Magazine Workshop 2025

[Anne Lamp]

Here is the 1st page of my double page challenge.

[Anne Lamp]

Here is the 2nd page of my double page challenge.

[Carolyn Rye]

Day 6 Using PSP.  I am a bit late, but I have finally completed the Affinity and the PSP Day 6.  I wanted to try both software for this workshop because it is so new to me, and probably all of us.  I have enjoyed doing this so far. 

Carole, I have to say, you are a marvel because you have so much knowledge and I wonder how you can remember it all. I am amazed at how you know what menus to use and how you find your way around all these options.  Thank you from me.

[Jean Naumann]

I'm getting caught up.  Here is my Day 5 and Day 6 pages. For day 5 I split the single template into 4, 2 landscape and 2 portrait, I always like these type of grid pages.  For Day 6 I struggled finding an image that would fit, so I've cheated here and used the same image twice but cut out the middle bit.

I'm about to watch the Day 7 video now.

[Linda Rexford]

  On 2/23/2025 at 3:05 PM, Corrie Kinkel said:

Cristina I have updated to 2.6 as well but had made day 5 just before and when I yesterday wanted to use that technique again I had the same problem as you! I haven't found why and will have to look into this some more. Please let us know if you find an explanation and I will do that too.

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I went and looked at this, I have updated to 2.6 also.  I tried the process and noticed in 2.6 when I added the recolor layer, it automatically grouped the text and the recolor layer.  Then when you add the mask, it is putting the mask layer above the group.  You have to drag the mask down to the recolor layer for this to work.  Give it a try and see if that works for you.

[Linda Rexford]

Here is my last page.  I have to say, I don't care for coffee or plantains, but the tour was very interesting! 

This has been a fun workshop and even tho I have had Affinity for a few years, I learned some new ways to use it!  Thank You Cassel for doing this workshop!

[Cassel]

@Anja Pelzer Great photos to use with that four-part template.

@Jeni Simpson It is great that you found a way to make the page more consistent with the others. The overall look will be improved for sure.

@Carolyn Rye To fill the frame (or anything) to change its color, I found out that if the source is "Current Layer & Below", it won't work. You have to change it to "Current Layer" to work. Try that and see if that is the issue. When you created the frame on the four-part page, did you copy a rectangle and resize it? Thank you for your compliment. I know PSP pretty much by heart, but for Affinity, I am still learning. I feel just like when I started with PSP, 20 years ago. The difference is that YouTube didn't exist back then, so the exploration and learning was much slower then!

@Cristina I will have to look at the 2.6 version and if needed, I might have to redo the tutorials OR have a clear description of the differences.

@Harmony Birch I love how you adjusted the gap between the sections for the Day7 project.

@Jacques Do you have more photos?? I want to see more pages!

@Corrie Kinkel If you want to direct viewers to more photos, or a website, you can use a QRCode on that back cover.

@Rene Marker Both pages are great and have different appeals.

@Jen Brown Your pages make me want to go back to sewing!!!

@Lynda DiGregor I am always amazed how that same background colorized differently makes your own project so cohesive.

@Connie Collier I am glad to see you caught up. Do you have plans to print those pages?

@Gerry Landreth I would have to look closer to what you are experiencing. Is it still in a mask format? If so, it works just like a mask in PSP: black will block, so can you brush black/white in the specific area?

@Anne Lamp I can certainly envision those pages in a single magazine sitting on the coffee table. What a great piece of conversation!

@Jean Naumann If you didn't mention the "cheating", nobody would have noticed! 🙂

@Linda Rexford Thanks for the information about the difference with 2.6. I will check it out.

[Cheryle Becker]

Hi,  It's always great to see everyone's projects.  Here is mine.  I've saved it all up to put in two go's. Thanks Carole for the Affinity Lessons. I have made these in Affinity and have noticed quite a few mistakes, (that I may not have made if I had been working in PSP), but it's all a learning process.  This is from a trip we did on 'The Ghan' Train.  If you get the chance, do it....   Thanks again to everyone.

[Cheryle Becker]

Now for the next 2....

[Jean Naumann]

and here is Day 7.  I created 2 new pages instead of one to go with one I had already done.  I had run out of photos from the Immigration Museum at Cobh, so this one is of Kylemore Abbey.

This has been a fabulous workshop, thanks heaps @Cassel.  It's made me want to go through my thousands of photos and do something different with them.

[Carolyn Rye]

Day 7 using PSP.  My 2-page project.  Used one of the previous pages and then another new page to match.  The fun and life our little Bundy Boy gave us. 

[Michele]

  On 2/23/2025 at 1:56 PM, Harmony Birch said:

Here's my day 6 and my day7 

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I love these girls! Thanks for putting a smile on my face.

[Jeni Simpson]

  On 2/24/2025 at 3:32 AM, Cheryle Becker said:

Hi,  It's always great to see everyone's projects.  Here is mine.  I've saved it all up to put in two go's. Thanks Carole for the Affinity Lessons. I have made these in Affinity and have noticed quite a few mistakes, (that I may not have made if I had been working in PSP), but it's all a learning process.  This is from a trip we did on 'The Ghan' Train.  If you get the chance, do it....   Thanks again to everyone.

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I've watched TV programmes on that trip, it looks wonderful...one day...perhaps  

[Ann Seeber]

  On 2/23/2025 at 11:33 PM, Corrie Kinkel said:

Here are my last two extra pages for the magazine and I used two templates, number 3 is rotated to the right and number 4 is one of the extra diamond templates.

I have enjoyed doing this workshop in Affinity and overall it worked fine. Some things just took me more time then in PSP, but I learned from it! Tomorrow I will have a look on how to make a digital flipover book. If that works I'll post the link in here. Carole thank you for a fun workshop and all of you for the comments and inspiration with so many lovely pages. ❤️

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Wow, really impressive, Corrie. That hotel is totally new to me from your layouts; mostly you've done exteriors. There are two typos: in #3 "abundantly" and in #4 "atmosphere." It's possible they're from the translator. 

[Ann Seeber]

  On 2/23/2025 at 5:13 PM, Rene Marker said:

What I like about Merge-Group-Rename is that as long as you run the script when you are on the photo layer of the group, it gives the raster layer the photo name instead of something like "merged group" or another generic name. Very helpful if I use an image from my camera where I took a lot of photos of the same thing. Knowing exactly which image I used can be useful if I want to know in the future.

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Rene, I tried it on my upcoming March Wild Cat calendar, where the mask is a little odd behind the photo with a design. Template from our 2025 calendar workshop last fall where I did the Nashville Zoo. It did not clip the photo at all. I probably did something wrong... 😞 

[Ann Seeber]

  On 2/24/2025 at 2:06 AM, Anne Lamp said:

Here is the 1st page of my double page challenge.

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They are stunning, Anne. You have a small typo in the text; it should be "vibrant."

[Rene Marker]

  On 2/24/2025 at 9:48 AM, Ann Seeber said:

Rene, I tried it on my upcoming March Wild Cat calendar, where the mask is a little odd behind the photo with a design. Template from our 2025 calendar workshop last fall where I did the Nashville Zoo. It did not clip the photo at all. I probably did something wrong... 😞 

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Don't know what to say. I always run raster to mask to create the mask group, add the photo to the group and when I'm satisfied with the placement of the photo in the group, I then run the merge-group-rename script. It does what the name says: merge group and rename group. As long as the photo layer is the layer highlighted when running the script, it will use that as the name. 

[Jen Brown]

  On 2/23/2025 at 10:03 PM, Jeni Simpson said:

Jen, should the second-page title read, With?

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Jeni, ITH is a term that is used by machine embroiderers. It is the shortened version of "In The Hoop" meaning that the item is completely made on the machine in the embroidery hoop and usually doesn't need to have any additional sewing on the sewing machine. Thanks, Jen.

[Ann Seeber]

  On 2/24/2025 at 12:50 PM, Rene Marker said:

Don't know what to say. I always run raster to mask to create the mask group, add the photo to the group and when I'm satisfied with the placement of the photo in the group, I then run the merge-group-rename script. It does what the name says: merge group and rename group. As long as the photo layer is the layer highlighted when running the script, it will use that as the name. 

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Thanks, Rene, I did figure it out. It's the peculiar style of mask on that 2025 calendar series we did as a workshop last October. I tried the script on an ordinary mask group and it worked fine. Here's one of the pages I did in October, and you can see the style of mask peeking out from behind the photo and it also has that framing included. That's what caused my problem.

[Jacques]

This day of May 19, 2017, I took nearly 150 photos (not all good). Here are some of them.

[DianeM]

  On 2/24/2025 at 2:45 PM, Jacques said:

This day of May 19, 2017, I took nearly 150 photos (not all good). Here are some of them.

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This reminds me to take more photos. It's the best way to come home with a selection that best reflects the day--overall scene and the details. I love this. It means you'll have a great memory to look back on and enjoy more for telling the complete story. I've been going back to scrap 20 year old photos and wishing I'd done this.

[Jacques]

  On 2/24/2025 at 3:42 PM, DianeM said:

This reminds me to take more photos. It's the best way to come home with a selection that best reflects the day--overall scene and the details. I love this. It means you'll have a great memory to look back on and enjoy more for telling the complete story. I've been going back to scrap 20 year old photos and wishing I'd done this.

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It is easier today to take multiple photos with digital cameras and cards containing more and more memory space.

On the other hand, the limit of photos on film, required us to take the "Good Photo" from the right angle of view.

[Corrie Kinkel]

  On 2/24/2025 at 9:43 AM, Ann Seeber said:

Wow, really impressive, Corrie. That hotel is totally new to me from your layouts; mostly you've done exteriors. There are two typos: in #3 "abundantly" and in #4 "atmosphere." It's possible they're from the translator. 

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Thank you Ann, I'll rectify! That hotel was so impressive and we had breakfast there and got to take a look around.

[Anja Pelzer]

here is now my day 7. you can see my grandkids 

 

[Corrie Kinkel]

  On 2/24/2025 at 4:17 PM, Jacques said:

It is easier today to take multiple photos with digital cameras and cards containing more and more memory space.

On the other hand, the limit of photos on film, required us to take the "Good Photo" from the right angle of view.

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Jacques I agree it did, but there were a lot of photos on a filmrol that were not so good and I always had the feeling I wasted a good filmrol to get 1 or 2 really good photos. Nowadays I take a lot of photos and in the end have a good selection to work with. It definitively makes life easier this way.