Start with a big canvas
Draw the character large. Parts get scaled and deformed during rigging, and art that looks sharp in the editor can go soft on a 1080p stream if it was drawn small. Many artists work with the character around 4000–6000 px tall. Keep the whole character on the canvas with some space around it, and don’t let hair or limbs get cut off at the edges.
Split everything that moves
The rule of thumb: if it should move on its own, it needs its own layer. A typical split looks like this:
- Eyes, each side separately: the white, the iris, the highlight, the upper and lower lash lines and the eyelid.
- Brows, left and right.
- Mouth: upper lip, lower lip, the inside of the mouth, teeth and tongue.
- Face: face shape, nose, blush, ears and face shadows.
- Hair: front, side and back hair, with any lock that should swing on its own split out.
- Body: neck, torso, upper arms, forearms and hands, plus legs for a fullbody.
- Clothing and accessories: every piece that moves separately, such as sleeves, skirt layers, ribbons and earrings.
An Advanced rig needs a finer split than Base, so ask your rigger how detailed they want it before you start drawing.
Paint the parts nobody sees
When the head turns or the eyes close, areas that were covered come into view. Paint them in:
- the forehead under the bangs;
- the full iris under the eyelids;
- the back hair behind the head and shoulders;
- the neck under the chin and hair;
- the body under the arms and hair;
- the inside of the mouth, sleeves and skirt.
Flatten what Live2D won’t read
Merge clipping masks into their layers and bake layer effects and adjustment layers into the pixels, because they don’t carry over into Cubism reliably. Keep layers in Normal blend mode unless your rigger has agreed to something else, turn smart objects and text into plain pixel layers, and save the file as an 8-bit RGB PSD.
Name and group your layers
Give every layer a clear name, like “eye L iris” or “hair back 2”. Choose one convention for left and right (the character’s left or the viewer’s left) and tell your rigger which one you used. Put parts into folders by area: eyes, mouth, hair, body, clothes. Cubism keeps folders on import, which makes the rig much easier to organise. Delete empty and unused layers and stray pixels before sending.
A quick check before sending
- Every moving part is on its own layer, with hidden areas painted in
- No clipping masks, layer effects, adjustment layers or smart objects
- Clear layer names and folders by area
- An 8-bit RGB PSD with the whole character on the canvas
- A flat PNG of the full character for reference
If your PSD isn’t ready yet
If a PSD needs extra drawing, re-separating or hidden parts filled in, I can take that on as part of a rig order. It’s priced separately once I’ve seen the file. If you’d rather learn to do it yourself, PSD preparation is the first topic in my Live2D rigging lessons. And if you don’t have art yet, a VTuber model commission includes art drawn in layers from the start.