Vector Workshop (2025) for Affinity

[Cassel]

I am happy to see you all in this workshop. This is the first time it will be presented and with all the elements involved, if you notice anything not working, I am sure you will let me know, right?

@DianeM Great start for your first lesson. It is very basic and you will have fun with the next ones.

@Sue ThomasSo many fun shapes. I can envision you taking pleasure in creating new shapes. 

@MoniqueN. The assignments do NOT require a whole project to be created. You can if you want and if you have the time/inspiration, but this is not a scrapbooking workshop so just doing the assignments as listed is enough. 

@gwen jewitt You are having fun with those shapes!

@Corrie KinkelGreat projects. I hope you have time to make one every day but if you run out of time, we would understand! That is quite a challenge you are setting for yourself.

@Gerry LandrethGood start. Looking forward to your future assignments.

@Jeni SimpsonAlthough the gradients were not part of the assignment, they are really fun when you use them.

@AprilDawnThat is a simple yet very effective way to display your assignment.

Hopefully, those who just finished the other Vector Workshop (for PSP), won't get bored with the same assignments! At the same time, it will give you a good way to compare the tools/settings for both programs.

[Susan Ewart]

10 hours ago, Sue Thomas said:

Day 1  I used all the techniques which I have already learnt from the Affinity template  workshop, and from the start here with Affinity tutorials to showcase the photo.  Its how I learn best, by  being  consistently repetative, until I  have masters techniques. The arrows and hearts were fun to create in Affinity. 

Wow, these shapes are so cool and what I want to learn.  Waiting for the sale.  That is fascinating about the flower.  

[Linda Rexford]

Day 1!

[Susan Ewart]

Wow!  Everyone is making interesting and really cool shapes.  I did sign up but dont have affinity yet.  Watching the videos and looking at the all the cool designs you are making.

[Carolyn Rye]

Lesson 1 using Affinity.  I tried the basics, and I did manage to achieve this, then added a bit of gradients, which was fun.  Also is Affinity like PSP where we can add additional resources and save that in selected files.  Where would the resources be in Affinity Photo 2?  Not sure if I should be asking this at this point but I am curious.

[Sue Thomas]

1 hour ago, Carolyn Rye said:

Lesson 1 using Affinity.  I tried the basics, and I did manage to achieve this, then added a bit of gradients, which was fun.  Also is Affinity like PSP where we can add additional resources and save that in selected files.  Where would the resources be in Affinity Photo 2?  Not sure if I should be asking this at this point but I am curious.

Your questions will be addressed in this workshop, it's  only day 2. I won't elaborate, other than to say be patient.  Lol

[Cristina]

Although I have been working with Vectors in Affinity (Photo & Designer) for a while, I always appreciate Carole's perspective; there's always something new to learn that others may not address.

 

 

 

Edited May 27 by Cristina

[Jacques]

My Affinity day 1 & 2

 

Edited May 27 by Jacques

[Cristina]

Day 2

I saved the shapes as presets and as an asset only for this exercise. I cancelled it afterwards.

The rectangular shape seems cut in the assets, but it shows correctly when brought to the workspace.

Edited May 27 by Cristina

[Sue Thomas]

Day 2.  Vectors in Affinity has opened a whole new range of  tag and label shapes for me to create, with ease. 

[gwen jewitt]

Day 2  Preset shapes.  My first one I used a rectangle and kept on adding nodes until I got the shape I wanted, it took me a while to do. I selected the image and placed a picture inside the shape so that you can see what the Angel of the North is, it is 66ft tall with a wingspan of 177ft. My second preset shape is an ellipse with a fill and a stroke I used three circles for the iris and the pupil and played with some of the effects to give me the finished result, I saved both shapes to assets.

 

[MoniqueN.]

1 hour ago, gwen jewitt said:

Day 2  Preset shapes.  My first one I used a rectangle and kept on adding nodes until I got the shape I wanted, it took me a while to do. I selected the image and placed a picture inside the shape so that you can see what the Angel of the North is, it is 66ft tall with a wingspan of 177ft. My second preset shape is an ellipse with a fill and a stroke I used three circles for the iris and the pupil and played with some of the effects to give me the finished result, I saved both shapes to assets.

 

The angel of the north we rove by when we were in Scotland in April! It was in the detective series Vera too 🙂

 

The angel of the north we drove by when we were in Scotland in April! It was in the detective series Vera too 🙂 

Edited May 27 by MoniqueN.

[MoniqueN.]

I've just been playing around with different shapes.

 I noticed you can't use the corner feature on every preset shape.

[Corrie Kinkel]

Day 2 - Preset shapes and assets.

I kept on playing with the shapes but in the end I saved a couple of the ones that I think I can use. However I can see myself making tags or labels just for the project I'm working on at that time, because it is fun to do and fairly easy too. Some of them I used in this little project. This time I a made a background from a paper with greenery and used maximum motion blur horizontal and a duplicate with motion blur vertical at 50% opacity and merged them (the same technique used in making a plaid in PSP), just for the fun of it. Made some frames with a  bevel and embossed the pink flower shape; a mask from Jessica Dunn and the font is Ever. The photo shows a flower that I had never seen before and it is immediately clear why the common name is pincushion (Leucospermum tottum in Latin). For me it is essential to rehearse the techniques in Affinity that I learned. If I have been using PSP or been away and come back to Affinity, I find that I still have to think or check my notes on how to do things even the simplest ones!

[Sharon Murray]

Affinity Day 1 - I love the "fluidity" of dragging and playing with the nodes!  My heart and arrow need to be refined but here they are for now.  Everyone is off to a great start, I love all the different creations!

 

 

[Raymond]

[Gerry Landreth]

Day 2. Looking forward to Day 3. 

[Cassel]

@Linda RexfordThose are fun shapes. You really played around with the colors too!

@Susan Ewart Do you want the 90-day trial version (or did you already use it?)? I don't know if they will have another sale in the summer like last year. I wish I knew!

@Carolyn RyeDid lesson 2 answer your question? There is also a blog post about saving assets.

@Cristina Great shapes (and colors)! That is odd that the shape displays a different corner than the reality. Very weird!

@JacquesDid you make all those little dragons? That is a lot of work!

@Sue ThomasI knew you would have fun with those shapes. Some tasks are easier in Affinity than in PSP, when it comes to those corners, for example.

@gwen jewittGreat shapes. Having fun adding nodes now that you can master them!

@MoniqueN.You are correct. The corner tools are only on rectangular shapes and only if they are not converted.

@Corrie KinkelGreat tags! Yes, I think you will be making more and more!

@Sharon MurrayI also find it interesting that one can "pull" the edge without having the adjust the nodes individually. That is definitely a plus.

@RaymondGreat start! The more you play, the more fun it will be!

@Gerry Landreth Nice shapes. Do you think you will reuse them?

Keep them coming!

[Linda Rexford]

13 hours ago, Sue Thomas said:

Day 2.  Vectors in Affinity has opened a whole new range of  tag and label shapes for me to create, with ease. 

Love your layout, but I am so glad the bugs are not that big now!!

[Linda Rexford]

I just started playing with several of the preset shapes and this just happened.  The hat and nose are rectangles, the flowers are the stars, the top things are the spirals, mouth is a crescent and the rest circles.  

 

[Jacques]

1 hour ago, Cassel said:

@Linda RexfordThose are fun shapes. You really played around with the colors too!

@Susan Ewart Do you want the 90-day trial version (or did you already use it?)? I don't know if they will have another sale in the summer like last year. I wish I knew!

@Carolyn RyeDid lesson 2 answer your question? There is also a blog post about saving assets.

@Cristina Great shapes (and colors)! That is odd that the shape displays a different corner than the reality. Very weird!

@JacquesDid you make all those little dragons? That is a lot of work!

@Sue ThomasI knew you would have fun with those shapes. Some tasks are easier in Affinity than in PSP, when it comes to those corners, for example.

@gwen jewittGreat shapes. Having fun adding nodes now that you can master them!

@MoniqueN.You are correct. The corner tools are only on rectangular shapes and only if they are not converted.

@Corrie KinkelGreat tags! Yes, I think you will be making more and more!

@Sharon MurrayI also find it interesting that one can "pull" the edge without having the adjust the nodes individually. That is definitely a plus.

@RaymondGreat start! The more you play, the more fun it will be!

@Gerry Landreth Nice shapes. Do you think you will reuse them?

Keep them coming!

@Cassel Clarification: I did not "draw" the dragons. They come from the "these little dinosaurs" page of your lesson 4 for PSP. I only cut each one out, saved them as PNGs, created an ".afphoto" document containing the PNGs and included them as "Assets"

[Carolyn Rye]

Lesson 2 using Affinity Photo 2.  I do love how Affinity does preset shapes.   There was a lot to learn here but it has been a great learning experience.  It is good to have another option, especially the gradients. I did find it hard to save Presets and Assets.  For some reason I was getting the New Category and the Sub Category mixed up and also Creating Presets and Managing Presets.  I found it very confusing. I am sure there is an easy way to find where I should be saving. 
These are my examples of lesson 2 below.

[gwen jewitt]

4 hours ago, Linda Rexford said:

I just started playing with several of the preset shapes and this just happened.  The hat and nose are rectangles, the flowers are the stars, the top things are the spirals, mouth is a crescent and the rest circles.  

 

When I saw your shape Linda it really made me smile It's great I love it.

[Jeni Simpson]

Day 2
This was fun. I wanted to use the star shape in different ways.
I snagged a starry night sky image free from wallpaperaccessonline for a background..

I also created other shapes.

[AprilDawn]

First of all i want to say Thank You to Carole for this workshop. Even though this is just Lesson 2 i am learning  a bit about vector tools. For this lesson  chose the Spiral Tool and the Rounded Rectangle tool. Created presets for them and saved them  as shape presets and not assets. I also turned preset 1 into a pattern and filled the Rounded Rectangle preset with it.