Are you getting tired of Adobe’s pricing module? Do you find Sketch a little too hyperactive for your needs? Well, don’t fret, because robust graphic design software still exists, and mind you, with an appealing pricing structure too! Affinity’s Designer is getting a lot of praise, and a lot of converts joining the brand as it continues to expand with modern features and a seamless user interface for vector editing. The company is now actively involved in the iPad market too, delivering a stellar vector editing experience for all Apple tablet users. You can try out the software for yourself on a 10-day trial. Those ten days should be more than enough to experiment with many of the tutorials and learning resources that you can find below. Check out the 2500+ Affinity Brushes bundle as well.
Official Channel
Get yourself fully equipped with the many functions and features of Affinity Designer. The following resources will give you enough understanding of this amazing app that you’ll be able to recreate industry-level designs in a matter of days. You can never go wrong with learning directly from the source! The Affinity team has put all of their Designer videos up on Vimeo — a whopping 94 of them in total. Each video is at most only 10 minutes long, giving you plenty of homework to do afterward. One thing to note about video learning is that videos teach you the fundamentals of specific actions. Creativity is hard to teach, but these videos can give you a solid base for understanding how the software works. Here are some good ones to start with:
Discover. This tutorial gives you an introductory tour of Affinity Designer, a program that offers truly professional graphic design on your Mac! Learn the basics of the workspace so you can get started in the shortest time possible. Film Noir Style Illustration. Nat shows you how you can use a photo, an adjustment, the Pen Tool, and global colors to create a Film Noir style illustration. Artboards: Basics. Learn how to add, select, delete, move, resize and rename artboards (and view at Zoom to Selection).
Workbook
Videos are great, and you should watch them, but books can prove to be even better! You can pick up a book without needing an internet connection, so that means you can sharpen your skills while on a long train ride. The official Affinity Designer Workbook is designed to help you get the most out of this beautiful vector software. The book takes you on a journey of designing nine unique projects, with each project being submitted by some of the best talents in the biz. In the book, you’re going to find information on how to design as a modern professional, but also have the privilege to learn the best vector design techniques from the real pros! You’ll need an internet connection initially as you have to download the necessary files for each project so that you can work on your machine uninterrupted.
Frankentoon
Frankentoon is a small illustration agency that happens to publish quite a bit of its work for free. They’re also publishing some interesting tutorial videos on YouTube, check out their channel Frankentoon Video, and specifically, the “Marker drawing effect using vector brushes” video as it highlights the level of creativity that these designers are working with. If you go to the Design School section, this is where you’re going to find all kinds of exciting Affinity Designer tutorials. At the moment, Frankentoon covers a lot of ground on character design, sketching process, texture usage, and creating vector scenery. It’s exactly the kind of tutorial and guide that you would expect as a complete beginner. And it helps that the production value for each tutorial is also top-notch!
Affinicasts
Affinicasts started as an independent project for publishing in-depth tutorials on numerous of Affinity products; Photo, Designer, and Publisher. Unfortunately, because of time restraints, the project had to be discontinued. It’s a great loss to the community, but you can still find some of the Affinicasts content hosted on YouTube. There are around 70 videos in total, most of which had been submitted throughout 2018. So, the information in the videos is up-to-date and fresh for years to come.
Affinity Revolution
If you have looked up Affinity Designer learning materials before, you might have heard of the Affinity Revolution YouTube channel — it has over 130,000 subscribers! The platform is mostly run by Ezra Anderson who uses his thoughtful and precise style to teach people how to become better vector graphic designers. The link used above the featured photo will lead you to the Affinity Revolution Courses page. While all of the YouTube videos are free, the courses require minimal financial investment, but the learning materials are well worth it.
The Complete Guide
Are you a Graphic Designer looking to steer away from Photoshop? Are you an active Affinity Photo user and would like to improve your graphic design understanding? And maybe you are just someone who needs an affordable yet powerful tool for doing modern design tasks? If you answered yes to any of the questions above, then this Udemy course is just the right thing for you! As a student of this course, you are going to learn the ins and outs of what it takes to become a confident user of Affinity Designer. Here’s the course curriculum:
Learn the UI of Affinity Designer and how to improve your workflow. How to create documents for Web, Print, and other media needs. Create and edit shapes in a way that matches your creativity. Learn the techniques for designing advanced shapes using operations, expressions, and reflections. Get a clear understanding of color and its effects on design. Understand how to use the Pen and Brush tools. Gain concrete experience by designing a professional logo. Explore how to use masking, but also shading for creating truly in-depth vectors.
Flat Vector Illustration
There are several reasons why we recommend exploring this tutorial, other than its long-form nature (30+ minutes) and clear formatting. First and foremost, it is a sponsored tutorial by Serif (maker of Affinity products), and second, it’s written by an experienced designer who has been in the industry for multiple decades. And despite the tutorial being sponsored, it’s not written in a way to promote or advertise the product. All this put together makes this one of the best tutorials for Affinity Designer newcomers. You are going to be learning how to create a flat vector illustration, just like the one shown in the photo above. To create something this pixel-perfect, you have to pick up some new skills along the way. And that’s precisely how this tutorial is structured, from one technique to another — showing you how to get it done.
iPad Tutorials
Pixelmator, Procreate, are common names when talking about iPad design apps. But no one has dared to go the distance that Serif has with their iPad release of Affinity Designer. This is not just an app, but a full-blown vector editing experience on a tablet! You can now work on your professional projects even when far away from your desktop device! This section introduces you to some of the best tutorials so that you can start unleashing your creative spark. If you have used Desktop software before then getting started is going to be quick and easy.
Official iPad Tutorials
Just like with the Desktop version, Affinity has provided a sufficient library of learning videos for Affinity iPad too. This collection of video tutorials dives deep into pretty much everything there is to know about the application. After wrapping up the videos in this resource, you should be well on your way to designing things by yourself. Designers who have used the app have left raving reviews about its simplicity, and how effortless it is to achieve a pitch-perfect design structure.
Design with iPad
Are you new to digital design but love the idea of it? Are you looking for alternative software to your desktop tools? Perhaps you’re excited to create art, graphics, and other design elements to promote them? There’s never been a better time to get into graphic design thanks to such a wide variety of tools available. Affinity Designer for iPad is a true game-changer for all vector designers. And this course is going to show you just how big of a game-changer it truly is. In total, this course provides more than 9 hours of content, with more than 80 lessons available for immediate access. And you can always ping the author to get his support or seal of approval for a specific thing you’re working on. This amazing Affinity Designer iPad course will teach you:
Fundamentals of using Designer on your iPad. Design techniques for shapes, text, lines, and colors. Texture design and how to create beautiful textures. Modern and stylish techniques for creating neon-glow effects. How-to guides for creating a set of Emoji icons. Pinstriping using vector-based art.
.. and a ton more!
Create a Simple Wallpaper
This tutorial will show you how to create beautiful wallpaper to use on your iPad device. The entire tutorial is based on the design process within an iPad using Affinity Designer. You’ll be doing this like creating vectors, and combining the said vectors with raster images and more. Make no mistake; this is a fairly detailed tutorial that’s going to prepare you for a lot of the basic/intermediate functionality of the iPad app. Last but not least, make sure you explore other TutsPlus tutorials as they tend to keep them updated on a frequent basis.
Extra: Inspiration for Your Next Project
If you’re not finding the motivation and inspiration for a new idea, you might want to bookmark the following platforms. These will give you plenty of ideas and perspective on what other designers are creating using Affinity Designer but also other vector design software.
Designspiration
Designspiration pulls photos, graphics, and other visual media from every corner and nook on the web. The site works like a digital portfolio for the best designs that people have created. The UI is kept clean with strong emphasis on highlighting only the photo part of each design. For each photo, there is also a small description and an added link that shows where the original photo was sourced from. The search function is highly capable, and you can easily look up designs for your specific keywords, including the likes of ‘vector’ and ‘graphic design.’ This is an invaluable asset to utilize whenever you’re feeling like your creative juices are running low.
Dribbble
And lastly, you have Dribbble. This is a no-brainer to add to your bookmarks. Best known for its professional and robust community, Dribbble has a lot to offer to new and veteran graphic designers. The site pulses with lively energy, and competitive spirit, yet a cordial welcome from all community members. Here you can find not only inspiration, but also make new friendships, establish your design goals, and who knows — maybe land a fantastic work opportunity one day!
Conclusion
The software is surprisingly easy to use! Make sure you subscribe to other designers on YouTube as that seems to be one of the most consistent sources of new tutorials and resources. Other than that, please enjoy this collection and good luck with creating greatness! Next, check out open-source design tools.
