affinity designer One of my first Affinity Designer creations

[bnd.lettering]

Hi everybody 🙂

After recently buying all 3 of the Affinity programs, this was the 3rd thing I made with Affinity Designer. The other 2 were a Christmas post and a new years post for Instagram. My first impression of AD is that it has potential, but to me it still has a long way to go if it wants to compete with Adobe Illustrator. But of course, it's very difficult to get to the Adobe level, since they have so much experience and money 😅

I bought the Affinity programs to hopefully get less dependent on Adobe software, because I really don't like the 'subscription only' principle Adobe has adopted. I don't like to pay Adobe 'ransom money' to be able to have access to my own documents. And since using Adobe Creative Cloud I've had several bugs that have never been an issue back when I had Adobe software that I bought. So even Adobe isn't as good (anymore) as it should be for that price.

Most of the things I design are T-shirt prints for my webshops and since I'm addicted to designing letters (typography) most of my designs contain custom made text. This 'L' was made for Instagram only. From time to time I design single alphabet letters, to have something more to post on Instagram. I post far less than the algorithm wants, but I don't want to be a slave to the algorithm, so I follow my own rithm 😋

Is anyone else into designing typography?

✌️ Luc

 

[Affinityconfusesme]

Hi @bnd.lettering Another point about A**** is that they have been around for 30 years while the Affinity designer came out in only 2014.

[bnd.lettering]

Hi @tzvi20

Well, I mentioned the amount of experience Adobe has, so it's technically not another point 😉
And you can say 'Adobe'. No need to censor it 😋

As much as I dislike the 'subscription only' principle of Adobe CC, I am still very positive about their software. Since they are market leader (and probably will be for a long time) most of us will be using their software whether we want to or not. So for me no reason to be be overly negative about Adobe. But I have voiced my issues with the new Adobe on their Instagram account. And I think Affinity has gained a lot more users since the Adobe CC 'subscription only' principle, so that must be a positive for Affinity users 😅

[Komatös]

34 minutes ago, bnd.lettering said:

And you can say 'Adobe'. No need to censor it 😋

Brilliant work. At first glance, I thought it was a handle for an appliance. Very, very ingenious. 

And Adobe is now just Adopay for me. 🤑

[Ash Eldritch]

@bnd.lettering I think what you mean is AD still has a long way to go, if it wants to compete with Adobe Illustrator, for your needs. Because for my needs I find AD far superior to AI as I've (no pun intended) found an affinity with it that has allowed me to produce work on a level way way above anything I was ever able to do with AI. 

That aside, nice work. I've always had a thing for Typography but it's not something I've ever been good at, so I'd rather admire from afar. lol

[bnd.lettering]

@Ash Eldritch For a drawing program like AD I would say being able to easily make a simple custom vector brush is a must. Yet I haven't been able to get that done, despite watching several YT tutorials about it. Somehow all my brushes had a blur on their edges. AD has more than double the steps (compared to Illustrator) to make a simple vector brush, so it has a lot more room for errors. The fact that we need to make a png first in order to make a vector brush really blows my mind. In Illustrator it couldn't be more simple. And this is not the only case where AD makes us use more steps to get somewhere. Sure, AD has some unique cool functions (that Adobe seems to copy from AD) but I feel like the proces of getting results with many functions could be more streamlined. And beside that, my AD is troubled with bugs that make it quite hard to use.

But now you made me curious about what you produce that you weren't able to do with Illustrator 😋

[Ash Eldritch]

@bnd.lettering Brushes are not something I use so, again, your needs. lol

I've tried brushes a few times over the years, in various vector apps, but never taken to them. I don't think they add anything to "my" illustrations, in fact I've always thought they add a certain look that I don't want. To each their own. It's finding the medium and tools that work best for you as an individual. It's why I never follow tutorials, I don't want someone else's style or bad habits. I'm sure I've got enough of my own.

And therein lies the key to why I'm able to produce a quality of work in AD that I was never able to achieve in AI. It's nothing to do with what the apps can or can't do it's more the way they do it and how the tools work. I just could never gel with AI. So much so I'd get frustrated and end up exporting basic AI Linework to Photoshop and finish it off there. That annoyed me as I never really liked the look and restrictions of raster art. Now I'm able to do my illustrations 100% vector and I'm exceedingly happy with the results.

 

As for bugs... I use Mac OS so I'm used to bugs. At least with AD it's easy to report them and most of the ones I've encountered and reported are now fixed.

[henryanthony]

@bnd.lettering Great work! Early in my career I did similar work for a client. All done by hand using pencil and pen and ink. I sometimes cheated with Letraset lettering sheets. 

[GarryP]

1 hour ago, henryanthony said:

I sometimes cheated with Letraset lettering sheets.

This might be a little bit off-topic (for both the thread and the forums in general) but, in the UK, the “Talking Pictures TV” channel recently aired a short (15 minutes or so) film about Letraset. It’s probably still available on their TPTV Encore web streaming service, if anyone is interested.

[bnd.lettering]

6 hours ago, Ash Eldritch said:

Brushes are not something I use so, again, your needs

Not just my needs. In a drawing program brushes are one of the more important tools, although I understand not everybody will use them.
But at least brushes should be easy to make for those that do, it is a drawing program after all.

 

6 hours ago, Ash Eldritch said:

It's why I never follow tutorials, I don't want someone else's style or bad habits.

I follow tutorials to get to know specific tools. The tools don't necessarily dictate a style and bad habits can easily be avoided. If a way of working doesn't feel right for you , then just do something different. Usualy there are multiple ways to reach a goal 🙂

 

6 hours ago, Ash Eldritch said:

At least with AD it's easy to report them and most of the ones I've encountered and reported are now fixed.

I don't have time to go back and forth over bugs that I encounter. The little time I have I want to spend as much as possible on designing. Even Adobe wanted me to spend time helping them sort my bugs out. I told them I expected them to give their users bug free software, like they did for decades. I'm not that parttime employee that works for software companies for free. I've got better things to do 😉

[bnd.lettering]

@GarryP Since 'Letraset' was mentioned and it was typography related it became on-topic 😋
I had a look if I could check it out, but it required a login on an account (which I don't want to make) and I didn't find it on YT.
It could have been interesting to watch.

[Ash Eldritch]

17 hours ago, bnd.lettering said:

Not just my needs. In a drawing program brushes are one of the more important tools, although I understand not everybody will use them.
But at least brushes should be easy to make for those that do, it is a drawing program after all.

I wasn't singling you out, quite the opposite. I was merely making the point that you can't make a blanket statement that AD is Inferior to AI because to people like myself it's not. There are a multitude of drawing styles that don't require the use of brushes. To you it may be inferior due to your requirements. My requirements make it superior. So unless you're the arbiter of all things vector I'll stand by original comment.

For the tutorials I probably should have added the caveat "Unless they're official" tutorials.

As for bugs, I can't really think of a program I've used that hasn't had bugs. I'm not exactly enamoured with them either but I obviously take a different approach to you. I'd rather help get rid of them so I can get on with my work in the way I want rather than having to find workarounds or switch applications. 

 

@GarryP 

All that aside, In my very early days I remember using the Letraset sheets to create amendments to negatives. Predominantly, I think, because the film sheets and process used to create complete negatives was so expensive. 

[bnd.lettering]

18 minutes ago, Ash Eldritch said:

I was merely making the point that you can't make a blanket statement that AD is Inferior to AI

I never ment it as a blanket statement. One can only speak of their personal experience 🙂

[GarryP]

15 hours ago, bnd.lettering said:

It could have been interesting to watch.

It’s an interesting little film with a ‘groovy’ soundtrack and a ‘schoolmasterly’ narrator.

It shows someone using, not just Letraset, but also Letrafilm (for colours), Letratone (for shades and patterns) and also Letraset Body Type (a kind of 60-year-old Lorem Ipsum).

TPTV is a family-run business (Noel, the founder, his daughter, her husband, and a woman who lives down the road from them who pops in every now again to help with the accounts) so I’m pretty sure they won’t be doing anything ‘dodgy’ with the details given at login but I can understand you not wanting to create a new account.