Affinity Photo 2.2.1: How can I achieve this look?

[christerdk]

Hi all,

I'm trying to achieve an effect like what can be seen in this picture around the pyramid, in particular the clouds / background.

It seems like a variation of half-tone, but not with circles but lines. Is it possible to do this with Affinity Photo?

Thanks!

 

 

 

 

[NotMyFault]

To be totally honest, I see only these options:

1. draw it by hand (in Affinity Designer)
2. use AI based tools

I would be surprised if any conventional workflow can transform a photo into this kind of drawing.

[NotMyFault]

One idea:

1. take source image, e.g. sky with clouds and blue (dark)
2. duplicate 3 times
3. add threshold adjustment, set different levels e.g. 25 50 75 percent 
4. Rasterize to mask
5. Create 3 pattern layers, paint in diagonal / \ and horizontal — pattern
6. Nest masks to pattern layers
7. use suitable methods like liquify or other distortion layers to create more artistic look

can be adjusted to Designer with curves and live mesh.

lighting filter or displace filter might be useful for less artificial look.

[christerdk]

11 hours ago, NotMyFault said:

One idea:

1. take source image, e.g. sky with clouds and blue (dark)
2. duplicate 3 times
3. add threshold adjustment, set different levels e.g. 25 50 75 percent 
4. Rasterize to mask
5. Create 3 pattern layers, paint in diagonal / \ and horizontal — pattern
6. Nest masks to pattern layers
7. use suitable methods like liquify or other distortion layers to create more artistic look

can be adjusted to Designer with curves and live mesh.

lighting filter or displace filter might be useful for less artificial look.

I'm admittedly new to Photo, but I tried to follow your instructions with some pattern layers and colors. Isolatedly it's an interesting result, but I'm not sure how to connect the dots with regards to using this to "half tone" an existing picture - if possible? Very interesting! 

[NotMyFault]

The patterns should be much smaller, with a pen of 1-4px, and contain multiple thin lines.

Then you need to experiment a bit with blend modes to get the 3 patterns combined.

[Andy05]

This kind of illustrations are originally copperplate engravings. You can mimic this effect in Affinity Photo (google for instructions, most of them are for Photoshop, but the workflow is pretty easy to transfer to Affinity's app).

I hope you don't mind me advertising myself; unfortunately, the free offer expired, but I created some set of assets and macros for this kind of illustrations.

 

[walt.farrell]

There are also pattern brushes that might prove useful for emulating an engraving effect. I haven't tried this myself, but for example, these raster brushes from Frankentoon look like possibilities: https://frankentoonstudio.com/product/wanderer-brush-pack/

[Old Bruce]

Try Photo's built in Engraving brushes.

Try Photo's Halftone Live Filter, set it to Line instead of dot. Use many copies with different settings for fine and coarse lines and angles and mask out different areas.

[kaffeeundsalz]

Also, after you've mastered the basics and want to go for something more advanced, try https://affinity.serif.com/en-us/store/product/grave-etcher-brush-pack/.

[smadell]

Hi, @christerdk. I've posted an Affinity Photo macro that is meant to approximate this particular look. I created the macro a few years ago, but this post spurred me to refine it a bit and post it to the forum. You can find it in the Resources section, and should feel free to download it and try it out. Let me know if you do, and what you think!