The Pumpkin Tutorial

[coldbufet]

Just wanted to say a huge thank you CartoonMike for the tutorial.

 

Just a quick background about myself, I am a developer (or wannabe rather) and I've always shyed away from making my own little graphics and icons firstly because I have no experience in graphic design and secondly because I was reluctant to pay a subscription for Illustrator. When I discovered Affinity Designer, I decided to take the plunge and purchased a copy only to find out there were not a whole lot of tutorials (understandably, as it is relatively new).

 

Luckily I found this thread, began the tutorial and loved every bit of it beginning to end! I really enjoyed the laid back style and how you explain your thinking, and not just go through every step as if it were a cooking recipe. I eagerly look forward to the next installment of the tutorial :D.

 

By the way, in regards to Galfaille's post, I too found that I had to add the small triangle to the already combined big triangle and oval.

[GRScott]

Thanks Cartoon Mike for your support for the rest of us.

[altsaint]

Why would anyone want to spend precious time on a tutorial? Manuals have everything you need, so just have one of those to hand and get stuck in. Well, that's what I thought before having a go at Mike's pumpkin thing.

 

All I can say now is that I really enjoyed the journey with this, and not only has it taught me the basics with AD, but made me realise the value in investing time in learning through a tutorial. I recognise the huge effort Mike has made here, and now add myself to the growing list of people who have appreciated his efforts. 

 

Thank you so much.

[klap]

Thank you Mike,  this is a wonderful tutorial.  I'm a vector newbie and I found your style informative, but most of all FUN!  You have hit the mark with this style of tutorial.  I look forward to part 2.

 

Thank you so much for doing these and thanks to the Affinity Designer team for such fantastic software.

 

Kind regards,

Ken

[CartoonMike]

Thanks everyone for the comments about this little ol' tutorial. I'm still gobsmacked at the comments. 

 

Completion of this tutorial will take a bit longer than I thought. Usually the end of the year things quiet down for me, or so I thought.

 

Not to humble brag, but -- Suddenly I have about 3 conventions in the next 3 months I have to prep for (one is this weekend at the Scottish Rite Center in Sacramento CA -- http://www.sac-con.com ) If you're in the 'hood, drop by the BratCat table in Artist alley. I'll give a free postcard from my Fettles series for anyone who mentions Affinity Designer by name. :)

 

Then I have a Anime Con (also in Sacramento CA -- http://www.sacanime.com ) and I'll be doing live demos of Manga Studio, Anime Studio and if anybody asks, I'll demo Affinity Designer there too! 

 

And then in Feb there's the Lodi Grape City Con (http://stocktoncon.com/grapecitycon/ ), which I have an (ahem) affinity for:

 

(That's Gracie Grape, btw.)

----

 

So I think things will settle down by the end of January. The tutorial will be done by then. I apologize for missing the self-imposed deadline, but other obligations have to come first.

 

Hopefully by the end of January, I'll be back here posting and doing whatever it is I do here. :P

 

Thanks for your understanding.

 

Isn't it great that AD got best app runner up? Congrats to the AD team!

 

[Quester]

Thanks Mike for this wonderful tutorial. I usually hate these kind of things because they are so dry. But yours is not just easy to follow, but surprising, funny and lovely to look at. Every time I had a question in my head you immediately answered it. Perfectly paced and I am so proud of my little pumpkin.

 

Looking forward to the next instalment!

[peter]

Haha Affinity for...Great pun there lad.

 

Hope the conventions are well attended: are you showcasing your tutorial there? Be a crime not to :D

[MastroPino]

Thanks a lot of tutorials, really well done and complete! just a small note to ... why did you use that font in a book to be studied? It's like ComicSans c'mon!

[CartoonMike]

@MastroPino: saying that ComiCraft's YaddaYaddaYadda or Blambot Casual is like ComicSans is like saying that The Last Ship TV series is like the Titanic Movie because they both take place on ships.  While I'm quite aware that studies have shown that sans serif fonts don't have the retainability of serif fonts, I chose the fonts I used because:

• I'm a comics guy. Love me good hand-drawn comic styled typefaces
• It fits my "voice" and the visual style of the tutorials. I did try a few other typefaces: Berkeley Oldschool, Cason 224 and others. I kept going back to the ones I used because it just felt better to me. On the next to last page of the tutorial document there's a colophon that lists all the fonts I used.
• The tutorial is meant to be read while working on the exercises, so the goal is to build up "muscle memory" in the exercises. The text is merely an end to a means, so the actual retention of its contents isn't important compared with the practice of the contents. 
• The basic style and font choices were based on my illustrations I did for my book, Manga Studio 5 Beginner's Guide published by Packt Publishing. My editors loved it and encouraged me to use it throughout the book. When I showed my editor the basic format for my "In Action" series of tutorials (of which The Pumpkin Tutorial is just one of a few I've done so far), He really liked it. 

​The fonts I use have excellent Kerning and Leading along with other OpenType features that just blow ComicSans out of the water. I would suggest that you duplicate some of my text in ComicSans and actually compare them. You'll see right off that there's major differences between them.

 

While I'm normally a relaxed guy there's subjects that'll get me riled up. ComicSans is one of them. I absolutely despise that font with a passion that is totally out of proportion to any logic. The thing I hate most about ComicSans is how it has made a lot of typographic "sins" acceptable to those who don't really understand typography and, especially, comics. So while I do admit I made my font selection to be different than most other tutorials, I did spend hours picking and choosing the specific fonts I used to make the tutorial look the way I wanted it to. 

 

So that's that. Let's not speak of this specific subject again, 'kay? 

 

Glad you liked it and I'm planning on completing it in the next few weeks. 

[peter]

I'm a long time amateur Page Plus user and was waiting for Affinity Publisher to arrive but after seeing this I'm inspired and I think I will have to ask Father Christmas to buy me a Mac.

 

The presentation and style of the tutorial showing a worked example is just what I need to get to grips with AFFINITY.

 

Thanks

Did he get you that mac?

[JohnM]

Well, I'm a lot poorer after splashing out on an iMac!

Really waiting for Publisher but enjoying the Affinity journey. I gained a lot of my knowledge by lurking on the PagePlus forum and asking the occasional question. So pleased to see this forum develop as a friendly helpful resource and the input from the 'listening' Serif team.

[Hanzz]

Thanks for this awesome part 1, I look forward to seeing the second part. Thanks a lot, and have a good time at them cons !

[peter]

Well, I'm a lot poorer after splashing out on an iMac!

Really waiting for Publisher but enjoying the Affinity journey. I gained a lot of my knowledge by lurking on the PagePlus forum and asking the occasional question. So pleased to see this forum develop as a friendly helpful resource and the input from the 'listening' Serif team.

Yay! Well done. Poorer financially, maybe...but not equipment wise. Might be worth running WIN7/Bootcamp and Pageplus on your new toy. As it's gonna be a few months more before Publisher Beta is out.

 

Enjoy your new toy :D

[MastroPino]

@MastroPino: saying that ComiCraft's YaddaYaddaYadda or Blambot Casual is like ComicSans is like saying that The Last Ship TV series is like the Titanic Movie because they both take place on ships.  While I'm quite aware that studies have shown that sans serif fonts don't have the retainability of serif fonts, I chose the fonts I used because:

• I'm a comics guy. Love me good hand-drawn comic styled typefaces
• It fits my "voice" and the visual style of the tutorials. I did try a few other typefaces: Berkeley Oldschool, Cason 224 and others. I kept going back to the ones I used because it just felt better to me. On the next to last page of the tutorial document there's a colophon that lists all the fonts I used.
• The tutorial is meant to be read while working on the exercises, so the goal is to build up "muscle memory" in the exercises. The text is merely an end to a means, so the actual retention of its contents isn't important compared with the practice of the contents. 
• The basic style and font choices were based on my illustrations I did for my book, Manga Studio 5 Beginner's Guide published by Packt Publishing. My editors loved it and encouraged me to use it throughout the book. When I showed my editor the basic format for my "In Action" series of tutorials (of which The Pumpkin Tutorial is just one of a few I've done so far), He really liked it. 

​The fonts I use have excellent Kerning and Leading along with other OpenType features that just blow ComicSans out of the water. I would suggest that you duplicate some of my text in ComicSans and actually compare them. You'll see right off that there's major differences between them.

 

While I'm normally a relaxed guy there's subjects that'll get me riled up. ComicSans is one of them. I absolutely despise that font with a passion that is totally out of proportion to any logic. The thing I hate most about ComicSans is how it has made a lot of typographic "sins" acceptable to those who don't really understand typography and, especially, comics. So while I do admit I made my font selection to be different than most other tutorials, I did spend hours picking and choosing the specific fonts I used to make the tutorial look the way I wanted it to. 

 

So that's that. Let's not speak of this specific subject again, 'kay? 

 

Glad you liked it and I'm planning on completing it in the next few weeks. 

 

Hey mate, sorry If I hurt you! My point of view is that a Comic font can be used only for eye catch elements, but maybe its only because I'm a Web Designer!  :lol:

 

Peace and sorry again!  ^_^

[DSwanster]

Also wanted to say thanks for this very awesomey tutorial!  Really enjoyed the un-dry style that was entertaining but also had great content.  Very much looking forward to part 2.  Thanks!

[newbie24]

as a beginner, - I have gone in the deep end  - new to mac, new to any drawing tablet (wacom - christmas present ), new to any design / drawing  package concept. The learning curve is a little daunting - however I have managed to get to the end of the tutorial with the results looking a bit like yours 

Thank you, for the comprehensive explanations and advice, it really was a great tutorial - the best I have found without making it too laborious - and I am looking forward to following part 2 - although as you have fired my imagination, I cannot promise I will not have a go and try to go further .

[peter]

as a beginner, - I have gone in the deep end  - new to mac, new to any drawing tablet (wacom - christmas present ), new to any design / drawing  package concept. The learning curve is a little daunting - however I have managed to get to the end of the tutorial with the results looking a bit like yours 

Thank you, for the comprehensive explanations and advice, it really was a great tutorial - the best I have found without making it too laborious - and I am looking forward to following part 2 - although as you have fired my imagination, I cannot promise I will not have a go and try to go further .

 

as a beginner, - I have gone in the deep end  - new to mac, new to any drawing tablet (wacom - christmas present ), new to any design / drawing  package concept. The learning curve is a little daunting - however I have managed to get to the end of the tutorial with the results looking a bit like yours 

Thank you, for the comprehensive explanations and advice, it really was a great tutorial - the best I have found without making it too laborious - and I am looking forward to following part 2 - although as you have fired my imagination, I cannot promise I will not have a go and try to go further .

Good ol' comicmike, does it again.

[GRScott]

CartoonMike, you never did get back about the error on page 32 #2. Where you said subtract and AD added. After playing around for a few seconds (repeating the step and undoing) I tried the ADD and it did the SUBTRACT.....Hmmmm ......Looks like an Affinity Design problem. I've experienced this before. The Serif Team may want to look at this problem.

[CartoonMike]

CartoonMike, you never did get back about the error on page 32 #2. Where you said subtract and AD added. After playing around for a few seconds (repeating the step and undoing) I tried the ADD and it did the SUBTRACT.....Hmmmm ......Looks like an Affinity Design problem. I've experienced this before. The Serif Team may want to look at this problem.

Had a few dicey health issues. Will attend to these things when I'm feeling better.

[peter]

Had a few dicey health issues. Will attend to these things when I'm feeling better.

Get well soon Mike.

[MattP]

Yes, really hope you return to health soon, Mike :)

[GRScott]

Hope everything is alright Mike.

[CMYKiller]

Thanks for the tutorial! Really impressed with the beta so far, and I always get fired up to learn new things. Keep up the awesome work!

[ChadStyle]

Any updates for part 2?  Really enjoyed part one!  I have been a PS user for a while now and I am very comfortable with the program and my workflow is pretty solid and consistent.  I have needed to learn Illustrator for a while now but when AD was released I was beyond impressed by the speed and capability of the program.  The only thing it was lacking was the community and support that Adobe has built up over the years.  This forum has grown and it is great to find such polished tutorials...I didn't know this was a two part deal nor did I know the second part wasn't finished when I started a couple hours ago.  I am getting used to the UI and feeling more comfortable with the app already but would love to finish up this project to see how you go about wrapping it up.  

 

Thank you for the hard work you have already put in for part one!  I am slowly migrating from a basic pixel pusher to a vector master! hahaha

 

Best,

 

CSD

[Xiaoki]

Sorry, I am new here so I might be misunderstanding something but the link appears to be dead. I receive a 'this shared file has been removed' message from box.com