Need a Workaround For Adding Strokes Together

[bea_footh]

I've just switched from the Adobe Suite and Procreate for iPad to using Affinity Designer on my PC. On my iPad, I was able to do digital printmaking in a raster format in Procreate. I was excited to try AD to be able to make my prints in a vector format. However, the process I've tried is too much for AD to handle.

My process is this:

Pencil tool to "carve" the shape I want.

Expand strokes.

Add strokes together.

Create rectangle of desired color behind strokes.

Subtract combined strokes from the rectangle to make one "plate."

This would work perfectly, except AD has that bug that causes the whole program to freeze up when I try to join too many objects together (too many being anywhere from 300 to 2, depending on its mood).

Is there anyway I can get the same look I want without having to combine the strokes together? I want to be able to stack multiple "plates" together.

 

(Attached is the file I'm working on. I got the dark green "plate" to work eventually. On the second artboard is a different piece I made on my iPad to show you what kind of look I'm going for. Ignore the other artboards.)

Jumpsuit.afdesign

[bea_footh]

Good news! I figured it out! No adding or subtracting needed! I haven't tried it with a larger file yet, but with this test file, it works great.

The new process is:

Pencil tool to "carve" the shape I want.

Expand strokes.

Select all strokes and change the opacity mode from "normal" to "erase."

Move all strokes into a clipping mask beneath the rectangle "plate."

 

And TA-DA!!! This allows for stacking of "plates" as well! 

Test Document for Digital Printmaking.afdesign