Gary-ser

By Jove - that worked! I got off track when you refer to layers while I was focused on objects within a layer - but I see that your method does work for what I was describing. Thanks a bunch!!!
 
Gary

Thanks guy! Will do.
Gary

Thanks guy! Will do.
Gary

You can add whatever gradients you want to use:
1. Select a shape on the canvas.
2. Use the Fill Tool to apply a gradient.
3. Tap on the ‘Swatches’ link in the Colour Studio.
4. Choose the Move Tool so that the Fill swatch displays the gradient.
5. Choose an existing palette (e.g. ‘Gradients’) or add a new one.
6. Tap on the 3-bar ‘hamburger’ button to display the Swatches menu.
7. Tap on ‘Add Current Fill to Palette’.

They are ones the presenter has added to their system. 
Try a web search for 120 gradients affinity and you'll find some.

Agreed. This is pretty basic functionality available in other software. Its now 2019, any progress on this?

Guys,
Thanks a ton. What a dumb question, but you were so kind to all help. I did stumble on to the solution offered by Thomoso.
Alternatively:
1. Select the image you want to mask.
2. Add a mask layer (> mask button in layers panel), it will get nested inside the selected layer.
3. Paint the mask with the paint brush.
 
Great support. Hopefully I'll do better from here on out.
Gary

Please add the clone brush. Right now I must use a 2nd bitmap editor.  Not happy about that.
Serif, I am not going to put out another $50 just to get a tool that is available in any other (free) bitmap editor. 
In the long term you will get more market share for a product that people love. I would have rather paid $100 for a product that wasn't gimped. 
Same for the missing crop tool in the photo side.

Please add the clone brush. Right now I must use a 2nd bitmap editor.  Not happy about that.
Serif, I am not going to put out another $50 just to get a tool that is available in any other (free) bitmap editor. 
In the long term you will get more market share for a product that people love. I would have rather paid $100 for a product that wasn't gimped. 
Same for the missing crop tool in the photo side.

Thanks for the Rasterize tip, I thought I was losing my mind. Could not this be added to the manual under Flood Select Tool?

Just out of interest. Have you tried using the "Protect alpha" option in the brush context toolbar? 

If you want hair colour variations, just duplicate the Hair group and add a layer fx like colour overlay to the duplicate hair group.

You can create shading by drawing a shape then adding blur or some transparency.
You can add blur to a shape using the layer fx

No, it doesn't require a bit map approach, but that would be quicker if you didn't need to scale the graphic. Here is a quickie. Could be lots better, but shows that a solution is probable.
HairShading.afdesign