2
• Cheap Ballpoint pen Brush
• Aurelia's Lineart (comic?) bundle
• Mikhailasmo's Inking Brush Set
• mtPaint pixel art brush set for Krita (pixel brushes)

Tools:

• Plugin: Blender Layer - Live 3d View in Krita
• Brush SFX
• Zen picker
• Gradient tool & maps: resources (a link to various photoshop gradients and a tool to convert them)

If Krita runs slowly, there's some tweaks you can make to make it run better.

[candycanearter07]

Krita is very nice for drawing, its well designed and while its not specifically designed to make comics, it works pretty well for it. It also supports vector layers for like laying out squares to draw in.

As for wacom support, it doesn't seem to save custom keys, but you can thankfully bind them in a script to make it easier to reset if needed.

[ravenousravishing]

I switched my personal desktop PC to Linux [Fedora] recently. It was pretty impulsive. I will say that while I don't have a deep understanding of computers or Linux, I do have some background experience from switching a Chromebook to Linux OS and creating a dual boot Windows/Linux laptop.

I think something you should consider, before jumping to Linux, is your bandwidth for learning and tweaking things. My desktop is stable now, but it's taken a few weeks of fiddling and research to reach the comfortable place I'm at. Sometimes I encounter strange quirks with Windows programs I've jury rigged. Linux is at a fantastic point in compatibility and available knowledge base, imo, but it's still important to consider.

I can report that Clip Studio Paint can work with Linux. I'm currently running it via Bottles. I've lost the link to the tutorial I followed, but I remember setting it up was pretty simple. Mine does have a quirk that the launcher and program have to be handled separately [see: the launcher can't launch Clip, at least on my set up]. I plan to move my Clip Studio to being handled by Lutris [a program that does the same sort of stuff as Bottles, but different presentation and configurations].

I don't know if you use a tablet, but as a side note, I was able to get a Huion 'Kamvas' to behave well with Linux and Clip Studio. Pen pressure survived and everything.

My Clip Studio has been stable so far and hasn't had any crashes. I had an issue with the interface's DPI scaling, which I fixed via Wine/Bottles settings. I hear [and see it said in this thread] that the timelapse feature isn't functional. I've not used the timelapse feature before, ever, so I cannot speak on whether that can be resurrected with tweaking Linux protections/etc.

Others have mentioned Krita in this thread. I think it is an excellent program. I personally prefer Clip Studio, and think the configuration hassle and work arounds are worth it to have the program on Linux.

[fairyrune]

I second using Krita. It lacks tools for working on comics, but for illustration it's fantastic. There's a lot of cool brushes and tools for it, some of my favourites:

hey arcus, thanks for sharing these brushes. i've struggled to find brushes as the most popular programs these days tend to be CSP, photoshop and procreate, so many brushes and materials don't work in krita. i manage with the default pretty well (i'm actually doing commission work with krita now) but sometimes you want something really specific.

and @clownvomitz - i ultimately decided staying on windows was not worth it for a variety of reasons. however, i am somewhat reliant on tools that are only found in CSP, namely the massive material library it has, which is not accessible on linux at this time as far as i'm aware. everything else works perfectly via bottles on my system (some might experience lag, but the layer can be finetuned), but if you're not bothered about the materials library and don't really use it, it'll probably be fine for you.

for me? well... i'm considering picking up an acceptable SBC at a cheap price to run windows, so i can draw on one computer and have the other running other things.  my workflow is completely mangled in krita, though i can manage it's frustrating sometimes! it also doesn't read psd files correctly despite being able to open them... sigh.

I think something you should consider, before jumping to Linux, is your bandwidth for learning and tweaking things.

seconding this, also. linux mint is really easy to use, but you can't be afraid of poking around in the gears! i had to learn how to auto-mount my second internal SSD. it looks and runs like windows, roughly, but it's more like a small grade above windows in terms of what technical ability it expects from you. it's nothing crazy - if you've typed in the command line, it's nothing really worse than that unless you want it to be - but i think what ravenousravishing says is something to keep in mind.

if you ever have questions about it specifically, you could ask here, or you could ask in the linux mint official forums. it's worth a look even if you don't have questions; there's a lot of interesting information in their threads that would be worth a look, especially the few CSP threads i've seen.

[arcus]

Krita is very nice for drawing, its well designed and while its not specifically designed to make comics, it works pretty well for it. It also supports vector layers for like laying out squares to draw in.

I should have elaborated. It's not bad for comics. In comparison to CSP it has less tools for comics out of the box, such as templates for printing, an inbuilt 3D model poser, and all the brushes to speed up work. There are alternatives to all that, but it's not something I would recommend someone on a deadline as replacement. fairyrune put it better than me.

Krita actually does some things better than CSP and has CIELAB support (try it out, it blends colours very well.) Some of its brush engines are seriously impressive. That impasto brush pack I linked renders light at a specific direction for realism.

hey arcus, thanks for sharing these brushes. i've struggled to find brushes as the most popular programs these days tend to be CSP, photoshop and procreate, so many brushes and materials don't work in krita.

No problem. That forum, Gumroad, and DeviantArt are the main sites Krita resources are posted.

Nice to hear that Mint is (mostly) working well for you.

[clownvomitz]

thank you everyone for all of your thoughtful responses! this has helped me a lot.

thankfully, i don't use CSP to create comics, instead i use it mostly for illustration, so these options are really great to hear! and for the record, i should've probably put this in my main post, i do use a wacom tablet, and i'm so grateful some folks have added their experiences with getting their tablets working on linux as well!

@ravenousravishing , thank you for your insight and advice! i don't plan to jump the gun to linux too quickly, i've been debating the switch for a good few months now, and i'm by no means afraid to get my hands dirty when it comes to tweaking things. i love learning, it's one of my favorite things, especially since i yearn to become more knowledgeable about tech and computers in general, so i'm hoping switching to linux can not only be better for me from an OS perspective, but also in helping me learn! 

@fairyrune , oh gosh yeah i totally get you regarding the materials library. while, for myself, it is nice to have, it's not a necessity. i mostly use it for the handy 3D models, though i already have alternatives that i use on occasion, so i don't think that loss would affect me too greatly. and thank you for your insight regarding linux mint, i've been poking around the mint forums already and i've already been learning a lot!

and @arcus thank you for those brushes!! once i finish the owed art i have now, i plan to dip my toes in krita and i'll definitely be checking these brushes out!! 

[lakes]

@ravenousravishing , thank you for your insight and advice! i don't plan to jump the gun to linux too quickly, i've been debating the switch for a good few months now, and i'm by no means afraid to get my hands dirty when it comes to tweaking things. i love learning, it's one of my favorite things, especially since i yearn to become more knowledgeable about tech and computers in general, so i'm hoping switching to linux can not only be better for me from an OS perspective, but also in helping me learn! 

a good idea to learn more about linux is either looking up terminal commands, either using a command like "man [command name]" or by looking at the linux command library which is available both as a website and mobile app
a command for briefer summaries of commands is tldr, but that has to be manually installed
i'd also recommend either joining a forum or matrix community dedicated to your distro of choice, depending on their reputation
for example, linux mint is known to have a helpful userbase & has both a support forum & a community on matrix
some other options for newcomers i've heard are zorin os, ubuntu "flavors" like kubuntu, & fedora kde

[clownvomitz]

@lakes thank you! i have been keeping my eye on the linux mint forum for a bit now, but now that im easing closer to actually pulling the trigger on linux i'll def drop in! thanks so much for ur resources!

[arcus]

@clownvomitz No problem. You can test out Mint online with Distrosea. If you're interested in the command line, I suggest reading userland, but command line knowledge is not required for basic tasks. I personally avoided the command line for years and was fine.

Make sure to update Krita if you have it already installed. Krita had a major version update recently, and major bugfix release for Windows a few days ago.

for me? well... i'm considering picking up an acceptable SBC at a cheap price to run windows, so i can draw on one computer and have the other running other things.

If you don't need Windows and Mint open concurrently, you could buy a second hand SSD or HDD to install Windows on. All it requires is unplugging your drive with Mint installed, plugging in the new one and installing Windows normally, and then plugging your Mint drive again. This way Windows updates wouldn't effect your Mint installation.

Another option is to run Windows inside of KVM. I have not tried this personally however, so I'm unable to say how well this works for CSP.