affinity designer Don Quixote Redo

[Hokusai]

I've been posting on the forum here since Designer was released in 2014 but I've never posted anything of my own in the "Share your work". I'm always impressed by what others post and it inspired me to post something of my own. I chose this picture because it was so complex and it was overwhelming the amount of objects that I had to draw but I used it as a test to see how far Designer has come and I have to say that it has come a long ways since it was first released. Designer never quit or locked up on me and it performed beyond my expectations, especially on a project with so many boolean operations. I took an image that was done originally by the amazingly talented Gustave Doré and redid it completely in vectors using Designer. I did everything "by hand" as they say, I didn't use any kind of vectorizer as I feel that the results are never good enough. I also did the whole thing with a mouse, no Wacom. Somethings had to be created from scratch as the original was damaged in places so there are actually many differences between my version and the original but I think I've been able to maintain the spirit of the original. I've included some screenshots of the outlines to give you an idea of how many different objects there are. I'd like to give a giant "Thanks!" to MattP and the other developers for all their hard work. I'm especially thankful to them for adding a "Hide/Show All" command into Designer. It helped me greatly with this picture and I look forward to seeing what they will think of next.

 

Thanks for letting me share.

Hokusai

[dutchshader]

Fantastic work, nice touch your signature on the shield.

[heliherrera]

Amazing! 
 

[Alfred]

Absolutely wonderful, @Hokusai! I dread to think how many hours it must have taken you.

[A_B_C]

This is extreme … wow … 

 

You should commission a very large … I mean, really very large … print of this piece and cover a wall with it … simply stunning … 

[Gnobelix]

great work, just wonderful

[Hokusai]

Thank you all for the very kind compliments. 

 

Dutchshader - I'm glad that you liked my logo or crest (Japanese kamon) that I put on the shield. 

 

Alfred - I don't really know how long it took me but it was a long, long time. Probably about 4 - 6 months but I only worked on it sporadically. I worked on it in my free time as a way to relax and to challenge myself. 

 

A_B_C - Thanks for the suggestion. I am hoping to print it out in a large size eventually.

[gdenby]

I'm stunned. A completely credible transcription of Doré in vector. And done for relaxation... I'd hate/love to see what you might do if you felt driven.

[MattP]

Oh WOWSER! Awesome work! How on Earth have you been hiding in the shadows for so long on this forum! We need to see more!!!!!

[Alfred]

4 minutes ago, MattP said:

How on Earth have you been hiding in the shadows for so long on this forum! 

 

As a very active member, the OP can hardly be described as “hiding in the shadows”!! It’s just that a boatload of talent and dedication has been hidden from us until now.

[giantlobsterprd]

Dude that is insane.

[MattP]

1 hour ago, Alfred said:

 

As a very active member, the OP can hardly be described as “hiding in the shadows”!! It’s just that a boatload of talent and dedication has been hidden from us until now.

Sorry, I meant that he was hiding his artwork away, not that Hokusai was hiding away. Should've been more clear

[Alfred]

20 minutes ago, giantlobsterprd said:

Dude that is insane.

 

But of course it is! This is Don Quixote we’re talking about, after all. 

 

[Hokusai]

16 hours ago, MattP said:

Oh WOWSER! Awesome work! How on Earth have you been hiding in the shadows for so long on this forum! We need to see more!!!!!

Thanks for the kind words Matt. It isn't that I've been hiding in the shadows on purpose. There are just so many talented people who post some amazing things here and it is a little intimidating to post something. I'll try to post some more things sometime in the near future. 

 

Thanks again,
Hokusai

[verysame]

Terrific work, Hokusai!!!

[MEB]

Impressive work Hokusai. Not everyone has the dedication and commitment to pick a project like this. The amount of work is insane but the end result and quality speak for themselves.

Thank you for sharing it with us. It definitely deserves to be printed!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Hokusai]

MEB,

 

Thanks for the kinds words. It is my hope that my dedication and persistence can make up for any lack of skill that I have. 

 

Hokusai

[digital_wampa]

Oh man the detail plus retaining that engraving style!  Nice stuff!

[Zoltan Korcsok]

Amazing!

[SrPx]

Huge Kudos !   

 

Am speechless (and that's WAAAY rare on me....)

 

Specially amazed with the complexity of the illustration, those are quite some vectors... What machine do you use, if can be asked ?  This image could prove to a lot of people that the app can take quite some heavy lifting....  Which is definitely a good point.

[Alfred]

Just now, SrPx said:

Am speechless (and that's WAAAY rare on me....)

 

LOL.

 

[SrPx]

er...that's definitely an absolute candidate for promotion for AD, in my opinion... Specially for people experienced in vectors, we all know that is important that a package allows doing this (and with the average Joe machine, tricks are needed to do this, no matter if you are using Illustrator, Inkscape, or whatever...) Also, was fun to read sth like Hokusai is not well known or hidden, as I hadn't noticed the nick name, only the symbol (thought it was the yin yang), as all my attention was going to the illustration...) ...and I thought, what?? The most famous illustrated wave and this ppl don't know Hokusai ?!  ;D 

 

I have that Don Quijote illustrated book by Gustavo Doré, I think in very high print quality, and I believe another one about some medieval stuff, in my parents' house... Is amazing.

[Hokusai]

15 minutes ago, SrPx said:

Huge Kudos !   

 

Am speechless (and that's WAAAY rare on me....)

 

Specially amazed with the complexity of the illustration, those are quite some vectors... What machine do you use, if can be asked ?  This image could prove to a lot of people that the app can take quite some heavy lifting....  Which is definitely a good point.

SrPx,

 

Thanks for the kind words. The computer that I used to make this drawing was a rather old computer. The computer I used to do this was a standard late 2009 model iMac. To me, the fact that I can run Designer on such an old computer is incredible. To make it even more incredible, that computer only has 4 gb of ram and Designer ran smoothly with no problems. Not even a single crash. 

 

Hokusai

[SrPx]

Geez. All that with 4 OLD gigabytes (probably not even 1600 MHz).  My gawd.... Now, this text needs to be added to any promo.... "" Designer can do this with 4 miserable gigabytes "  (no offense, is a compliment, indeed) . Mine is from 2009, too, but "from the other side" (Windows) , and I've seen it struggling with vector compositions (in other apps, not AD) of not even half this complexity, with 8gb... tho needs to be mentioned :  I believe Macs have handled memory (disk and ram) way much better than Windows, back then and today, IMO (the platform still more convenient for me, but I can't ignore the other's strong points   ). 

[Wetterhoun]

...And another stunningly beatiful piece of art! Wow!