affinity designer Infected & Comic Book Toolkit

[StuartRc]

PB 32 Comic Dot TK

Added new brush Set Toolkit based on the PB 19 Inker Toolkit (Same brush Nozzles extracted from several different sets). Renamed the brush collection and created new basic dot pattern base textures with additional ones extracted from PB 19 Inker | PB 32 Comic Sketch | PB 30 Comic Grunge. 

[Komatös]

I would like to have only one µ of your creativity. Mine is only enough for drawing stick figures.

[StuartRc]

4 hours ago, Komatös said:

I would like to have only one µ of your creativity. Mine is only enough for drawing stick figures.

Stick figures can be useful!😀 and thanks for your comments...

[StuartRc]

Template: Vector Assets 01
Adding vector grunge effects to the pages | Panels and Tiers
A4 Panel and Page Borders 01
 

[StuartRc]

Template: Page Border test

 

[StuartRc]

Large vector Grunge Patterns

Added 48 Vector Grunge patterns to the template created from the Comic Grunge and Comic Sketch brushes. Visible vectors on test sheets is 100 x 100 mm as single compound curve. Actual size is around 190mm+ x 90mm+ to fit Tier panels of 180 x 84mm inside A4 page mask 

 

[StuartRc]

PB 32 Comic Pencilling

Added Comic Pencilling brush set consisting of a mix of 8 eraser and 22 inking brushes. Primarily for sketching and layout

[pruus]

On 1/25/2023 at 9:44 PM, StuartRc said:

PB 32 Comic Dot TK

Added new brush Set Toolkit based on the PB 19 Inker Toolkit (Same brush Nozzles extracted from several different sets). Renamed the brush collection and created new basic dot pattern base textures with additional ones extracted from PB 19 Inker | PB 32 Comic Sketch | PB 30 Comic Grunge. 

Where is your shop to buy your work? I like the effort you put in!

[StuartRc]

On 2/17/2023 at 11:04 AM, pruus said:

Where is your shop to buy your work? I like the effort you put in!

It was not my original intention to sell resources...but as there are so many sets it might be something to consider.

I was trying to create a full toolkit for sketching and drawing comics or Comic like artwork. In reality the brush sets have 3 large toolkits (Inking | Concept | Comic) The Brush and Vector Assets were set up to support the process of comic artwork but it has been a bit of a learning curve. Changed the way brush sets are used with access to a library of base textures. Inker | Concept and Comic all have access to the pattern library!. The toolkit itself is not yet complete. There are a few extra assets I would like to add!.. However I believe the brush sets for this project are!. The latest set (PB 32 Pencilling) was sort of an after thought. Currently working on some new drawings for 'Untamed' but finding that I was still jumping around between sets to get to the brushes needed...So I made a new one just for pencilling | initial sketching which includes an eraser section and making use of the new 'Distance' feature in dynamics + 'Cycles' + Graph.

Outstanding: 
Colour Palettes | Texture Styles |Perspectives Grids from Warp Group |Text Styles |Text bubbles and page comments | Vector Brushes | Page Templates

Complete:
Brushes:  
Existing (PB 19 Inker Sample Set (In resources) |PB 31 Base Texture Toolkit (In resources) | PB 19 Inker)
New (PB 30 Comic Grunge | PB 32 Comic Sketch | PB 32 Comic Dot TK | PB 32 Comic Penciller)
Assets: 
Vector Patterns: Patterns| Pattern Fills | Seamless Pattern Fills ( Dot | Grunge | Grid)
Vector Grunge Borders
48 Vector Grunge Patterns (From painted grunge patterns) Set at A4 3 Tier Panel Size
Pages:
A4 Comic Pages
A4 Rectangular Page Layouts (Tier and Panel Combinations) | A4 Angular Page Layouts (Tier and Panel Combinations)
A4 Page Masks Rectangular (Vector)
A4 Page masks Angular (Vector)
A4 7 Sketch Templates
A4 7 Page Sketch Templates (match Publisher Template Page)

A4 Comic Panels: Single Panel Sets Rectangular and Angled | Tier Panels Sets Rectangular and Angled
Helpers - Positional 

Palette (Global Swatch Basic Colours including rich blacks)

Some of the new features in 2.1 are are extremely useful in this process.

[pruus]

I do like it. So why not in the future. I will get on with your tips. thanks!

[StuartRc]

3 minutes ago, pruus said:

I do like it. So why not in the future. I will get on with your tips. thanks!

Thank you!... Yep future is possible!😀
The Inker brush set (PB 19)and Base Texture (PB 31) set are available in resources... I could extend the base texture patterns a bit! for this set!😀

It has been a challenge.. It is not just a 'template' It is more of a modular template that can be used in Designer and Publisher but is still A4! There are other sizes that should be considered. I don't really believe in just making a single template.. they all look the same!

[ktnamcuong]

so amazing

[StuartRc]

Seamless Pattern Overlays
Added a basic set of seamless patterns to Resources for use with the new Asset >Fill Swatch feature here
Updated PB 31 to reflect this with 10 additional 'dot' .png files (@pruus)

[StuartRc]

Dialogue and Type Assets Collection (W.I.P)
Assets and Toolkits for Dialogue and Labelling structure
Wanted to make this part of the template just as flexible as the page template itself!
1. Decide on the typefaces and create the associated styles
2. Make all the structural elements | objects flexible and easily exchanged between alternative assets

3. Use Global Colours for quick editing and apply to each vector separately
4. Introduce some degree of scale, where the text elements can scale independent of the text box (Affinity does not have 'flex' type so needed to add optional styles to the sheet!)
5. Allow for the repositioning of vector objects inside asset without affecting text
6. Build a collection of scalable assets
7. Build a Toolkit that allows for flexibility of assets:

NB
Need to add additional 'Text Dialogue' layer to imported templates
Need to Update Global Colours in associated templates
 

Type
Used these (taken from Google Fonts to available!) Stylesheet for all 3 apps

Sample Asset Toolkit and Completed single asset
Wanted to make this really flexible so assets built for any particular grouped asset could be exchanged for any other There are almost 50 of these now!
Tried to keep it simple with:
Bubble Area | Tail Area + Base shape and Edge shape for each.
Text Contained in Bubble so can re-position the tail separately (+scale)
Global Colours
Text Styles 

Sample Page Test
A4 page with Mask 
Overlay text over mask in this case. Scale assets and recolour 'globally'

[StuartRc]

Dialogue Compound Assets Part I

Speech Assets Part I 01

Speech Assets Part I 02

[magi designer]

Wow, it is great

[StuartRc]

Palette Assets 01
Added the first set of Palette Assets
Reorganised Palettes by name and created .PNG image import sets so colours can be combined

1. 'Graphite' for drawing with inking with dark colours and combining high contrast colours

2. Re-edited Untamed Palettes (Originals were simply sampled image versions). However this method can result in a mix of similar colours. Streamlined and selected 48 manually from each set to get better variation and remove similar colours
a. Untamed Originals
b. Untamed Mushroom Forest
c. Untamed Chili Trees
 

[StuartRc]

Comic Dialogue Toolkit 01 
Finished the 1st Asset Toolkit to support the Comic Template. Tried to make it as versatile as possible and following onwards from the Compound Asset Set.

Added a lot of extra options to the compound shapes
Split the Assets to separate vector objects so most are inter-changeable
Set Global Colours so easy to change across pages
Added text styles
Built Assets 

[StuartRc]

Comic Toolkit Splat Assets 01 
A collection of  splat shapes!
Sketched Vector assets using Inker and Comic Sketcher Brush Sets. 

[StuartRc]

PB 33 Comic Block Inkers and Pattern Bases

Added Comic Block Inking brushes consisting of 30 ink blocking brushes with 20 ink texture patterns and 20 pattern painting base textures.

The painting base textures are greyscale so will add the pattern with single brush stroke; with multiple repeated strokes the pattern is erased depending on the value of the grey (I ranged them between 30 and 60%).

There is a supplementary set of 80 seamless patterns so a wide variety of options here.
Can also be applied to most Brush Sets PB 01 - PB 33 

Brush Set

Seamless Patterns Ink and Painters

Optional Pattern Painter Base Textures 01

Optional Pattern Painter Base Textures 02

[StuartRc]

Comic Toolkit Circle Assets 01 
A collection of  Circular shapes!
Sketched Vector assets using Inker and Comic Sketcher Brush Sets. 

[tzvi20]

Hi @StuartRc are the comic block inkers and pattern bases available on the forum?

[AffinityJules]

Hey StuartRc!

Just checking out your rather fine asset library, and it always leaves me wondering whether or not the brush sets you create are vector only?

I know 'jack' about vector brushes and their usage, so my real wonder is: do you create raster brushes (is that what they're called?) which can be used in Affinity Photo?

 

[StuartRc]

36 minutes ago, tzvi20 said:

Hi @StuartRc are the comic block inkers and pattern bases available on the forum?

Hi
Ah good Question. I have 1000's of patterns that have been created over past few years. This year I opted for a different method of brush creation.

The original method involved lots of brush sets where a single nozzle group could have a texture pattern. This led to a lot of brush sets each with a collection of individual brushes. More recently I sort of decided the way to go was to create a dedicated brush set with different nozzles but make the textures independent.

This allows any brush set to access any collection of patterns so in theory a single collection of nozzles could be 1000's of different brush patterns. I collected all the patterns together into different groups.

I have been a bit 'stuck' with brush creation recently as the app keeps crashing when I try to edit brushes in depth So I have not uploaded much on the brush front for a while. Keep trying to update Big-T set and add a collection of base textures to it in a similar fashion to PB 31

The ink blockers were created initially for the Comic Book Toolkit as I needed something to create flat blocks of colour with irregular or smooth edges. I used them to create the 'Speech Bubbles' then vector outline the result in Inkscape. In the process I also found that these shapes themselves could be brush nozzles. also make good paint brushes in combination with the new 'Distance' option in the brush dynamics. You can in effect create a multiple brush from 1 group of nozzles. (Can reset + Size as distance)

There are a few sets that I have not processed yet
1. PB 33 Comic ink Blocking (still sort of working on it!)
2. PB 34 Graffiti (I was intrigued by this at the Cheltenham Paint Festival!)
3. PB 35 Zombie (I gave away 15 of these in the Zombie Toolkit) but have extended it to a set of 30 also not quiet finished!
4. PB 36 Speed Ink which is sort of a combination of the above but stops me jumping around brush sets
5. PB 37 Concept Ink Blocks (which I appear to be using a lot as paint brushes!)....

For the time being You could use PB 19 Inker and PB 31 Base pattern textures in combination. Or you could add the base patterns from PB 31 to the Free Zombie set in Zombie toolkit...Be aware there are generally 2 types of base patterns (1. for painting 1 for inking) or Solid blacks & Greyscale
 

[StuartRc]

16 hours ago, AffinityJules said:

Hey StuartRc!

Just checking out your rather fine asset library, and it always leaves me wondering whether or not the brush sets you create are vector only?

I know 'jack' about vector brushes and their usage, so my real wonder is: do you create raster brushes (is that what they're called?) which can be used in Affinity Photo?

 

Hi
You are correct.. They are vector until I convert the graphic to .png
All the brush nozzles and patterns are vector graphics. I rarely use raster nozzles directly. This gives me a lot of flexibility when they are created such as re-scaling or re-editing. Sometimes I do paint shapes and convert to vector. This also applies to 'Vector' brushes that are just created 'in-negative' and elongated in the x-axis. (You do not need massive sizes for this!)

The patterns are 'hand -created' using a with the pen tool but tested on a cross-shaped grid. Initially I was making them at 200 x 200 px but moved to 400 x 400 +multi-layer for adding lots of variation simply.

For vector brushes...There is an instruction sheet somewhere which you can download.. here
For raster brushes (also initially all vector!) They are just exported from a grid using export persona

I don't think you can use 'vector' brushes in Photo (well you could use Designer and import to photo)

The bulk of the brush sets should work just fine in all 3 apps