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Experimenting! You call that experimenting?!
I call that museum-quality, art-show-ready, lone-artist-show portfolio, industrial-poster-auctionable work!
Okay, in a word... beautiful and intricate. See, I couldn't stop with one word.

Here's what I usually do.  Create your shape, (pen tool or pick a shape tool) switch to pixel persona, if not already in it, click on the "insert inside the selection" button in the top tool shelf, pick the paint tool, pick a brush and go for it. Sounds like a few steps but it's pretty intuitive. Basically it does what Alfred's post says but more automatically, if that makes sense. :-)

Added 30 Raster Pattern Brushes (3 sets of 10) used in the creation of the image
Hope you find them useful
 
Pattern Brushes in resources

Making available new set of isometric Raster Pattern Brushes some of which were used in the creation of 'Tin Man'
6 Packs (60 Brushes)
Initial Brush Size to 100px
Added 2 A4 sample sheets for reference [PDF]
Enjoy!


PB ISO PATTERNS Set 1-01-03.pdf
PB ISO 01 P 01-03.zip
 
PB ISO PATTERNS Set 1-04-06.pdf
PB ISO 01 P 04-06.zip

Stark dramatic human intrusions into the landscape. Nice photos

Industrial photos and similar. Pentax K-70 + DAL 18-50mm, 50-200mm + Sigma 10-20 F3,5 EX DC+ Affinity Photo (win).

Very Creative! Don't change a thing! 

Well, it doesn't have to be a Levels adjustment, there are other similar adjustments but you do need the gradient. I personally prefer the levels as it's quite simple (because of applying a gradient to it) but the great thing is there is loads of choice.
 
Remember too, that you can add more than one gradient mask to the mask if you cant get it right with just one.

And more than one adjustment type, with a mask to that, like an HSL adjustment.
 
See how I set the layers above. Although you probably wont want two masks in levels. It is just to give you an idea and what you can do. Just duplicate the rectangle layer and "tweak".
 
Personally, i would tone the bottom up a touch, make it a little bit lighter, maybe with a HSL layer to give it a bit more saturation. Again with a mask, as per the picture. It looks a little bit off balance. Of course, I down know what you want to achieve, so maybe vice versa.

Try going to filters > Distort > Lens Distortion and entering 2 in the dialogue box, maybe 3.
.

Officially it is to correct pincushion or barrel distortions in some lenses but it will help straighten it a bit.

I don't think you can help some distortion. Just do the best you can. You could always use the liquify persona to "reshape" a little.
 
You can't edit a gradient drawn on a mask. You have to start again.
 
If you want to be able to do that, it becomes a little bit more complex. You have to use a rectangle and use that as a mask.
 
a. Draw a rectangle (shape tool) over the whole page and fill it with a gradient.
 

 
b. Use the gradient entry box and set the opacity at the ends to transparent, the middle black. as shown below.  

 
To use that as  a mask, drag it over the adjustment layer thumbnail until a blue vertical highlight bar appears on the right of the thumbnail. That indicates it will become a "mask" of the adjustment layer. See below.

 
Rectangle is now masked inside the Levels adjustment. See little page thumbnail on Rectangle to indicate it is masked.

 
You can now affect the adjustment in real time. In middle of image shown here.

To change, select the rectangle layer (click on thumbnail) and select the gradient tool. Use the gradient box again, not the colours panel, and adjust the transparency. You can drag the sliders and see what it does in real time. Adjust as necessary.
 
Actually, I just realised I did that the wrong way round for you and lightened the middle, not either end. You will have to swap the black and transparency on the gradient.

When you use the mesh tool Double click to set a control point. Double click to add more points. You can then just drag the point or handle as you want.
 
All adjustment layers have a mask built it. You can paint on it with the paintbrush in black or white. You can also use a gradient using the gradient tool.
 
If you select the adjustment layer,  (see layers in my first post) then just paint on it with the gradient tool. Click on the gradient control bar to set a new point in the middle. Set the middle colour to black, the end colours to white. (as below) That will give a black and white gradient like I posted before.

See here, black in the middle. White either end. I am actually painting on the mask, although it might not look like it here.
 
The black will stop the levels adjustment applying to the middle of the picture. That way it lightens either end, but not the middle.  You can play around to adjust it as you like. There are little handles between colour points, drag them to adjust.

You could use the mesh warp tool to straighten it.


Apply a Level adjustment, then paint on the levels mask with a gradient to adjust the brightness on the top and the bottom, without lightening the middle.

 
Like this
 

 
You will need to spend a bit of time to get it square or maybe crop a little?

Use a type character. The font, Crop Circles", available at DaFont, includes a spiral

The circle does have a start and an end, but they're joined together! When you draw a circle with the Ellipse Tool, apply a heavy stroke and drag the middle of the pressure curve downwards, the circle will always be thick at the top and thin at the bottom (unless and until you rotate it). If you 'Convert to Curves' the object, you'll see why: with the Node Tool selected, the node at the top will be drawn in red because it's an end node.

I made a thick stroke. and copied it so I could see how the different pressure graphs were working. After making and saving a bunch of profiles, I deleted the line layers and saved the file. The pressure curves are associated w. the file, I suppose I should check and see if they can be saved as a style. I know dashed lines can. When I re-open the blank file, all the pressures are available in the stroke dialogue, ready for application to the newly drawn vectors. They can be tweaked w/o saving for 1 off variations that might be hard to tell apart as a tiny thumbnail.

A nice demonstration of a very handy feature. I have a file I keep on hand  called "line pressures" that has 8 different pressure curves saved so I can pick and choose as I like, or tweak as I go.

Just follow these steps, to get you started, play around with it,  Granted it take practice, however once you, figure it out its easy as Pie...;)

 










Once you get it, it is easy as pie
 

Finally had a chance to play with some of the brushes that were created this year and explore some techniques
 
Original size A3 (300dpi)
 
 
 
 

Hi
I did this flat style illustration of a Volkswagen van and a tutorial on how I created it. There's more in my youtube channel if interested. 
Check it out here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V0c9f270zFU
 
Thanks.
 
 

Two things 1) I know the chain looks out of place. 2) I also know the shadow from the barrel is not correct. I was a little tipsy last night when I  was finishing up just slapped the shadow on lol.
I will be fixing the mentioned problems, but just figured I would throw what I had here for now. Also a few parts of the shading need to be smoothed out. But for now this is what it is

I like your line style! You seem to know when enough lines are just right so as not to overdo or confuse. Well done!

UPDATE: I found what I would call a good option to those searching this filter. I am basing this on a tutorial I saw years ago that used the PS difference clouds filter. Of course there is no direct equivalent in Affinity, but if one uses the Perlin noise filter and changes the blend mode to Negation, it's pretty awesome to use! And with more options! Trying to make lightning and this is slick way to achieve this.
 

Picturesque city, for sure. Beautiful photos.
An interesting observance: many cars in the photos, not many people. Maybe it is by your choice. One advantage is you don't have to get signed waivers by any identifiable people before you can post/publish the images.

Sooo excellent!
The funny thing (to me) is I could live with all these guys under my bed - except the top 2 (white ones) in the first example posted back on Feb 9. Those two scare me. Really scare me.

Experimenting! You call that experimenting?!
I call that museum-quality, art-show-ready, lone-artist-show portfolio, industrial-poster-auctionable work!
Okay, in a word... beautiful and intricate. See, I couldn't stop with one word.

Experimenting! You call that experimenting?!
I call that museum-quality, art-show-ready, lone-artist-show portfolio, industrial-poster-auctionable work!
Okay, in a word... beautiful and intricate. See, I couldn't stop with one word.