Better Affinity Designer & Photo Tutorials?

[n8_xo]

I recently purchased these two applications because I'm looking into university courses to do with graphic design etc. I'd like to pursue a career in this field. Sadly I'm rather new to all this.

I've looked at the tutorials that Affinity give you for these two applications via their website and via their apps, both the written and video format. However I don't find them to be that helpful and because of that I was curious if there is anywhere online that can provide me with more in-depth tutorials? If there isn't, Adobe Illustrator & Photoshop are the most popular applications that are similar to Affinity Designer & Photo but are they similar enough to where I could watch tutorials for Illustrator & Photoshop then use what I learnt from that and put it into practice in Affinity Designer & Photo?

Also, I know Affinity provide coffee table style books for these applications (no PDF versions available) but they would cost around £80 for the set and right now I can't see the justification for it, at least for me, unless the books really are the best option for tutorials.

Keep in mind though that I'm using a 12'7 iPad Pro, not a desktop. Yes I have the Apple Pencil, don't worry. 

If anyone can provide me with links, advice or just point me in the right direction it would be extremely helpful. 

[Paul Mudditt]

Have you watched these

 

 

 

On you tube there are many, I think Ezra does some great videos easy to search for. Also via the Facebook groups you can often see video tutorials too.

[Alfred]

1 hour ago, Paul Mudditt said:

On you tube there are many, I think Ezra does some great videos easy to search for.

I presume you’re referring to Ezra Anderson, founder of Affinity Revolution.

[Alfred]

12 hours ago, n8_xo said:

I was curious if there is anywhere online that can provide me with more in-depth tutorials? If there isn't, Adobe Illustrator & Photoshop are the most popular applications that are similar to Affinity Designer & Photo but are they similar enough to where I could watch tutorials for Illustrator & Photoshop then use what I learnt from that and put it into practice in Affinity Designer & Photo?

In general, yes. If there’s something that’s too different for you to figure out by yourself, post here and someone should be able to point you in the right direction.

Quote

Keep in mind though that I'm using a 12'7 iPad Pro, not a desktop. Yes I have the Apple Pencil, don't worry.

I presume you meant to type 12.9". A 12'7" screen would be rather too large for practical use, even with a desktop!

[gdenby]

Hi, n8_xo,

First, work thru the interface. Where are the controls, and what do they do? I started w. the desktop versions, and the layout of the iPad versions is sufficiently different that I'm having to re-learn how to do what I already can. Thankfully, I stopped using Adobe products about 10 years ago, so I'm not having to try and translate methods from those which became habitual to how the Affinity apps might do the same. I see lots of people post here thing like "Here's how I did this w Photoshop," or "I saw this tutorial for Illustrator, how do I do the same w. Designer?" Sometimes it is doable, tho' quite different. Other times not because the Adobe suite has decades of development, and has all sorts of odds and ends for specific operations.

There are ever more Affinity specific tutes available online. Here's one I watched yesterday that seemed to me to offer good grounding. 

I should mention that even after more than 30 years w. computer graphics, it still took me about 3 weeks to start using AD smoothly. You are younger, so I s'pose will come up to speed faster. Still, expect Homer Simpson moments when you are stumped, and ask a question here, and the obvious answer is pointed out. And you get to go "D'oh!"

[Alfred]

1 hour ago, gdenby said:

Still, expect Homer Simpson moments when you are stumped, and ask a question here, and the obvious answer is pointed out. And you get to go "D'oh!"

I keep a ‘smiley’ to hand specifically for such moments! 

[k410]

Similar to gdenby's post, I would say just poke around and try everything out.  Make a bunch of throwaway little experiments instead of trying to work on a real project.

At some point, go through the Help system for each app, item by item, even if you only skim some of the entries because of prior understanding.  And as you go through those, you might find yourself also trying a few things out and experimenting.

Eventually you will learn how to analyze a concept and synthesize a method to achieve it using Affinity's tools.

If you have some particular task in mind, you can always Google for tutorials, e.g., "affinity designer mandala" -- and some of those tutorials will give you insights into how the tools can interact to achieve a result.

Best wishes for your studies!

[Markus Allen]

7 hours ago, gdenby said:

There are ever more Affinity specific tutes available online. Here's one I watched yesterday that seemed to me to offer good grounding.

1

Wow. I am watching this tutorial and it is AWESOME! In fact, it is one of the better Affinity Designer (for the iPad) video tutorials I have ever watched. She is authentic (not fake positivity), offers practical/useful tips - even has a bit of British charm thrown in, too. Must watch.