affinity designer 3 doggies

[retrograde]

Here is some recent client work. 3 stylized doggies for a doggy daycare on Oahu. All in Draw Persona in Designer. 

[MattP]

Teehee! What cute little characters! I particularly like the Chihuahua with the enormous treat hanging out of its mouth! :D  I'm sure the client must've been really happy! :)

[retrograde]

Hi Matt, thanks.

 

Yes the client was quite happy with these. He did say he noticed a nice overall softness to them as compared to my usual work done in Ai and asked if I did them in photoshop. I had to come clean and tell him about Designer.  ;)  I try to do as much in Designer as I can these days and hand off a web or print res png or psd file unless a client specifically needs or requests an Ai file.

[ronniemcbride]

Sweet! I love them all! really like the soft touch you have with vectors retrograde!

[retrograde]

Cheers Ronnie, I do strive for that overall softer shaded consistency in my shading. I was an old school airbrush guy waaay back...  ;)

 

I am starting some new personal pieces that will exploit more of the painterly aspects of Designer. I think it will offer another dimension or artsy level to my work, same drawing style but a little more visually interesting, and more fun to boot. Looking forward to that!!

[ronniemcbride]

That sound exciting and interesting. I am looking forward to seeing what you come up with!

[retrograde]

Me too :P  

[shudderchris]

So cute! Well done :)

[retrograde]

Cheers shudderchris!

[MEB]

Seems you have been busy lately @retrograde! Another great piece!

[penwiper]

These are awesome!  :-D  Very well done . .  . Love these a lot! 

[retrograde]

Thanks guys, yes I'm busy trying to get more Designer work out there in the world. Singing the praises and all that!  ;) It's a joy to work in.

[GRScott]

Very nicely done.

[martyjacobs]

These are great. My favourite is the Chihuahua, such a friendly expression on its face.

 

Marty

[retrograde]

Thanks GRScott and martyjacobs. It was a bit tricky getting the chihuahua to work because of the bone in his mouth. It was hiding the smile so I exaggerated his mouth on the sides upwards and tried to make the eyes smile as well... glad you noticed it.  :)

[OutlawPete]

Very cool!

[martyjacobs]

@retrograde, would you mind elaborating on how you use gradients in AD to achieve the soft look you talk about in this thread? I'm currently trying to improve my use of gradients and learning about other people techniques and workflows is very helpful to me.

 

Thanks,

 

Marty

 

P.S. Forgot to mention that the only thing I'd add to the chihuahua are some action lines around the tail to suggest that he is wagging it, similar to those around the bone.

[retrograde]

Sure thing, first off, I refer to gradients in a general sense as in gradients of colour, not necessarily use of the gradient tool only per se, although that is also part of it of course if that makes sense.  ;) A ton of the heavy lifting is done with the inner glow effect. Especially making use of Designer's offset "angle" feature which is a great improvement over illustrator's similar inner glow feature. Sometimes I also get in there and "paint" inside the shapes but not in this case with these guys. That's an area that I am getting into more and more lately. Having the ability to paint in Designer with all of the great native and DAUB brushes has exciting potential.

 

Yes, having some action lines on his tail would have been a good addition...  :)

[bodobe]

Very nicely done, cute doggies!

[retrograde]

Thanks bodobe. You've got some sweet stuff out there of late too!

[clem]

Hi hi, so cute, i like it ! 

I like the water's look, good job ! 

[martyjacobs]

@retrograde, thanks for detailing your method with gradients. I'm getting better at using the inner shadow and glow effects, and I'm also finding the offset tool invaluable. Haven't tried the painting technique you mention, but I'll have to give it a go.

 

Thanks again,

 

Marty

[retrograde]

Cheers martyjacobs! The painting method is pretty awesome. It's nice to have these options in a "vector" app.

[peter]

Woof! Woof! It's the dogs...Great job.

[retrograde]

Cheers Peter, I figured that dogs were under represented in the forum and thought I'd do my bit to even things out a little.  Woof!  :D