Sunset

Hi together. It is fun to create some new creatures. I like my dragons.
For this I was inspired by a fotlia series of dragon.
 
Yours Kathrin
 

Yes, the petals look very organic. I still have to explore the brushes properly. Hopefully i will get a Wacom tablet soon.
Great work Sunset  :D

Hi Folks,
I'm Neil, a long time Serif software user... I've recently ordered a Mac (having been used to Windows) and it arrives today between 4 and 5 :) Once I've figured out how to turn it on I shall be grabbing myself a copy of Affinity! From the reviews I've been reading Matt and the rest of the team have created something awesome!
I've been needing an excuse to spend more time doing illustrations so this will be perfect... looking forward to getting my teeth into it :)
See you in the forums!

Hi, I'm Hilary Hartigan, AKA sunset. I always said that when I retired I would buy a new (electric) piano. Yesterday hubby asked me which would I prefer, a piano or a Mac. Let's just say that the Mac will arrive in the next few days :) And, after working my way through Windows 3.1 to Windows 8.1.  I am going to be a complete novice with the Mac.
 
I'm a total fan of things Serif but I really need something new as 'I'm all scrapped out' (a CraftArtist expression) and I don't want to get left behind on a Windows-Shelf. This looks different and exciting and fresh. By trade I'm a part time lecturer (computing out in the community), a self employed publisher and designer (but looking to change tack), a family history researcher and recorder (nearly finished) and a lover of logic and order. I have a head overflowing with ideas  :D and tons of ambitions  :D . I hope that I can make a useful contribution  :)
 
Hilary/Sunset

Hi, I'm Hilary Hartigan, AKA sunset. I always said that when I retired I would buy a new (electric) piano. Yesterday hubby asked me which would I prefer, a piano or a Mac. Let's just say that the Mac will arrive in the next few days :) And, after working my way through Windows 3.1 to Windows 8.1.  I am going to be a complete novice with the Mac.
 
I'm a total fan of things Serif but I really need something new as 'I'm all scrapped out' (a CraftArtist expression) and I don't want to get left behind on a Windows-Shelf. This looks different and exciting and fresh. By trade I'm a part time lecturer (computing out in the community), a self employed publisher and designer (but looking to change tack), a family history researcher and recorder (nearly finished) and a lover of logic and order. I have a head overflowing with ideas  :D and tons of ambitions  :D . I hope that I can make a useful contribution  :)
 
Hilary/Sunset

Nice work.

Good job Sunset. Some quick strokes there. I'm starting to be tempted to try my old Intuos...

Exported the drawing as a slice from the A4 preset page size, that was exported by default as a .png. Opened it as a new drawing and added a white rectangle on a new background layer then saved as a new document, to preserve the effects of transparency that I had added to the brush strokes.
 
Not perfect, but I am getting to the particular style that I've wanted to use since long before home computers were dreamt of :)

Girl Sleeping.afdesign

I'm loving it. Doing a few strokes whenever I get the time.
Really, really nice. :)

This vector portrait was created using pentool, with a reference photo to use. Here are some problems and thoughts while creating this one.
I tried using Gradient fill but the software keeps on crashing, so i leave it with solid color. (Someone already reported the problem on the Bug forum) When i'm creating a Shape (you call it Curve in AD), it needs to set it's color everytime and not adopting the previous setting when i create shape. So it eats a lot of time. while using Pentool, i can just hold 'space bar' to switch to Pan tool to drag the canvass view. But when i'm trying, i can't drag it. i have to pick the pan tool on the tool window to be able to drag the view. So maybe, it's much easier if i could just use the 'space bar' shortcut to use the Pan tool then resume tracing.  
That's all my concern, sorry if some grammars are incorrect, i'm not good in english.. XD
 I love working with this software so far as it was easy to use, and the guide at the left bottom of the window helps a lot. I'll explore this software more.

Ah, the key was that you mentioned you'd added the gradient through the layer effects menu! :) The layer effects are all raster effects, and while the gradient overlay layer effect will make the same visual effect that you're after, we have a much better way to achieve what you really wanted to do... You should just make a rectangle for the background then use the Gradient Fill Tool (half way down on the left tools toolbar) and drag on a gradient. This is a vector gradient - it has no implied DPI and is by far the best way to do gradients in a vector editor :)
 
Hope that helps,
Matt

Hello folks,
 
Been practising with Designer and completed this wee critter in over the past couple o' nights. Still trying to streamline my workflow but practise is good (and fun.....)
 
If anyone has any tips on how to make this better (especially the balloon) then I'd love to hear them.  :D
 
Cheers!
 
George
 
[shamelessplug] For more creatures like this, head to my website - www.eejits-online.co.uk [/shamelessplug]

Just finished this guy:
 

Liking the (beta) software sofar, this could "work" for me if finished right.  :)
More on my instagram account.

Maybe you have exported a PNG with transparency. If you used brushes or any bitmap/vector effects with transparency/blend modes you may see the colours a little different depending on the background color of the application you are using to view the file.

Hilary, on the context toolbar of the Pencil or Brush tool make sure you have the 'Controller' set to 'Automatic' or 'Pressure' - by default it is set to 'None' so you won't get pressure no matter how hard you try! ;)

Nice work Sunset. Love the hand sketched style you got there. Does the Intuos have any lag? I'm thinking in buying a new one for me but i'm afraid about the possible lag...

I love the fluidity of the sketches :-)
Really nice work.
 
I also work with a graphic pen. In my case, a Bamboo Pen&Touch from Wacom.
It has no lag.
Using a mouse is just not an option for me... for as long as 20 years :-)

Definitely don´t stop there.
Hand sketched drawings are trending again. Just take a look at some stock image/illustration websites.
Your style is great. It has a vintage vibe that's becoming very valued nowadays (the girl at left). And if you're enjoying doing it... is there any better reason to keep going?

Thanks again :) You have both encouraged me greatly to continue.

Thanks again :) You have both encouraged me greatly to continue.

Downloaded the latest driver and the Intuos 4 now does what it's told. There is nothing clever about these sketches except that they only took a few moments to do and it's the kind of work I've always wanted to do - but digitally instead of with nylon tipped pen. I've never drawn a cat before, but the fluidity was so good that this was easy. Now I can enjoy this!
 
And I'm learning Mac for the first time too....  :)
Catwoman 1.pdf

Perhaps I'm the odd one out, I like the black, I think it's all shiny, new, modern, efficient looking, makes me think I'll get great results.....  :)
 
But it's nice that it can be changed if required. I'm sticking, though :)

I believe DrawPlus had the same things as Illustrator but also had a preview button so you could picture the canvas without the off page workspace showing. That would be nice for Affinity.

This might already be in here somewhere, but i didn't see a setting for it.
When you drag an object off of the page onto he workspace background, the object is hidden behind the gray area, reminiscent of how Photoshop works.
 
Usually in vector drawing apps, the off-page background is an area that you can use as workable space to place extra vectors or elements you want to edit separately or save or use later. 
 
I tend to use this area quite a bit, not sure about anyone else. Are you planning an option to allow the gray area to show vectors on top instead of hiding them?
 
Screenshot shows side-by-side with illustrator to demonstrate. I never know if I'm explaining things right, haha!

One of the things I really like in Page Plus is the resource folder where you can just drop elements that you use regularly into the resource folder then just drag it onto the workspace when you need it. I think something like that would be useful here particularly when you make your own complex shapes that you may want to re use frequently.