narhdoso

evtonic3, there is another way to apply wave effect on layer(s) by using different distort filter called "Shear" in Affinity Photo.
It has good use, because you can control it manually and knowledge about linear equations is no needed.
Unfortunately... this option requires some time, because we need to set the curved lines properly by "trial and error" method.
If you will want to give the same wave effect on another layer, which has a different dimension, then the line will go differently.
You can see these differences on attached image - I made it on a darker background to not strain my eyes.
Best Regards,
Michael

Really like this. Great job of setting the scene in the first page and escalation of events in the second. I gotta see what happens next. 
 
Only nit is the serif "I" in words, where the san serif "I" should be used. Visit www.blambot.com and download some of the free* fonts there and it'll improve the "look" of the lettering and mesh better with your word balloon style. (*free as in for personal and indie commercial projects). Check out this page, also from Blambot, for some good basic lettering info: http://www.blambot.com/articles_grammar.shtml 

Attempted a manga anime style type drawing. I'm not quite happy with the colours but I don't think I will improve on this unless I spent another few hours on it. I've included the affinity file as well so you can see how certain I've done certain things. I'm not an artist so there might be a few things that I could have done better, or more efficiently.

Manga.afdesign

Check out these Manga examples these comic examples and perhaps these cartoon examples shared by forum users.

I think some people do manga with Designer. You though better check https://www.clipstudio.net/en/comics-manga which may be best tool at the moment.
You cannot add pages in Designer but you can add artboards.

I suspect something is going on there with your hardware, or more likely your OS configuration or status, as while yep, CSP is crazily good handling/painting over large files,  an A3 canvas size at 300 DPI, definitely comfortable for painting and drawing in Affinity Photo in my machine, an old i7 860 , 8GB RAM, so, first generation, really old (arcane) and I have zero issues with a size like that (you need to use the brush stabilizer feature, tho!). Unless you are using a very large number of layers (which can be avoided in 98% of the projects). A Windows poorly configured or maintained can be almost 50% less performing...
But yep, CSP is very good in its strongest areas. Its brush system is second to none. It has CMYK, btw, just not the fine tuning of it,  its handling and export in the way you have it in Affinity Photo, which is at a higher level in those matters. Daub brushes in Photo I believe have like an extra dimension/variation compared to CSP's... don't quote me on that, but someone explained this to me not long ago... Even so, I do fake all sort of artistic styles with even just round brushes, so that would not be for me a very strong point. CSP's brush system has some key advantages.  I've done with it both comic style inking to deep detail, as well as full illustrations, realistic painting.
In the end, I firmly believe that (leaving out vector based illustrators and graphic designers, who don't really need CSP) almost any 2D artist, whether a comic artist, non vector illustrator, game artist, concept artist or whatever the flavor of digital painter or matte painter... gets a lot of benefit in having both CSP and Affinity Photo purchased and installed. IMO is absolutely not one instead of the other. And of course, would be ridiculous to consider an issue the cost of both together (at least in first and "second" world) for any professional of those areas, but what is more, I even realize that ANY hobby would cost more than what you need for this: literally these two apps (the sum is around 100 bucks) and a 100 bucks tablet like the Deco 03 or Pro from XP-Pen, or any battery-free pen , medium size tablet from Huion. As I assume for other reasons , any half serious hobbyist and definitely any pro, has (hopefully) a desktop or a laptop.  Heck,  or any average Jane/Joe. Almost any hobby (sports, traveling, etc) is way more expensive. This investment can last for at least 3 years (if not 5, at least) until you need new features.  And the drawing tablet, am having 3 absolutely intact and 100% working after 10 years. Divided in years the cost is ridiculous.  About learning two apps : The more the merrier. It empowers the brain for faster future learning and adaptability : proven fact.

While is very, *very* rare for me to disagree with you, I have to, kindly, in this one. Photo is VERY similar in functionality to Adobe Photoshop, and trust me, there are legions of professionals working with it ( I have, for decades) for digital painting. Significant amount (if not massive majority) of concept artists in video game companies, with all the money that the industry handles... It is an indeed total requirement in most of the companies across many fields, so, if anything, you can indeed rebuild those workflows in Photo more likely than in the eye-candy traditional painting specialized tools. And than in Designer, actually, particularly, as you mentioned illustration and concept art. Concept art can be done "illustration style", or pure matte painting, or even just photo bashing. More often with a combination of techniques so that it is fast but looks well. For this, Photo beats ANY of the tools mentioned in the thread, except Photoshop. That said, I hate concept art conceived that way, am a full brush illustrator. But the industry uses that very heavily.  These is an overall focus in the matter too often not considered, while it's pure reality check. Even for "pure brush work", so to speak, the image correction, export, cmyk mode, large resolution allowed in PS/Photo, etc, are not "optional", are absolutely key.
You can totally paint with Affinity Photo, and I like quite more its raster brush system that Designer's vector-to-raster or textured vectors (or pixel persona), specially for the lower accuracy on the strokes when translated to vector. The pixel persona in Designer is great but limited compared to Photo, so, for that kind of use (raster illustration, digital painting in general, concept art for games or movies), is better all the way directly with Photo, as a global tool. So, sorry, but a +1 here to using Photo for actual painting, rather than Designer. Even if the actual developers were not intending it to be so... (sorry   ).
I'll speak in more detail about Photo and painting down below.
 
Can such an expensive tool (Corel Painter) be offered for 25 bucks , an almost up to date version ? I mention it as every time I find such deals are well disguised ilegal versions. Like every single case I've checked (be it in ebay, amazon, or etc). All what is not an official distributor...
   
Yup, try always every tool, that's the key. An advice, video or written review is never enough.
 
I'm a pro (since decades bring food to the plate by painting and illustration and doing other graphics tasks, and receiving constantly great feedback from authors and project owners, and bosses, if one can define all that as pro, somehow), I hope I can give you some advice.  To start that among the two, as I mentioned, I prefer Photo over Designer for digital painting, but consider that the brush system is not among the best ones for painting (but is definitely much better than some people think), there are some issues when painting zoomed out, and etc. I'm not as worried as others about it not being art-focused, as Corel Painter or Rebelle or Art Rage or etc are. As Photoshop has always done the deal greatly, specially among professionals. There is actually some polishing needed in the already existing functionality what would end up indeed putting it quite on pair with Photoshop for digital painting (not as some think, extra specific painting functionalities). And that's a LOT. (it is all what is really needed, trust me, a PS-like). While still not there, one can use it for painting in a digital paint style. I know as I have used Affinity Photo so. You need a pair of tricks, but is all solvable. So, if purchasing Photo, unless finding some issue with your particular tablet (but the trial period is there for trying that among other things) , yes, you should be totally able to do digital painting and illustration with it. Sorry to disagree with most people here (and probably in the whole forums) in this. But I know I'm right  .
Now... is it the BEST app for digital painting ? That is rather subjective. How is your work ? Some illustration work (if not most of it) needs so much basic image editing and export functionality at professional level (and text tools, supporting big canvases, CMYK mode for some prints, and etc) that indeed, this fact makes some of the eye-candy other apps useless. At some point, I had a workflow with certain companies where I did had (not today) a total need of working in CMYK mode (at least for the last stages), so, both the great Art Rage and Corel Painter (yeah, 2019 and yet no mode for that....    ) were/are out of the table. Corel has Corel PhotoPaint, though, which supports that mode, but u need to purchase the whole 700 bucks entire suite for that.
So... what's the option , then ? Well, as some mention, CSP is a great deal. BUT...! If you would want to take me as one of the many possible examples, I do heavily use both applications (and Designer, for graphic design) . The image editing and export capabilities in Affinity Photo are absolutely essential in any complex, serious workflow (that is, anything professional). I often draw and paint in CSP (I love its inks but also its way less known oil brushes, which are deeply good and versatile, while not trying to mimic oils at physic level like Rebelle, Art Rage, C. Painter, those very specialized/specific tools) but edit, tune and export in Photo, becoming the main tool in every workflow: In a complex workflows environment (like mine), having many projects, if I'd have to choose over having an overall tool like Photo, and a great painting/drawing tool (despite me being mostly an artist) like CSP (for drawing, IMO, is the best in the market) , I'd choose Photo every time, as is a "fine-for-all" deal, which is way more important than a lot of people think it is.
Luckily I don't (we don't) have to choose at all. I use a combo of CSP and Photo for all my digital painting, pixel art, comic works, 3D texturing, UI (depending on the case, I do this with Designer) works,  and etc. And for graphic design, I use a combination of Designer (doing in it a 98% of the work) and Inkscape (for a 2% of lacking features in Designer)). I use more tools, but those are my main combos, currently (used quite Krita in the recent past).
This can only be replied by the developers, but they have done so, in quite many occasions, might be hard to find some of them, though.  In general, yes, there is planned since a bit long to be done a revamp of the brush system. As far as I understood,  it is planned to be also redone some thing that is related with precision while painting (sorry, I'm not a developer, so, don't focus on my ignorance on internals of the app and stuff) , as for example, there is a setting for tablet precision in preferences, but this is only a fix until they get all that reworked. It sounds to me as it'll take a very long time till any of those matters will be done or even retaken, and even more after that, polished to perfection so to be useful. So, my advice is to try Photo's painting, do your usual stuff as a real but fake project, do it to quite some depth or you wont catch your personal particular issues or glitches. And then, conclude if you can use it or not. I prefer to paint with CSP, but in some projects the back and force is too much hassle and then I paint directly in Photo, and it works. But yeah, in general, for someone doing concept art and illustration, I'd recommend something like Clip Studio Paint or Art Rage (really good one, and the mimicking of trad. media is amazing even if can't ever be perfect, if u have been a trad painter you'll notice) but always that you also get Photo, or you might have huge problems, if not directly in your matte painting, at least for preparing the file and many, many other situations, for the other apps being way to specific for your every day work.  You'll hit with obstacles in any real project pretty soon if not having Photo (or Photoshop in that regard, but I'm allergic to subscriptions).
Could you SOLELY use Affinity Photo for your digital painting ? Absolutely YES. Do I advice it ? I can't say... each person is different. Just give it a go to the several apps out there : for ONLY painting: CSP, Art Rage, Expresii, Rebelle, etc (sorry, I don't usually recommend the iPad or mobile in general). All these share the thing of being very affordable yet amazingly good in that specific use. But do yourself a favor and whichever you choose (unless you find you're happy enough in painting with Photo, it very well could happen) and get Photo as well. If you plan of doing something minimally complex, even if not being it technically a pro thing (aka, for the money or very advanced personal work). You will need Photo /PS.
( As a li'l background, as u mentioned you're seeking for opinions from pros, I have worked at 4 game companies, 6 others doing more a mixed thing of 3D/g. design/illustration/web coding, etc, and since quite some years, a full time freelancer, doing gigs in all my fields. This does not make my opinion any more valid than a hobbyist's one, anyway. But there are things you don't recon as issues until you face them).
EDIT: Very IMPORTANT. If you have in any distant future, even the remote idea of getting into the industry, getting a job in : Games, films, DTP design, advertizing agencies, 3D studios, even middle size, local film studios, architecture studios, etc, etc, do consider that your total must is to fully master Adobe suite (if possible the entire suite, meaning PS, AI, After Effects, InDesign, Premiere) as the one priority. Anything else is secondary. Not doing so and focusing on alternatives ONLY before having learnt to professional level that suite, is about the most silly thing you could make. You would heavily regret it. This does not mean you can't have Affinity for your personal and freelance work (indeed, the more UIs you master, your brain becomes more flexible and able to extract the general essence of 2D and 3D, and thus, making you a better pro).

showing here a new video, doing a 2d Character, Tormund from Game of thrones using Affinity Designer 1.7, Full video available on my youtube channel, with a special animation done with Spine Pro, thanks everyone for watching
 

I am attaching an Affinity Photo macro that turns a photo into a “Paint by Numbers” image. The attached file is a macros category, and should be imported through the “hamburger” menu at the top right of the Library panel. The category can also be imported into the iPad version of Affinity Photo, although there is one important limitation (more on this later).
When you use the macro, it creates a Group called “Paint by Numbers Effect.” All of the changes are inside of this group, so you can turn it on and off simply. Once you look inside the group, you will see multiple layers. From bottom to top, these are:
1) Original Image - Merge Visible
This is a “merge visible” version of your photo. It includes all of the editing you may have done up until that point.
2) Posterization Adjustment
This is a Posterize adjustment layer, and is meant to reduce the number of colors/tones used in the effect.
3) Outlines
This is a separate layer, created (in part) by using a Detect Edges filter. It provides outlines for the areas of color. This mimics the outlines that were present on the Paint by Numbers boards we used as kids.
4) Normalize Colors
This is a copy of the original Merge Visible image, and has its blend mode set to Color. This is used to reset the posterized colors to more natural ones.
5) Adjust Brightness & Contrast
This is a finishing adjustment, and can provide a better final effect.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Once you click the macro, you will be presented with a default version of the effect. A dialog box allows you to set a number of parameters. As you change each of these parameters, the Paint by Numbers effect is updated. You are asked:
Posterize - How Many Colors?
The default value is 4, but values between 3 and 6 generally give good results. If your image is a portrait, judging the final result by looking at what the different values do to the subject’s face is a good idea.
Outlines - Adjust the Opacity
The default is 50%. Adjust this upward to make the outlines more prominent; adjust it downward to make the outlines less obvious. Set to 0 to make them go away entirely.
Finish - Adjust the Brightness
Finish - Adjust the Contrast
The default is 10% brightness, and 20% contrast. Adjust these up or down to give you final effect the desired finish.
When you click Apply, the effect is finalized. Obviously, you can manually change any of the settings after the fact. However, you should know that while the number of posterization levels for the image is non-destructive, the originally chosen number is also used to create the outlines, and this is a destructive change. Although you can change the posterization level after the fact, it is not advisable to do this. The outlines might no longer line up with the individual areas of color.
Also, for some reason, the iPad version of Affinity Photo handles the macro pretty well but will not allow you to change the number of posterization levels before finalizing the effect. It is baked in at 4 levels. You can change this after the fact, but (as above) the number of levels in your posterized image may not match your outlines very well.
Here is the macro in action. The original image is top left; the parameters dialog is shown in its default state, and then changed during the course of the macro; the final effect is shown top right

As always, I am one person with one computer and have not tested this in every possible scenario. Try it and, if you like it, keep it and enjoy it. This forum has provided me with so many good ideas and answers to questions; this macro is my attempt to “pay it forward.”
[Note: Credit where credit is due. I am indebted to Dave Straker, whose recent YouTube video gave me some excellent ideas for this macro. Dave’s channel is called “InAffinity,” and is a steady source of helpful information. Thanks, Dave!]
 
Paint by Numbers.afmacros

One of the original Speedbirds, the Supermarine SB6B, built for the Schneider trophy in 1929 by R.J Mitchell, the father of the Spitfire.

Hi,
 
For my fourth try in AD I wanted to illustrate at Omega Speedmaster watch. Think it worked out well :-). Still a few glitches here and there :-(
 
The hardest to figure out how to make was the wristband with the try to make it look woven. I did it with a costume made brush I made.
 
I am still amazed how well AD performs. Great to get under the skin of the software. I set my self these challenges (HTC Phone, Nexus phone, Bulb and this) so that I would be sure to really learn to use AD, not just fooling around.
 
Compared to how I usually does these illustrations Photoshop (Vector Layers), then AD is by far the easiest.
 
Please enjoy!
 
If anybody is interested I can upload the original AD file.  UPDATE! I have added the AD original file also now.
 
 
 
Br,
 
Philip

Omega.afdesign

I can confirm the same issue. I'm using the Windows store app and it crashes when I try to change the font upon creating/updating a paragraph style.