affinity designer Skull shading

[zaflemos]

I was trying to draw for a photo quality image using vector+Pixel brush for shading. Happy that I was able to it but it shows I need to do lot more practice. Hope to improve someday. I am a newbie and be happy for any suggestions to improve my work.

[zaflemos]

Thanks for liking my work StuartRc. It’s a lot of pain working and shading ,sometimes I was wondering why the pen is not writing on the screen. It takes a long time to get used to clicking first the object to see where you are brushing your pen.

I made a practice drawing using pixel brush on cartooning.

[StuartRc]

Hi

I made a habit of creating solid block areas before starting to add any texture
Mix up your techniques!
A. An outline areas with pen tool to create solid blocks so you can either paint inside to get a clean edge for pixel solids (or rasterise to paint onto with raster brushes in the pixel persona) I work this way lots!
B. Make use of opacity when painting textures.. a quick tap on the keyboard for me...not sure how that works on ipad. Opacity with texture brushes is really useful for blending 2 solid colours.
have a look at tutorials from other apps on youtube.. I made a list a the bottom of this thread here

But Found something last week..... a comprehensive painting/creative/tutorial reference list from Maddy Bellwoar on Artstation here......much better than mine!

Make use of Protect Alpha in pixel persona...sometimes it can be your best friend! 

[zaflemos]

Thanks for the referrals links and tips. still struggling much on the shading . sometimes I found that it’s due to my judgement, but I think it’s has a lot do more on what I learned. Having somebody advising nice tips who knows what they are doing is great help for me.

I attached an image my practice drawing on hair , one subject that is very challenging to me. I used pixel brush rather than fill the vector layer. One thing ,what is protect alpha persona? Is that where you lock a layer? 

Edited January 20, 2022 by zaflemos
Adding message

[StuartRc]

No Problem!
Check this video out here ....it will give you an idea of process
Protect Alpha basically lets your paint over any pixels that have value...I think! .So if you just paint a solid area on a pixel layer. then turn on Protect Alpha. When you paint again on the same layer any brush work will only affect the filled shape...It is really useful. I use it all the time! bit like a reverse mask!

Lock Layer is a bit different.. You will not be able to paint on it!
 

[zaflemos]

Was testing this DAUB brush and paper. It does seems to work well if I lower th opacity of the fill, to make you see the background paper. Maybe there better way to do it.

[StuartRc]

It is a common method...but have a play around with the blend modes...as well...you can achieve some dramatic effects..

[zaflemos]

This time I put the paper on top and lower the opacity. Trying to get used to the brushes in watercolor.

[zaflemos]

On 1/20/2022 at 9:46 AM, StuartRc said:

Hi

I made a habit of creating solid block areas before starting to add any texture
Mix up your techniques!
A. An outline areas with pen tool to create solid blocks so you can either paint inside to get a clean edge for pixel solids (or rasterise to paint onto with raster brushes in the pixel persona) I work this way lots!
B. Make use of opacity when painting textures.. a quick tap on the keyboard for me...not sure how that works on ipad. Opacity with texture brushes is really useful for blending 2 solid colours.
have a look at tutorials from other apps on youtube.. I made a list a the bottom of this thread here

But Found something last week..... a comprehensive painting/creative/tutorial reference list from Maddy Bellwoar on Artstation here......much better than mine!

Make use of Protect Alpha in pixel persona...sometimes it can be your best friend! 

Great tips. Thanks.