Affinity Designer Tutorial - How to use the Pencil Tool

[@poncardas]

Wow! Affinity's pencil control is much more intuitive vs Illustrator 😮Great tutorial as always!

[@ArtistWright]

Thanks, I use it all the time. I don't even think of illustrator anymore. It's like a distant memory

[@nikkilesley2525]

Thank you! I don’t think I’ve seen such an in depth tutorial on the Pencil tool. 👍😁

[@ArtistWright]

Cheers, I tried my best to give all the important info

[@Lida22]

@ArtistWright - thanks! You make some of the best Affinity tutorials available on KZbin. You explain things clearly and use excellent examples, and do a very good job of zooming in where we need to see what you're doing or selecting. Here's something that might make your tutorials even better and more useful: Change your interface to the LIGHT mode for the recordings. I know many people prefer the dark mode (as you do) for actual work, but it is VERY difficult to see in the tutorials. Medium-dark grey on a black background is very low-contrast and sometimes impossible to make out which element on the interface you're talking about. It is a very simple thing in all Affinity apps to change to the light mode for recording, then back to dark mode if you need it for your work. If you do this, it will be ever so much easier for us viewers to see what you're doing. Thanks so much for your excellent tutorials, and keep up the good work.

[@ArtistWright]

Thank you so much Lida, Wonderful feedback! I have never used light mode in all these years 😂 Will try on the next one, thanks for the tip

[@ArtistWright]

Hello Lida, check out my latest tutorial, with light mode thanks to you. Let me know if it's better this way. Cheers

[@pdrg]

Always love your videos, demystifying and encouraging!

[@ArtistWright]

Thank you so much! I try to make it as clear as I can so I appreciate it

[@ronallen2458]

Your tutorials are so good and engaging. I’m always on my toes for easter eggs!

[@ArtistWright]

Ha that's awesome! Cheers

[@WimVeen]

This is a very good tutorial. I learned quite some of this. All elements of the pencil tool are shown here. Thanks for the great work.

[@ArtistWright]

You're very welcome!

[@meinhendl]

I can't say enough thankyou for your brilliant work and teaching !

[@ArtistWright]

That's lovely to hear!

[@nordiclightphototours153]

Just another excellent tutorial. Your teaching skills are second to none! Thank you!!

[@ArtistWright]

Thank you 👍👍

[@arsom5552]

Thank you for this tutorial 😊

[@ArtistWright]

You’re welcome my friend

[@rapidraga]

What an amazing tutorial! Thank. You so much.

[@ArtistWright]

No problem, also the new 2.5 update has made a big difference, way less nodes on a curve

[@martinh4982]

Nice! You've inspired me to dig out my (Huion) graphics tablet which hasn't seen much love lately.

[@ArtistWright]

Yeah do it! I love the look of the huion tablets

[@martinh4982]

@@ArtistWright Blimey - what a battle! So I dug my tablet out, grabbed the pen and... no response from the pen. Re-installed drivers, did fault finding, but no luck. Then I remembered it's a powered pen and I might need to change the battery. Spent ages trying to figure out how to do that, to then remember it has a rechargeable battery! I then spent ages looking for the cable - a USB to a very thin barrel jack cable. By some miracle I hadn't thrown it out and it eventually turned up. Plugged it in and got it charging... but the charge light wouldn't go off, even after hours. Unplugged it and tried it... but still no response! Tried it plugged in and that worked so... I guess the battery had gone bad. Ordered a new pen, which arrived today and, finally, I'm able to use the thing! Sometimes I think the universe is trying to tell me something. I don't suppose you have any tips on using a graphics tablet with Affinity apps? My tablet has hard and soft buttons you can bind to keys/key combinations. Do you have any bindings you add if your tablet has the same features? Any other tips also appreciated!

[@carlcasparo]

best tutorials ever! Thank you so much!

[@ArtistWright]

Thank you I'm glad you think so

[@carlhughes1206]

Another cracking tutorial!!!!Thank you!

[@ArtistWright]

Cheers

[@leythecg]

learned a lot! Thanks a lot :-) Really awesome in content and presentation!

[@ArtistWright]

If you learned something then Im happy! Thanks

[@leni1029]

this is such a great tutorial! thank you so much!

[@ArtistWright]

My pleasure,also check out the stroke width tool tutorial. Very handy

[@leni1029]

@@ArtistWright uhh, thanks! I will definitely do that!

[@user-nm4hr4vy5g]

Thank you so much!! Great content👍

[@ArtistWright]

Glad you liked it!

[@miro_juric]

Thank you!! Great work! Cheers!

[@ArtistWright]

Cheers Miro!

[@Marsupioll]

This helped me sooooo much 🤯 Thank you!

[@ArtistWright]

My pleasure

[@JC-xx6rr]

Really helpful thanks.

[@ArtistWright]

No problem JC

[@kdeuler]

Thanks for this vid. I was wondering if you have, or are planning to have, tutorials on how to use a drawing tablet with AD.

[@ArtistWright]

I've not made any on that subject yet. But you're the second person to ask now. Perhaps I will, although I honestly use it in the most simplest of ways. I hardly ever press the buttons on my graphics tablet except for the buttons on the pen which I've mapped to certain shortcuts

[@morizanova]

Affinity stroke studio/editor indeed the main reason I'm converted from other brand . That's possible in another apps but what AD offer easier for me

[@ArtistWright]

So useful

[@dkickelbick]

Cool. Thank you!

[@ArtistWright]

No worries

[@thorsten.dienerbusiness6183]

First of all thanks for the great video. One Question: I don't have the "autoclose" on my screen. Where can I find it?

[@ArtistWright]

It will be there in the context tool bar, you will see it when you have the pencil selected. Sometimes on smaller screens some of the options will be hidden and there will be an arrow you can select to see the hidden options

[@gregorioportela]

muito pratico , bem explicado

[@ArtistWright]

Gracias !

[@CBM64]

Wow amazing tutorial! I am just now trying this pencil+pressure controller on my MacBook trackpad and notice that the pressure sensitivity is quite extreme. With only a light touch the size goes from 1 to 1000. Is there any way to calibrate the pressure max/min?

[@ArtistWright]

Thanks, yes try the pressure profile and you can set min and max

[@MrDistracted]

Hi great tutorial thank you! Can I ask what model of Wacom you use with your Mac setup please? Thank you!

[@ArtistWright]

No problem! I used a wacom intuos pro medium. I also have the smaller wacom intuos (but I usually only use that when I don't want to pack alot on my travels)

[@MrDistracted]

@@ArtistWright awesome thanks for the quick reply! I use a Mac mini mainly so would mostly be desk use so medium would probably be a good bet for me then. Just looking at them now - really appreciate the feedback! Thank you!

[@ArtistWright]

Yeah I think that's a good call! It's going to make your design life better that's for sure

[@jillwirsing7544]

I enjoyed this video! Thank you! Are the pressure profiles that you save available when you open other files, or just for the file that you save them in?

[@ArtistWright]

That's a good question actually, I believe it only works on the document you are working on. There is an annoying workaround though. Draw out a line, use a stroke profile you made. Then create a style. then in a new document you can just apply that style

[@jillwirsing7544]

@@ArtistWright Thank you! That is good information to know!

[@johnlepore1562]

Thanks!

[@ArtistWright]

You bet!

[@user-uq3vc1ts4n]

Please tell me how to draw closed contours with this tool. Because if I draw a complex contour and use the sculp mode, then the auto contour closing does not work. I have to do it manually. And it is very sad that such a program cannot do such elementary things.

[@ArtistWright]

HI, i've just tested this out and you are completely right. I cannot auto close the curve whilst using sculpt mode. Perhaps they don't know about it. I will let them know. Thank you

[@user-uq3vc1ts4n]

@@ArtistWright thanks for the quick response. I just started learning this program, I want to find an alternative to Adobe Illustrator for creating vector illustrations. When rendering a sketch into vector format on a graphics tablet I often use pencil in Adobe Illustrator, it's convenient and fast, but in Affinity Designer at the moment it's a problem. I hope they hear you and fix it

[@ArtistWright]

@user-uq3vc1ts4n no problem, I made a video of it and posted it to the official forum. Hope they can sort it. Not sure how that one slipped by me to be honest 😂. Affinity is definitely the way, they seem to be updating it and a much more rapid rate these days

[@oo0Spyder0oo]

No need for the music inserts when introducing the options, it’s annoying af. Save your self some editing time too.

[@ArtistWright]

Cheers for the feedback, the less time editing the better

[@AllanLoboVST]

Hey man how can I contact you?

[@ArtistWright]

Hi, my links are on my KZbin channel homepage. So either my website or X