martyjacobs

@retrograde, thanks for detailing your method with gradients. I'm getting better at using the inner shadow and glow effects, and I'm also finding the offset tool invaluable. Haven't tried the painting technique you mention, but I'll have to give it a go. Thanks again, Marty

Xara's not faster in all areas, but my perception was that its rendering engine was still more responsive in general. This comment wasn't mean to be taken as a definitive statement, as I've not performed any controlled benchmarking to fairly compare AD and XDP. Probably should have mentioned this in my original post! By the way, I run XDP on a separate machine, as I'm not fan of Boot Camp and the like, but the specs. are not wildly different to the Mac Book Pro I'm using Affinity on (the PC is a little less powerful in fact). Marty

@retrograde, would you mind elaborating on how you use gradients in AD to achieve the soft look you talk about in this thread? I'm currently trying to improve my use of gradients and learning about other people techniques and workflows is very helpful to me. Thanks, Marty P.S. Forgot to mention that the only thing I'd add to the chihuahua are some action lines around the tail to suggest that he is wagging it, similar to those around the bone.

Wow, Leigh's right, the bubble does look very realistic. Well done and welcome! Marty

First of all, this is one cool little ninjabot. It reminds me of the charater designs in Samurai Jack. The only advice I can give regarding the arms is that maybe they should be a little more muscular considering they belong to a deadly robot warrior? I'd also re-think the background colours, as the deep crimson hides all of the nice detail on the charater. You might also want to try putting some weapons in his hands as that might help you better define the shape of his arms. Marty

These are great. My favourite is the Chihuahua, such a friendly expression on its face. Marty

Hello Affinity Aficionados! Thought it was about time I introduced myself to other members here. My name's Marty, I've been using Affinity since the beta was released and I'm now a very satified customer. I've been drawing and animating on computers for years, starting with Deluxe Paint III on the Amiga (those were the days). I then studied computer animation at University, mainly concentrating on Flash and Maya back when everything wasn't owned by Adobe or Autodesk! I'm now a big fan of Xara Designer Pro for vector work, but have started using a Mac more often, hence my interest in Affinity. I also use Adobe software, but have never really got on with Illustrator. I've also been using PagePlus since my Uni days, so thought I'd give Affinity a shot and, so far, I'm very impressed. It is no way near as fast as Xara Designer Pro, but it isn't sluggish by any means and competes well from a feature set perspective. I work as a Learning Technologist at a UK university, so have an interest in all kinds of image editing/creation software from the very basic to the most complex, and will definatley be recommending Affinity as a cost-effective alternative to more expensive graphics software. Marty :D