changing background colour

[TCT]

Just now, iconoclast said:

Have you selected the layers/curves you want to add?

well i selected layer 1 like you suggested

P Boys Hangtag Front (1).afdesign

[lacerto]

1 hour ago, TCT said:

could you please give me a step by step guide of what exactly you did so i fully understand please. I have the same artwork done but its completed with two boys that I need to attain the same results with and am having the same issues.

Here are both versions, fixed in two ways (the "Girls" has the Reg. mark fixed as I did not include it in the rainbow initially).

P Girls Hangtag Front_quickfix.afdesign

P Girls Hangtag Front_fixed.afdesign

P Boys Hangtag Front_quickfix.afdesign

P Boys Hangtag Front_fixed.afdesign

The "quickfix" versions simply just have rectangle in "Multiply" blend mode placed on top of everything. It will color the background because it is white, but does not have much effect on anything else (if you have a light color like "tan" applied on it).

The "fixed" versions convert the strokes of the drawing to closed curves by using Layer > Expand Stroke (you just select every stroke of the drawing and apply the command). Once they are closed curves they can have gradient fill applied simply by applying it to them once they are all selected. Note that to have the gradient applied for the whole width of the artboard, there needs to be an object within the selection that extends to the edges of the artboard (it is there but hidden). You could clip the original rainbow image into this selection to have the drawing (and texts) colored, but I used directly a vector gradient fill that has the color stops placed at positions that create a similar spectrum as the original image. This would allow you to easily change the way the spectrum changes its colors. The rainbow of the border is achieved simply by having a rectangle size of the artboard with the same gradient fill applied and then having slightly smaller rectangle placed on top, which will have the tan color of your choice for the background color.

I also simplified the Reg. symbols a bit (to have just an ellipse with expanded stroke, and the letter R).

[iconoclast]

17 minutes ago, TCT said:

well i selected layer 1 like you suggested

P Boys Hangtag Front (1).afdesign 249.65 kB · 1 download

Ah, now I understand. You need to select the Child Layer(s) of Layer 1. Layer 1 is only like a group, or like a folder, in this case. So click on the small arrow on the left on this Layer 1 to open it. There are Child Layers nested to Layer 1. They contain the curves you want to add to each other. I suppose you are working on step 4. So select the top Child Layer, hold Shift and click on the Child Layer at the bottom of the stack to select all the Child Layers. Then click on Add.

Edit: One annotation: There is also this Registered Trademark sign under Layer 1, that makes it a little more complicated. You could simply choose such a sign from the Glyphs Studio panel. Most fonts should contain one. And it would be easier to add it to the rest of the curves - similar to the other text.

[TCT]

10 minutes ago, lacerto said:

Here are both versions, fixed in two ways (the "Girls" has the Reg. mark fixed as I did not include it in the rainbow initially).

P Girls Hangtag Front_quickfix.afdesign

P Girls Hangtag Front_fixed.afdesign

P Boys Hangtag Front_quickfix.afdesign

P Boys Hangtag Front_fixed.afdesign

The "quickfix" versions simply just have rectangle in "Multiply" blend mode placed on top of everything. It will color the background because it is white, but does not have much effect on anything else (if you have a light color like "tan" applied on it).

The "fixed" versions convert the strokes of the drawing to closed curves by using Layer > Expand Stroke (you just select every stroke of the drawing and apply the command). Once they are closed curves they can have gradient fill applied simply by applying it to them once they are all selected. Note that to have the gradient applied for the whole width of the artboard, there needs to be an object within the selection that extends to the edges of the artboard (it is there but hidden). You could clip the original rainbow image into this selection to have the drawing (and texts) colored, but I used directly a vector gradient fill that has the color stops placed at positions that create a similar spectrum as the original image. This would allow you to easily change the way the spectrum changes its colors. The rainbow of the border is achieved simply by having a rectangle size of the artboard with the same gradient fill applied and then having slightly smaller rectangle placed on top, which will have the tan color of your choice for the background color.

I also simplified the Reg. symbols a bit (to have just an ellipse with expanded stroke, and the letter R).

are you able to send me a screen recording of your process just so i ensure i fully understand.

[lacerto]

13 minutes ago, TCT said:

are you able to send me a screen recording of your process just so i ensure i fully understand.

I'll try to create a short clip at least of the main job.

Note that the manipulation of the strokes of the drawing might result in artifacts. In the Girl version I noticed one artifact after having applied Layers > Expand Strokes, but there might be other, so I suggest that you examine carefully the drawing:

a) Original:

b) After having expanded the strokes to closed (fillable) curves:

[Old Bruce]

I made a few changes. Set everything to Normal Blend mode. I changed the font to one I had and used its registered r glyph so I could get rid of that home made one. I grouped the curves and the text and moved them out of the layer and then just used that group to clip the image. Now change the colour of the rectangle to whatever you want.
To make further changes to the artwork you will have to move it out of the clipping position, small amount of work with big benefits.

P Girls Hangtag Front altered by bruce.afdesign

 

[iconoclast]

I made a little screen recording of my version. Hope it helps. I also deleted that white spot, that seemed to be useless, and replaced the Reg. Trademarks sign by a character from the Glyphs panel.

 

 

[lacerto]

Here's a Designer file with saved history so that you can play back what was done, and a bit lengthy clip:

P Boys Hangtag Front_Instructions.afdesign

Note that I use here directly a gradient fill within the selection of the drawing. When doing so, there is no need to combine the expanded strokes into one object (using Boolean Add), so the original strokes can remain as individual objects. An alternative would be using Add after expanding the strokes and then clip the original rainbow image into the drawing.

I still think that the most elegant solution to this problem is just applying a colored rectangle (with the desired background tone) with Multiply blend mode on top of the job (borders excluded).

[TCT]

you guys are amazing. thanks so much

[lacerto]

It later occurred to me that the problem could have resolved simply by applying the rainbow bitmap as a bitmap fill using the Fill Tool, like this:

It is easy to forget that in Affinity apps you can basically "fill the stroke". Also, when using a vector gradient, it could have been directly applied on the strokes of a selected object group.

Applying the gradient (bitmap or vector) on the strokes has of course the benefit of not needing to touch the drawing, at all (expanding the strokes causes at least one artifact in the "Girls" drawing).

Below are the fixed bitmap based versions, saved with the history so that you can see what was done. Using a vector gradient would have the benefit of keeping the rainbow stops fully editable but as the bitmap is very small (and can well be small because it works as a fill enclosed by curves), the export file size is actually smaller with the bitmap fill.

When the rainbow bitmap is isolated as it is now, there was no need to even change the blend mode back to Normal (it does not need to have Screen blend mode any longer, either).

One more thing that I noticed: if text objects have gradient fills directly defined, they will be converted to curves at export time. If they have gradient fills clipped in, they remain as texts. That's why I have done that in these final fixes.

(PS. I forgot to clear the stroke from the patch in the arm of the girl on the left.)

P Girls Hangtag Front (1)_FinalFixBitmap.afdesign

P Boys Hangtag Front (1)_FinalBitmap.afdesign