Help? How would you colour in this character?!?

[eejits]

Hi there folks,

 

I really want to get to grips with this program, and maybe I'm doing this all wrong, but I want to be able to quickly colour in/fill behind the outlines of this character and then use pixel layers to provide shading (on a Multiply layer) and highlighting (on a Screen layer) using the brush tool.

 

But with all three processes I want to use a selection tool to mask off areas to fill, shade or highlight. The brush selection tool isn't accurate enough and takes too much time. I want to create a selection within the outlines with a couple of clicks and then apply a fill.

 

I thought I had the answer from community member Ash but it doesn't really work for my workflow.

 

Have a look at the attached screen shot. How would you colour this character? Am I thinking about this all wrong and need to rethink my workflow?!?

 

Thanks in advance,

 

George

[rui_mac]

What you need is a paint application, not a vector application.

Even if Affinity Designer had a tracing option (I hope it gets one), you are better off using a paint application.

Selecting pixel areas is a job for paint applications.

[eejits]

I think I might have to admit defeat here for now and wait until Affinity Photo (or was it Paint) comes along. At least they'll share the same file type.

 

Looks like you were right all along rui_mac!!

[retrograde]

Actually maybe not... something that I just discovered might work here.  I've been looking for a way to simulate an airbrush workflow using the pen tool to create shapes then painting inside these shapes... The "draw and pixel personas" concept makes this sort of possible in one app. It's early days but this looks really promising for my workflow... :-)

 

You may need to tweak this to your needs and experiment a little but try this...

 

- keep your black line on it's own layer, create a new layer underneath the black line layer making sure it's in the "draw persona" mode...

 

- using the vector pen tool create the shapes you want to colour in or fill... you can hide the edges of these shapes under your black line work above...

 

- switch to the "pixel persona" mode to change your toolset to raster...

 

- make sure to select the "insert inside selection" icon from the upper right corner icon bar. Then select a shape, click on the "paint brush" tool in the "pixel persona" tool bar and you should be able to paint only inside that shape. In the layers panel you'll see this paint layer is now underneath your shapes layer and indented. Make sure to select the right layer before painting. Each shape you do this to will have it's own layer under it...

 

- if you want to adjust the vector shape just select the vector layer and go back to "draw persona" mode and make your changes, to paint again switch back to "pixel persona" grab the "paint brush" and so on...

 

I created a soft airbrush type of brush by adjusting the brush parameters... I enlarged it to approx 350 pixels, reduced the opacity and flow to 50%, and decreased the hardness to 10-15 %

 

Try it out and experiment with it if it doesn't work straight off. I'm pretty new at this and the order above may not be 100%  Good Luck!

 

I have a couple of screenshots but don't see how to attach them...

[eejits]

Thanks for the breakdown of your workflow retrograde! It looks like a solution to what I want to do. Excellent!

 

I'll let you know how I get on and hopefully update the screenshots too.

 

Thanks retrograde!!

[rui_mac]

It is a workaround, I guess. I call it workaround because one has to draw the shape with curves, not just select the area and convert it to curves.

[eejits]

True, but I think it may work in the meantime while I wait for Affinity Photo and get true raster tools to help me achieve this. I hope and pray that Phot has a magic wand/fill selction tool!!

[rui_mac]

It will have, of course :-)

[MattP]

Hi George,

 

Take a look at the attached file - yes, it's terrible, but is this the effect you're trying to achieve? If not, just send me a .afdesign file showing how you're working and I can try to help you get going with it :)

 

 

PaintInside.afdesign

 

Thanks,

Matt

[eejits]

Hi Matt,

 

Yup, that's what I'm looking to do, except I don't have any creatures that look like a gherkin yet!! :P

 

I'd like to create a variable line thickness for my outline, then fill with colour (be it by raster fill or another vector shape hiding under the outline as discussed above). Then I want to use the pixel tools, setting the brush to 20% opacity to shade and highlight (on their own layers set to Multiply and Screen) and I'm good.

 

Is that what you've done on gherkin boy there?

[MattP]

That's exactly what I've done :)

 

The main green colour for 'gherkin boy' is actually coming from the vector shape that provides the outline. By placing the pixel layers inside the vector shape as children I'm telling the program to draw the vector object's fill in the background, clip the pixel layers to the vector outline, then draw the vector object's line around the outline last. I think this is exactly what you're trying to achieve.

 

I have a number of pixel layers inside that vector shape - I've deliberately set some of them to lighten/darken blend modes and set different opacity on them so that you could see how you'd go about it.

 

Let me know how you get on with it!

Matt

[eejits]

So you created the body and outline of gherkin boy from one vector? But how then, can the pixel layer go between the outline and green background (or is this already seprated in the layers children)?

 

Sorry if I'm being stupid. I'm not at home right now and don't have the program in front of me...... I may have to send you my .afdesign file

[MattP]

It's one vector object that forms the outline of the head: It has a black variable width line and a green brush fill. By putting the pixel layers inside it as children, they draw in between the vector object's background (green) and the vector object's foreground (its black line), which is exactly the effect you want. No extras required :)

 

Give it a go when you get home - it'll all make sense :)

 

...and if you ever fancy sending a .afdesign file my way that'd be great to have a look at, thanks! :)

[eejits]

Gotchya! Except my outline for my head is made up from different vectors, where there are breaks, wrinkles, eyes etc. I may get on better by drawing a separate vector shape for the colour background under these bunch o' outlines.

 

I'll send you my file when I get home.

 

(My apologies, this topic has probably dragged on far longer than it should have!! Thanks for all the input and help though, it's been great.)

[retrograde]

Hi eejits, here is a screenshot of my layers panel setup and the example of my experimental playing around. The shape is basically a container with only a black stroke on it. The softer stuff inside is me using my airbrush styled brush on a pixel sublayer. You can adjust the fish shape and it keeps the contents of the painted pixels inside it masked... you can even move the paint layer around inside the shape. It's a pretty sweet setup allowing you control over both the pixel parts and the vector shape. Now all I need to find are some more expressive brushes for the painting part. ;)

[eejits]

Thanks for the pointers retrograde. Appreciate it.

 

I have been working on my creature and I thought I had cracked it. It's nearly there......

 

 

Oops.... how do you attach thumbnails in a reply?!?

[MattP]

That looks awesome! Great work, George! :)

[retrograde]

Looking good George ... glad to see you making it work!  It's fun exploring these "new" techniques eh?

[eejits]

It's sure is good to climb over that hurdle, that's for sure. If it wasn't for the community here, I would have given up ages ago!!

[MattP]

Well, I can definitely say that we're super-glad you didn't give up! Really looking forward to seeing more little eejits appearing in the future! :D

[Chris_K]

Really looking forward to seeing more little eejits appearing in the future! :D

 

Second that, your eejits are awesome!

[GRScott]

 

George, love your characters. Really great work!  :D

[eejits]

Thanks everyone. Appreciate the support and comments!

[peter]

 "Hey! Where's the rest of the bouquet?" :angry: said the eejit. Wilting away - ready to keep his own shadow company :(

 

 

Great work on the eyes, even without the mouth and eyebrows, I can see the poor soul's heart dropping to floor. This has got potential, give him/her an identity, a name and sell him to Affinity as an avatar... :P

 

This is the sort of artwork I want to see included in the samples and tutorials in the first release, creative enough to show off the power of AD; pleasing the seasoned pros and encouraging enough for the absolute beginners to dip in.

 

With so much talent floating around this forum, why don't we start the ball rolling and get the Affinity staff to include the best pieces (from a poll perhaps) as a way of saying thank you for all of their beta input over the previous months.

[Raskolnikov]

Thanks for the pointers retrograde. Appreciate it.

 

I have been working on my creature and I thought I had cracked it. It's nearly there......

 

 

Oops.... how do you attach thumbnails in a reply?!?

 

 

I love DAT tummy :D

 

 

By the way... what do you use for drawing? mouse, pen&pad...? and model? :)