retrograde

Illustrator gets around the copy and paste in the same spot by having command-v to paste in the window's centre and command-f to paste in the same spot. Very handy for when you do want something exactly on top of another object or not...
 
Somewhat related to this... is there another way of getting an object from one layer to another other than copy and pasting?

Hi Xenol, I had a look, and it's not that bad. You may want to in future as you create things name them a bit more, there are a lot of unnamed groups... for quicker at a glance layer panel navigating...
 
You might want to try having all of the black linework on one layer over top of everything else. In my experience it's easier to edit and the stuff underneath can be a little looser as the linework will cover it up to some degree making it quicker to create, as you're not as concerned about the edges so much... I hope that makes sense.
 
With this level of complexity you're going to just have a lot of stuff and organization is key. Especially if you are handing off the files to someone else.
 
If you could get away with a pixel based camouflage texture that would alleviate some of the many paths you have to deal with but overall it's not that bad.
 
Stylistically, I would probably bump up some of the linework weight a bit, but that's a personal comment not an efficiency comment. :-)
 
Nice job btw!

Yep something similar to the Ai blend tool would be good to have.
 
Or some sort of non-destructive type of array tool for distributing/aligning objects along a certain axis all controlled by a dialogue or panel.
 
Imagine adjusting the positioning and maybe even the scale along the length of the array with a "curve popup", something similar to the current way to adjust line widths now.  :-) Cool!

Back when I used Illustrator, I came across third party plugins from Astute Graphics. They make several plugins for Illustrator. MirrorMe is one that I think Retrograde would like if it came to Designer as well since he wants symmetry tools. https://astutegraphics.com/software/mirrorme/

Yep, hopefully some of those scale and rotating of selected nodes features will be showing up soon. 
 
Given their track record, I am confident that Affinity will come up with some smart solutions to these feature requests. Can't wait!

I remember when illustrator came out with the gradient mesh feature. I was pretty excited about it and did quite a lot of work with it since it was the only way at that time to achieve some of those soft transitions in shading that were the holy grail for my type of work.  Over time however as the technology improved other ways to achieve these effects began to appear and eventually replaced my need for the gradient mesh tool. I haven't picked up that tool for years now.
 
Looking back at those pieces I did is sort of cringe worthy now. The pieces look okay, especially given what the alternatives were but WOW what a ton of work and a not very friendly or flexible workflow (all those criss-crossing vector lines). Don't even think about changing your mind or colour for that matter...
 
With Designer now if you want similar effects, just jump into pixel persona and start painting away with all of the great brushes we have, or stay in draw persona and whip up some gradients with transparencies or blurs, much much faster, much more flexible and forgiving and of course much more fun!
 
My 2cents (2p) ;-)

I remember when illustrator came out with the gradient mesh feature. I was pretty excited about it and did quite a lot of work with it since it was the only way at that time to achieve some of those soft transitions in shading that were the holy grail for my type of work.  Over time however as the technology improved other ways to achieve these effects began to appear and eventually replaced my need for the gradient mesh tool. I haven't picked up that tool for years now.
 
Looking back at those pieces I did is sort of cringe worthy now. The pieces look okay, especially given what the alternatives were but WOW what a ton of work and a not very friendly or flexible workflow (all those criss-crossing vector lines). Don't even think about changing your mind or colour for that matter...
 
With Designer now if you want similar effects, just jump into pixel persona and start painting away with all of the great brushes we have, or stay in draw persona and whip up some gradients with transparencies or blurs, much much faster, much more flexible and forgiving and of course much more fun!
 
My 2cents (2p) ;-)

bleduc,
 
I think this is a very good point and something important to think about. There are many people who complain about things that are missing from Designer and while there are things missing, I think that people need to have faith in the developer's vision of the future. I too am confident that the developers will get there in time. For me there is a very important thing that people need to do before starting to use Affinity's products. I think when people start using Affinity products they need to think about is: When you take the trial, do you like the way that Affinity solves problems, because that give us a look into things to come. If you don't, then stick with what you are using. If you do then you need to be patient because adding new things takes time. I think people also have to give the developers time to add more features (even features that some would consider basic still take time to be written and debugged). The Affinity team has made great strides in a short amount of time and I am confident in the direction that they are taking the program. I applaud their effort and look forward to what they will add to the program in the future. 
 
Hokusai

Yep, hopefully some of those scale and rotating of selected nodes features will be showing up soon. 
 
Given their track record, I am confident that Affinity will come up with some smart solutions to these feature requests. Can't wait!

Really great to hear this Matt!

Nice job Eduardo. Great clothing techniques too. Good use of blurs and shading.

I agree with your comment on the tool binding and the one persona workflow and I would probably be doing more work in Photo if there was an outline mode. I'm pretty partial to being able to view just the paths when I need to line up stuff or just to see what's going on without a colour preview. 
 
I'm hoping that once the tool binding is figured out in Designer it will feel a little more seamless... it's pretty sweet currently though, can't really complain.  ;)

I agree with your comment on the tool binding and the one persona workflow and I would probably be doing more work in Photo if there was an outline mode. I'm pretty partial to being able to view just the paths when I need to line up stuff or just to see what's going on without a colour preview. 
 
I'm hoping that once the tool binding is figured out in Designer it will feel a little more seamless... it's pretty sweet currently though, can't really complain.  ;)

Yep. Really looking forward to 1.6 for a host of reasons.  :)  Brush away Matt, brush away.... ;)

Just completed this piece. A VERY stylized 1964 Chevy Greenbrier van in Designer. ;-)
 
What started out as a client job became a personal piece after they decided not to pursue the project.
 
I'm planning to build this in Blender eventually so I thought this could serve as a fairly tight 2d colour study and a chance to get a little more practice in using some of the pixel painting features of Designer.
 
Also shown is a wireframe screenshot, layers stack and a closer view of the headlights where most of the pixel work was done.
 
Vroom, vroom!

Cheers Paolo for your insight.
 
I will give that some thought the next time I need to upgrade. The type of illustration I do is dominated by the pen tool and shape creation, if it was a more gesture based hand-drawn workflow I probably would have switched to a more natural setup a while ago.

Robot.....

I have no idea... But yes, the tool binding is something very clever and I'd love to have it in AD too.
Also unlocking HLS jitters with Wet Edges and Accumulation should be amazing (so far you cannot jitter colours if you're using accumulation or wet edges).
 
I guess Matt is working hard to craft a very polished painting engine that will brush away ( :D ) all known glitches.
I somehow suspect that the stabiliser are just the of the iceberg...

EDIT: Ok Kevin have been faster...  :P
 
:D  Sorry Paolo.
 
Any development with Serif re automatically choosing the right tool icon? It sure would make painting in Designer a smoother, more intuitive affair.
 
What with the connectivity between the 2 apps you'd think these types of similar behaviours would be in sync. It's probably just a case of Photo getting a little more love because of it's later development cycle...
 
Any word on this for 1.6 MEB?

Kevin, if you double click on the blender brush you're using in the panel to open up that particular blender brush properties, click on the dynamics tab and navigate to "hue jitter" if that's at anything above 0% it will change the hue of your underneath colour as you use it. 
 
I usually go in and remove any of the hue jitters on all of the brushes (especially the painting brushes) as I don't usually want to add random colour to what I'm working on.

I find control and option/alt key dragging left and right to change size and up and down dragging to change hardness about as intuitive as it gets.  The bracket keys never made sense to me in other apps. My fingers are never near that end of the keyboard...
 
I've tried Krita and haven't had much success for my stuff... others love it.

Yes the current system seems clunky to me too. Some sort of "one click" cut tool and/or a true vector erase tool would be most welcome.
 
Plus for the life of me I can't get used to those break, join and close icons. They are too similar imho.

Cheers Matt!  Haha, gotcha though didn't he?

Ha! Very cool! :D

Matt, what are you doing, commenting here? Get back to work on AD 1.6!
 
 
:P