If the tools slow you down or snuff out those sparks of creativity then something is probably wrong. ¹ I think about this quite a lot - there is a sweet spot for all great artists where expression is effectively minimal - doing just enough without overworking things. The best tools go at the speed of your decision making - if something occurs to you, ideally you should be able to change it there and then RAPIDLY. It might help to think of vector art as existing at the end of a carefully staggered journey - a bit like this: Whenever you see some fantastic vector-based artwork remember that this didn’t just appear one day because the sun started shining - the person creating it took the work through a very careful journey. You have to be organised and put in the foundational prep work to get decent results.

Here are a few of my tips, observations and conclusions: This software has a number of terrific qualities that will permanently change my illustration practice. I had no need to use Affinity - partly because vector drawing often gets in the way of the creative process¹ .Īnd then they brought out the iPad version of Designer

I have blogged a few times on this site that Clip Studio Paint and Procreate are superior bitmap drawing tools. psd files without the same kind of frustrating commitment.īut. It was a no-brainer - I now had something I could use to open and edit all of my legacy. When Affinity Designer/Photo came out on the Mac a few years ago, I bought them without hesitation - an Illustrator/Photoshop replacement suite of tools that side steps cloud-subscription fees.

I hope that this is of use to others out there who have similar leanings. Affinity Designer for the iPad was released just before the school holidays arrived and I felt it was worth taking the time to get to grips with it. This blog post is a crude attempt to document what I have been doing. This summer I took a break from paid jobs and spent a solid chunk of time sharpening my skills with vector graphics.

Affinity designer ipad pro