Help with coloring/fill

[hushthatpanda]

Howdy folks,

 

I'm trying to fill a a vector image that was created with the pen tool and I'm having some difficulty finding a way to color it in. I don't fully understand this pixel persona, but I've tried both rasterising and using pixel brushes and using the vector brushes, but am not getting a good result. 

 

Right now it's okay if it's just one color, though I'd like to figure out how to shade as well. 

 

Can anyone provide some guidance on this?

 

Attached is the file I'm working with.

 

Thanks in advance!

drinking buddies v4.afdesign

[MattP]

Hi,

 

Take a look at this thread and try downloading my terrible file that demonstrated how to go about this... Basically, the problem is that you're expecting to be able to fill an area that isn't just a whole vector object - it's a pixel-oriented way of thinking and is quite natural, obviously, but you actually need to make bounded objects that then have their whole colour changed or use the pixel tools to paint on the layer inside them.

 

Take a look at the file and it'll make more sense :)

 

Thanks,

Matt

[MattP]

Incidentally, here's a very rough stab at getting your first drinking buddy outline done, ready for colouring/painting :)

 

Buddies.afdesign

 

Open up the layer in the Layers page and look at the green filled object at the bottom - it's a rough outline of the overall shape of your character

 

Thanks,

Matt

[eejits]

I think I can help. I had the same issues when I started using Affinity Designer. Getting the mindset switched over from a raster/pixel point of view to a vector/shapes one is the key.....

 

I'll try and explain my workflow. It's different to what I used to do with Paint Shop Pro but I'm getting the results I want (and only hope to get better as I use Affinity more & more)

 

I create my outlines of my creatures using the pen tool (see some of my threads in the 'Show your work' sub-forum) on one layer and then underneath that, create a new layer for colouring-in (as I call it). Then I plot shapes using the pen tool again, set with no stroke and a fill of the colour I want underneath the outlines to 'fill' in the areas of the creature (body/eyes/arms/legs, etc).

 

Only then do I switch to the pixel persona and use raster tools, creating new pixel layers nested under each individual object (body/eyes/arms/legs, etc.) for shadows and highlights. Then I paint the shadows & highlights using the brush tool set to a low opacity and 0% hardness.

 

Hope that helps. I'd be happy to try and answer any questions you might have about my process. I'm not saying it's the best way but it works for me so far and I'm sure I'll pick up more tips and tricks as I go along.

 

George

[MEB]

Illustrator has a tool that's quite useful for this. It's the Live Paint Bucket and it basically detects the boundaries of the area you click (like a pixel selection) and fills it with the color you've chosen. However, this is all vector based. The coloured area you just created is actually a shape with no stroke that was created from the lines of the shapes that conformed its boundaries. It's created as a live group, meaning that if you change the curves of one of the shapes that conforms its boundaries, it automatically updates the filled area accordingly.

You can expand it, to separate its parts and continue editing as an ordinary shape if needed. It's the perfect tool for colouring cartoons and other artwork. However it does rely heavily on the precision of boolean operations to determine the fillable areas and draw the corresponding shape. Would be an excellent candidate for a feature request since it speeds up this type of work considerably.

Although from a previous version of Illustrator this video shows how it works (start around 1:45 minutes).

[GRScott]

You can also see how Sketchbook Pro does it here (about 2 1/2 minutes into the video). 

 

.

[8strong]

Illustrator has a tool that's quite useful for this. It's the Live Paint Bucket and it basically detects the boundaries of the area you click (like a pixel selection) and fills it with the color you've chosen. However, this is all vector based. The coloured area you just created is actually a shape with no stroke that was created from the lines of the shapes that conformed its boundaries. It's created as a live group, meaning that if you change the curves of one of the shapes that conforms its boundaries, it automatically updates the filled area accordingly.

You can expand it, to separate its parts and continue editing as an ordinary shape if needed. It's the perfect tool for colouring cartoons and other artwork. However it does rely heavily on the precision of boolean operations to determine the fillable areas and draw the corresponding shape. Would be an excellent candidate for a feature request since it speeds up this type of work considerably.

Although from a previous version of Illustrator this video shows how it works (start around 1:45 minutes).

 

I'm new to vector drawing and was looking for the live paint bucket in designer.  Opps, I didn't catch the part about illustrator!  Does anyone know if this feature has been requested in designer yet?

[uxdesignerwt]

I am new to Affinity Designer. I am having the same issue. I was trying to paint withing the vector lines and found it difficult. There has to be a easier and better way. I have read through your articles.  I was wondering if there was some type of video to explain what you are talking about. 

 

One more thing. How do you attach files on this forum?

 

 

Thank you,

 

 

Wayne Tucker

[raglet]

Illustrator has a tool that's quite useful for this. It's the Live Paint Bucket and it basically detects the boundaries of the area you click (like a pixel selection) and fills it with the color you've chosen. However, this is all vector based. The coloured area you just created is actually a shape with no stroke that was created from the lines of the shapes that conformed its boundaries. It's created as a live group, meaning that if you change the curves of one of the shapes that conforms its boundaries, it automatically updates the filled area accordingly.

You can expand it, to separate its parts and continue editing as an ordinary shape if needed. It's the perfect tool for colouring cartoons and other artwork. However it does rely heavily on the precision of boolean operations to determine the fillable areas and draw the corresponding shape. Would be an excellent candidate for a feature request since it speeds up this type of work considerably.

Although from a previous version of Illustrator this video shows how it works (start around 1:45 minutes).

 

Hey so any chance of a Live Paint type illustrator feature making it into Affinity Designer anytime soon?

[Daniel Skarzynski]

In my projects I have lots of small rectangles and I have to use fill tool very often. That is why for me the best solution for filling vector objects was Adobe Flash. Bucket tool can fill any object - you dont have to select it or select layers. You can chose color and fill every object you want to. I think that this solution is the best for vector fill tool. I wish that something like this will be in AD.

Example: 

[cc7]

Any update about Live Paint feature?