Affinity Designer Mini Tutorial - Multiple Strokes using the Appearance Panel

[@sechmettara]

I completely forgot about this 'Appearance' option. It opens up some very interesting possibilities for what can be done with it... but now I have a headache. Many thanks for explaining.

[@2dgameartguru]

You are welcome! I am sorry about the headache. I hope it was worth it... Enjoy playing around with the options!

[@kevinhouse7143]

Multiple strokes using these techniques are great for map work. Thanks!

[@2dgameartguru]

They would be. You are welcome!

[@louiselamirandeart]

This is a very interesting way to use the multiple strokes feature ! I can't wait to play with this! Thanks you.

[@2dgameartguru]

You're very welcome!

[@shaanbaghi6670]

genius! you are master of ART;

[@lynncarlson2576]

So helpful as always Chris - I have learned so much from your tutorials. Brilliant!😊

[@2dgameartguru]

Fantastic! That's the reason I make them and it makes it all worthwhile! :)

[@calamalabar]

wow, genius ! there is so much to unpack in this video. Really creative and useful as usual with the free download. Thanks for all you are doing

[@2dgameartguru]

Glad it was helpful!

[@orlamdc]

Excellent tutorial. Thank you. I must try it out. ☘

[@2dgameartguru]

You’re welcome 😊Let me know how it goes.

[@jcarlin596]

Very interesting effects

[@2dgameartguru]

Glad you think so!

[@Espermaschine]

Magic !

[@2dgameartguru]

I have my moments of magic [still]...

[@oooooohmylisa]

its reaaaaaally cooooool！

[@2dgameartguru]

I am glad you enjoyed it! ;) and yes... it's super cool what you can do with the multiple strokes.

[@oooooohmylisa]

@2dgameartguru I never thought that strokes could be like this! ! !

[@sherikanamunni7508]

This looks very usable but so fast, I wish I could slow it down to watch every move you make more easily.

[@2dgameartguru]

This is not a click-here-then-do-this kind of tutorial. I try to introduce the workflow and the idea of creating your own experiments with multiple strokes while trying to pack a lot of information into 10 minutes [which seems to be the maximum attention span for this kind of video]. You can reduce the playback speed in the youtube settings or download the samples [link in the description] and analyze those [grab them for FREE from my gumroad page by entering a zero in the price field].

[@abhirutmeherishi5738]

nice explainer! one thing I am stumped on is how do multiple fills work? I pressed the add fill button at the bottom of appearance and a second fill go added but I was unable to change it to solid color from transparency.

[@2dgameartguru]

I am sorry. I can't seem to replicate the issue. When I add a second fill to a shape it allows me to change it to whatever colour or gradient I desire. The only exception is text. Text can only have one fill and one stroke - and would converting to curves to add more. [I am sorry for the delayed reply - health issues have sidelined me lately. This might be a good topic for a quick video.]

[@catafest]

can you tell me if affinity is better like Inkscape or maybe create a video with the differences between these two software?

[@2dgameartguru]

Defining better when it comes to artistic tools [of any kind - from brushes to pens or graphic tablet and software. It boils down to your needs and your preferred workflow as well as your budget. My best advise is to know as many tools as possible and see which ones work best for you. I switched from CorelDraw [with Inkscape as a wingman application on the side - and a bit of Adobe Illustrator when working with teams or needing the work to smoothly fit into the pipelines of larger projects] to Affinity Designer because the workflow suited my style better, felt more fluid, faster and most of all stable in a work environment. Now I use Affinity Designer and Inkscape to compliment each other with their features and flaws [or missing options]. It's a personal preference - and not set in stone [as I try different tools all the time and give their trial versions a spin]. Knowing more tools is definitely a major advantage - and most of the time the concept is the same [even if the names of the tools and the workflows differ]. Picking up a new tool [when approaching it without the expectation to work like the tool you know] isn't that hard. The price is always an issue - and as a free and open source tool, Inkscape wins that one hands down. It doesn't lock you in, doesn't feed your data to train AIs, and is not out to sell your data to make profits for the shareholders. The users are at the core of the tool. Affinity has just been acquire by Canva and the future is more uncertain. The opposition to generative AI and a subscription model held by Serif is the opposite of Canva's approach. The future will tell how firm the commitments to the users formulated in recent pledges by Serif and Canva are. At the current price the tools / the universal license is a great buy for a more polished tool with better UI/ UX, stability, and some great trick up its sleeve. I would always recommend giving the 30day trial a go... and purchase the tool if you like the way it feels in your work environment and you have the means. I won't be doing a comparison video. There are a few out there already [I have not watched any so I can't comment on them] but it's simply not the style video I create.

[@catafest]

@@2dgameartguru ok, thank you for your response.

[@2dgameartguru]

You are welcome!

[@karencoates8487]

How do you get the dashed line to start and end with the same size dash as those in the middle? I've watched your fish mosaic video and can't work it out from there either. Thank you

[@2dgameartguru]

You can change to the dash pattern to start with a blank [0], followed by a set gap, and a set filled piece. You can also try the 'balanced' option in v2.

[@Espermaschine]

Can you make a rainbow with this method, or is it always gonna be mirrored ?

[@2dgameartguru]

It's always mirrored... but... you can tweak it by adding the stroke to a circle [set behind the fill], giving the circle a fill similar to the sky's colour/ gradient and use blend modes like 'Hard light'. imgur.com/a/jKfidv5

[@Espermaschine]

@@2dgameartguru Yeah, thats what i came up with as well after playing around. Its strange the option of the stroke alignment doesnt do anything. A few years ago i tried to make a multicoloured ribbon with Inkscape, you know one of these AIDS awareness bow thingies, but it was extremely hard. Thought that would be possible with the AD multi stroke feature, but it seems it isnt.

[@2dgameartguru]

You can do it with multiple strokes but use textured intensity brushes instead of solid lines. imgur.com/a/r9E1Jtu

[@Espermaschine]

@@2dgameartguru Nice ! Thats even better than an imagebrush !

[@2dgameartguru]

I tried creating a rainbow in Inkscape and this is the approach I came up with: imgur.com/0E8jsLV

[@terry2228]

Chris check something doing this exercise if you use the pen tool all works stroke expansion colour ect but if you use a vector brush that has pre installed past my affinity has lost the ability to expand stroke colour ect is this a new bug I swear using vector brush I use to be able to to do same colour ect if I pick a colour with vector brush it dose change colour on a new stroke confused again sorry

[@terry2228]

V2.4.2

[@2dgameartguru]

It depends on the type of brush you are using. Textured intensity brushes allow you to colour them in any colour you choose while Textured image brushes look best without a stroke colour to show the image's colours. Any colour added to those will only change the HUE of the brush. As far as expanding Affinity Designer's vector brushes, it was never possible as they have always been and still are just PNG images stretched or scattered along a vector path. You can't turn them into editable vector shapes as you can with solid or dashed lines.

[@Dexter101x]

How do we export all this from Affinity Design to Affinity Photo?

[@2dgameartguru]

You can switch from Designer to Photo [File > Edit in Photo]. Just keep in mind that these are not brushes but strokes on a vector shape.

[@arsonfly]

I would slow down the tutorial speed. It's a lot of information. Very comprehensive though. (Sounds weird but easier to follow at .75x speed)

[@2dgameartguru]

I could but this is not a click-here-then-there-to-get-this kind of video. I try to explain the concept [at my own speed] and try to encourage viewers to play around with the feature and explore it themselves [the only way to properly learn it].