Affinity Bootcamp - January 2025

[Euka]

This was certainly a workout for me as just when I thought everything was falling into place it fell apart!    Good learning curve for sure.    For some reason when creating borders for the photos, the photos kept turning to black and white images and the colour kept defaulting to no colour - several hours it took to get the borders right - I have no idea what caused it as each one eventually worked and I was completing the same steps each time.  This layout is a bit busy and bits of a few kits were used - stars from ashaw-nowshowing and ps_brooke-gazarek,  the duck from Summertime BBQ, grass and background paper from GOF_Born to be Wild,  the zig zag layer from True Hearts Digital, the stripe paper from MontiCow, photos my nephew, font Bodoni Classic.

[Daniel Hess]

Project Four - almost a day late.  Tried a couple of other things including using a glyph.  I used five photos instead of three because I think they tell a better story.  One thing I DID try but ended up failing at was bringing in a brush from an image.  It looks like gonna work up to a point but then when actually apply it, it only shows part of it...a very small part.  Could be because the image file was very large.  Gonna have to play with that.  

[Alice Daniel]

  On 1/22/2025 at 3:55 AM, Alice Daniel said:

I have been busier than usual with other matters lately so will upload my only project to date. 

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I mainly followed the third tutorial whereby I placed the three photos and then moved them, activated artistic text tool, and added shadows on the papers using the control key to select several layers using the FX outer shadow function. I maybe should have added a faint shadow to the leaf/flower design.

[Daniel Hess]

  On 1/22/2025 at 2:02 PM, Euka said:

I have no idea what caused it as each one eventually worked

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I had that happening until I realized I was forgetting to add the pixel layer and do the fill on that layer.

[Daniel Hess]

  On 1/22/2025 at 1:03 AM, Linda J Walker said:

The power of DNA! I love to hear stories like this!

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It's been a little while now but after my grandparents passed away, a man contacted one of my aunts and it turns out they had a brother they did not know about.  We STILL don't know the whole story but believe that he was reported stillborn to my grandparents (by a shady country doctor), then sold to an adoption ring.  He was adopted by wonderful parents in Illinois (my Grandparents, Mom and Siblings grew up on a farm near Jackson, Minnesota).  Needless to say, the DNA tests proved they were 100 percent siblings and they all met shortly after.  Uncle Ron was welcomed to the family and has been a part of most events since he came on the scene.  Since that time, my mom and both my aunts have passed on and he is "the last man standing" for that generation of the Hansen Family.  I took an old family photo, found a photo of my uncle Ron at approximately the right age, and added him to the picture, then did my best to colorize it however for best result, I submitted it to an AI type photo enhancer for the final touchups.  I am including both of those photos here AND a photo of my Uncle and his sisters before any of them passed away.  It will only let me post two of the three here so the last photo will be in the next post.

[Daniel Hess]

Here is the photo of my Uncle, Mom, and Aunts after they got together.

[Corrie Kinkel]

  On 1/22/2025 at 12:56 AM, Sharon Murray said:

This was a fun project!  Last year in June I and my other three sisters found out we had a fourth sister that we did not know existed until she happened to take a DNA test.  I took one  myself, as well as my other sister that lives in Australia, and sure enough we matched as half-sisters!  In August, my Aussie sister came to visit when our new sister came to NC from TX to meet us. I hadn't seen my Aussie sister in 20 years!  We also traveled to GA to visit some more family.  It was the highlight of my year!  The four of us went and got matching tattoos (middle picture)

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Such a touching story and a great layout to commemorate it for the future!

[Corrie Kinkel]

  On 1/22/2025 at 1:11 AM, Gerry Landreth said:

Don't feel too slighted. Many Americans couldn't tell you where the states are or name them if they saw a picture. 

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Well I had to learn those in Elementary and I'm Dutch and have always lived in my country!

[Corrie Kinkel]

  On 1/22/2025 at 2:58 AM, Julie Magerka said:

I have now figured out the color picker (sort of) and got the outlines (frames) to work. It's great being able to be able to add frames after the images are in the layout. I used to add the borders/frames before I used them in the l/o.

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Perseverance pays off in the end 😉

[Corrie Kinkel]

  On 1/22/2025 at 9:50 AM, Cristina said:

Now, I am going to read the previous posts. There is always a lot to learn from the comments.

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I'm doing that right now!

[Marie-Claire]

Day 9 - Project 4

Freebie blog train april 2014 mini kit from Elizabeth Minkus

Edited January 22 by Marie-Claire

[Saara]

  On 1/22/2025 at 1:46 PM, Cristina said:

 

Saara, yes, blend modes react to the layers below, and that's why I was surprised it had affected the upper layer. But I do not have time right now to check this and test where the culprit is. I'd be happy if you could find it. 😊
Affinity has different blend modes than PSP, and contrast negate is one of them, so I was playing with it to see the effect.

Thank you for the tip about recolor adjustment. You have more experience with the program, and I very much value every tip you give. Taking notes! 🙂
 

 

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So, the layer with the "contrast negate" blend mode (the one that now looks like a burgundy colour due to that blend mode) is picking up on the drop shadow from the layer beneath.  This is standard behaviour for blend modes.  If you place a highly textured layer under an object with this blend mode, you'll see the texture through it.

[Corrie Kinkel]

My Project-3 again with a shadow under the title, thank you Carole for pointing that out, I thought I had finished this layout after a couple of hours away from the pc and just posted it without checking if everything was as ok. Can happen and can be added.😘

[Sharla]

Day 9, Project 4. I enjoyed this one. For me, it felt easier to do in Affinity than in Paintshop. The photos are from Freepik as are the two png flowers. The papers are from a kit by Meagon Johnson called January.

 

[Julie Magerka]

Project 4 - I'm sure no one will notice that I left out the "pinking shears" effect on one of the papers. 😛

The dog belongs to a friend (American Retriever, named Duke). They take lots of pix of him and often share them with me.

Fonts used are: Concetta (script) and Cracked and Bold. No kit, just bits and pieces from here and there.

[Julie Magerka]

  On 1/22/2025 at 9:47 PM, Sharla said:

Day 9, Project 4. I enjoyed this one. For me, it felt easier to do in Affinity than in Paintshop. The photos are from Freepik as are the two png flowers. The papers are from a kit by Meagon Johnson called January.

 

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The colour choices are sublime.

[Linda J Walker]

Project 4--This has given me a bit of frustration. I like adding the borders to the photos, but it is a negative that you can't link the layers easily. Feels like it would be easier to add the borders in PSP, it would be easy to resize them. I don't yet have the hang of the color picker tool. For me, it also defaults to red. I wanted to make the 2023 text dark grey or black, but I was not able. As I was playing with the color picker, somehow the top photo became gray scale, which was not my intent! I was not able to undo it. So I have left it that way. I am finished. My patience is exhaused for today. New day tomorrow. Maybe fewer challenges....

 

[Rene Marker]

  On 1/22/2025 at 11:57 PM, Linda J Walker said:

Project 4--This has given me a bit of frustration. I like adding the borders to the photos, but it is a negative that you can't link the layers easily. Feels like it would be easier to add the borders in PSP, it would be easy to resize them. I don't yet have the hang of the color picker tool. For me, it also defaults to red. I wanted to make the 2023 text dark grey or black, but I was not able. As I was playing with the color picker, somehow the top photo became gray scale, which was not my intent! I was not able to undo it. So I have left it that way. I am finished. My patience is exhaused for today. New day tomorrow. Maybe fewer challenges....

 

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Linda, with the borders being right next to the photo in the layout, you can group the 2 layers. Then you can resize all you want. I did that on mine and was actually able to add a drop shadow to the group. It only put the shadow on the border. Try it sometime. I open blank documents and just start playing without the intent of making a layout. Doesn't matter if I screw up since I'll just trash it when I'm done.

[Cassel]

@Jean Naumann Great "extra" layout. Does it feel easier this time around?

@Jeni Simpson Glad that you found a workaround to solve your issue while you couldn't find the Kerning setting.

@Carolyn RyeThanks for your kind words, but I really don't need as much as that. I do a lot of research, exploring, and asking more knowledgeable people than I. I am learning with you. I might just be a few weeks ahead of you! 😉

@CristinaPractice is always a good idea for earlier techniques to be replicated in future projects. I love that plaid pattern! And yes, you will have to do everything manually without scripts and picture tubes! Did you figure out the issue with the shadow showing above other layers?

@Euka Hopefully, you will figure out what is happening to your photos when trying to add that border.

@Daniel HessThose five photos are definitely telling a whole story. As for the brush, do you happen to use a graphic tablet? I wonder if it is "pressure-sensitive"?

@Marie-ClaireSoft colors make your layout look so peaceful.

@Corrie Kinkel Yeah, shadows are one of those details that we can forget, and catch after a while only.

@Sharla Beautiful photos you picked and they are displayed beautifully too.

@Julie Magerka You will find another project to add pinking shears. It is a similar technique to in PSP, although you can use a mask as Saara has suggested, so it could be a good practice, at a later time.

@Linda J WalkerIf layers are adjacent, you can group them, like Rene suggested. There are other ways to add an outline: Layer FX > Outline, but you can also make a selection with the photo, Select > Outline.

See you all tomorrow!

[Margo Ahern]

Here is my Project 1.  I am really way behind and just finished the first one.  I will try to get caught up.  Cassel - how long will we have access to the lessons after the end of the bootcamp?

 

[Daniel Hess]

  On 1/23/2025 at 3:30 AM, Cassel said:

As for the brush, do you happen to use a graphic tablet? I wonder if it is "pressure-sensitive"?

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Not using my bamboo at all.  I hooked it up and tried playing with it a few months ago and didn't care too much for it...I guess I've got more digital dexterity with a mouse.  One thing for everyone to know...when doing the glyph(s) if you are using Character Map UWP, it doesn't automatically when copying and pasting (replacing), paste it at the existing font size on the workspace.  At first I didn't think it was working, then I noticed a VERY tiny "glyph" in what appeared to be a space.  I clicked in the font size option (to match the existing text) and then it popped in and was there.

For more info, the brush I tried to bring in was originally an ABR that was imported into PSP.  I used PSP and did a "stamp" impression of it on a white background, then used selection techniques to copy the image and paste as new layer with transparent background.  Saved it as a PNG and that was the image I was trying to use as a "brush" in Affinity.  The image file was 2206 x 2193 which was the default size after it was imported into PSP.  I'm thinking I need to pare that down to 500 or less before trying to use it as a brush file.  I decided to do the pinking shears effect instead of what I was trying to do so that I could move on with the project.

Edited January 23 by Daniel Hess

[Daniel Hess]

  On 1/22/2025 at 11:57 PM, Linda J Walker said:

As I was playing with the color picker, somehow the top photo became gray scale, which was not my intent!

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Make sure you have the "accompanying" Pixel Layer", for the photo you are working on, SELECTED before you try to fill or play with the color picker.  I had the gray scale thing pop up a couple of times while I was working on my five photos and it was because I had selected the photo, rather than the pixel layer and then when I selected white for the color picker, the photo turned to grayscale.  I "undid", selected the correct pixel layer, made the color white, then filled the "selection" to get the border.

Also note for everyone talking about "group" option and/or "linking layers", in this program its as simple as selecting (holding the control key down) two or more layers, then selecting whatever tool you want to use ... for example, the MOVE tool.  In this last exercise, select the photo AND it's pixel layer, then move tool and can move the photo with border intact to wherever you want it.  You can associate each photo with it's pixel layer by selecting both then right clicking and grouping them.  It looks different in layers panel than PSP and you might want to make sure "rename" the new grouped layer.

Edited January 23 by Daniel Hess

[Jenny MacKay]

Well I'm very happy with what I've learnt from this Bootcamp with you @Cassel. It has been very informative and there are some things I know I'll go back over to try them again. Many thanks. 

[Cristina]

Participating in this Affinity workshop and learning more about the program was very interesting.   I liked the program, but I still have a long learning path.

Carole, the extended trial version you made available was very helpful.  It gives us more time to learn and explore what Affinity has to offer.

I'm looking forward to more Affinity workshops before the Trial version runs out. 🙂

 

[Cristina]

Here is my Project #5.

After reading the comments about working in a non-destructive way, I tried a different approach than the one shown in the video to create the squares and the rounded rectangle.

 Instead of creating them separately, I worked on the layout and used the "Merge Below" option to cut the papers.   I liked this option very much.   Later, I grouped all the layers.

I created a Date Stamp in PSP using Carole's DateStamp#8 script. 

Fonts: Bastro and Black Butter

 

Edited January 23 by Cristina