Ash Eldritch

Very nice but Geisha or traditionally dressed Japanese woman? Since Geisha wear the oshiroi makeup.

I really like your art. To me it's like the illegitimate offspring of 8-bit and surrealism. Great stuff.

Not being rude but are we using the same apps? I can't say I find the icons amateur. Like the interface and hope there's no major overhaul. I use mine in monochromatic and everything represents what it should clearly. Surely that's functionality... being able to do what you need to do quickly rather than faffing about because something's aesthetically interesting.

Does this issue predominantly happen when zoomed in? If so I've reported the issue before and hopefully it's something they are looking into. I'd posted a video of the issue so you might be able to tell if it's the same problem you're having.

Sounds like Marvin's been up to his usual tricks.

@DavidMalcolm lol Not even a 2015. It's a late 2014 Mac mini 2.6 GHz Core i5 with 8GB of RAM. The only change I've made to it is adding an SSD externally as I don't think you can change the internal drive. And no, I didn't use brushes of any kind. My Mac can't cope with brushes. If I draw a small line using a brush it takes about a minute for the drawn line to be rendered. But I don't have any slow down issues drawing curves with a mouse. So that's how it's all been done. Plus I think brushes tend to have a look of repitition that you can't really get away from. So every blade of grass is an individual curve that I can move around if needed. Ideal for when I want grass appearing in front of objects. There's still work to do on the grass but until I have added all the other elements it's staying as is.

Hi, I've been using the forum for a while now and recently have commented on a few peoples work so thought it only fair I should have something to show for myself. So this is my first attempt using Designer. It's very incomplete. There are more characters being worked on (I've switched their visibility off) and a lot of things haven't been finished like the house, tree, grass and the cloud splash where the rainbow fish is meant to be entering the cloud. Pretty much most things are unfinished but it's taking time as my Mac is struggling to cope with the scale of the image now. It's for a children's book I'm working on. It's entirely done with vector, no brushes, no pixels. And also completely done using a mouse as trying to draw anything with my Wacom tablet results in the line taking about a minute to catch up with what I've drawn. Also It's only a portion of the image, the original extends both up and down. As it's so large I've added some sections of the image as well. Apologies for the essay.

@SrPx Thank you. As I said earlier this is my first foray into full on vector art. I used to do raster but my one dislike of raster has always been you're governed by the processing power of your machine. ie. If you don't have a top end computer the size of your work is constrained by that. Small computer equals low resolution and then never able to upscale without the old jaggies. (I'm using an old Mac mini 2014) With vector that's not an issue. I used to do photo realism back in the old days when photoshop was young (though actually I used xRes and Freehand), and whilst I still admire someone's dedication to do it there's always the stigma of "well you just traced that". As for copies... therein lies my problem. This piece is taking a loooong time. I could just copy and paste but I think that's noticeable. Every flower, mushroom etc in the piece is different. But if you wanted to yes you could copy and paste all of the elements. As for the grass, being new to vector I probably approached it differently to most vector artists. I have no clue about vector art so did it as I would a proper painting, building it up in levels. So hopefully someone else can answer your question as my approach probably took more time than doing it with raster. I'm not sure what I've done, in some ways, is that much less memory intensive. Especially when it comes to blending. That seems to be the real killer. The fish with all its rainbow/glitter effect has really caused some issues. but the way I get around that is to create raster versions of objects for previewing and then switch back to vector for export. If file sizes help, my vector file size is 170mb as opposed to, if I export to raster PNG, 340mb. I'd hate to think what the working size for a raster image that size would be. Either way I'd certainly say Designer is an app worth exploring more. I think I'm going to explore brushes at some point. I bought a few packs but haven't tried them yet for the reasons explained above. I need to buy a new Mac at some point but I'm very impressed with what Designer can do. Hope this helps a bit but there are probably a lot of people who have done this a lot longer and know a hell of a lot of time saving tips and tricks that would serve you better.

Thanks both. @GarryP Yes, It's basically my first piece although it's changed a lot throughout the process. Originally the tree was a cherry blossom but I found a way to improve the design process (thanks to the forum), and thought this tree suited the image better, so it's been moved out to be worked upon for another page. Same with other pieces. I used to use illustrator just to do outlines then export to photoshop where I'd use raster brushes. I purchased both Designer and Photo with the intent of doing the same procedure but during my first attempt at using Designer something just clicked. I felt far more comfortable using the tools and I instantly gelled with it. I decided to try a full on vector piece instead, something I'd never done before and with lots of experimentation... well, the result is above.

So totally with you there. I'm guessing I have several hundred thousand layers, most of which needed the scale with objects tick box checked, on my illustration. I'm dreading that I've missed a few. I know when I first started I didn't use it and had to go back through clicking an absolute tonne of objects.

Very nice. If I could give one bit of advice it would be don't watch tutorials of other people creating artwork. The way to create your own style is to experiment rather than being led down a path already walked by someone else. By all means watch how a tool is used if you get stuck. But since you're just starting use that lack of knowledge to your advantage. Who knows what you'll come up with.

Very nice. The only thing I'd say is my eyes keep getting drawn to the right of her neck. Has an outline been left on? For some reason it looks like she has one of those waterproof plasters on. Other than that, very well done.

I've had that before and worse, where the Apple install system decided I didn't have the right to install updates, for certain apps, even though in the receipts section I'd clearly purchased them.The joys of the Apple all in one eco system eh? Your issue may well resolve itself, mine did a few times. Otherwise you'll have to contact Apple as Affinity won't have any control over Apple's store.

Excellent work. Can I ask if you've done this in 8 or 16 bit? The reason I ask is I can see a tiny bit of colour banding. I'm currently working on an all vector piece and noticed I had the banding issue. Once I upped to 16 bit all the banding vanished... Unless of course that is a 70s look you've gone for? lol Either way I'd certainly say you achieved what you set out to do.

Funnily enough I've been illustrating one of these myself. Beautiful trees.

Very nice. I agree about adding dimension to the base but not to adding highlights to the mushrooms. White mushrooms are typically matt so adding highlights will just make them look a bit odd.

Really excellent, as are the others in the series.Very nice indeed.

Hi @Cecil, not sure how bad your tremor is but Designer has a whoppingly huge amount of zoom, a million percent or there about. That added with something like Steadymouse 2 could possibly negate any need for pinpoint accuracy.

It's certainly not for most people, mostly down to the amount of time it takes. I used to do photo realism and my answer to the "Just take a photo" was usually the image as a whole doesn't exist to take a photograph of. I'd still say it's a good way to learn how to do detail that can be used in other styles. Although another part of me says it's the start of a very, very long road to madness. My current piece probably has several hundred thousand layers. It's not so bad when you finally get to a point where you can look at, and appreciate, what's being created. But those early days when you don't have much to show for days and days, or even weeks, of work would be off putting to most I feel. PS. I'll eventually get around to adding a like but it appears I've been restricted from adding any more likes... for 24 hours I'm guessing.

Nice. As someone who tends to put in far too much detail I can fully appreciate how much time something like this takes.I don't do photo realism but same principle. It's a shame the majority of people will never realise the effort put in. That and the usual "Did you draw that or do it on a computer?"

Hi, I often work in outline mode for intricate details but I find that I'm having to zoom out all the time in order to select a path. Is there something I'm missing? Sometimes I have to zoom right out which means other paths can take presedence making the only way possible to select a particular path is to use the layers panel instead. Considering the thousands upon thousands of layers involved that can be a nightmare itself. Any help much appreciated.

Thanks. Much appreciated.

Hi @GabrielM I'm constantly clicking in the video but it's not till I zoom out a fair way that I'm able to get anything to select. Screen_Recording_2019-07-15_at_16_06_25.mov

Hi, I'm Using masks in Designer and while zoomed out you can see the outline of the masks, though the stroke is set to 0 with no colour. As you zoom in so the outline become thinner. I thought at first this was just a visualisation thing that wouldn't appear when exported but it does, though rather jagged. Any ideas why this is happening?

Ah thank you. To be honest that was the way I was originally doing things, which is why when I changed approach I suddenly began noticing the clipping issue. I thought I was basically doing the same thing, just in a different way. Either way, many thanks, your help is much appreciated.