Helsinki Bridge: Illustrating from a reference image in Affinity Designer with Isabel Aracama

Join designer and illustrator Isabel Aracama as she walks you through the creation of a vector illustration inspired by a reference image-in this case, Helsinki Bridge. Learn how to adapt reality into a colourful painterly drawing and how to change the mood of the artwork by tweaking colours and blending modes.
Isabel will be available on KZbin’s Live Chat for this session’s premiere on Sunday, 10 May 2020 at 4pm BST.
She’ll also be providing seven Affinity Designer source files, including the original artwork completed in this tutorial and several different versions of it. These can be accessed for free (read-only) at affin.co/LD202....
Isabel has worked as a UI designer and illustrator for years, and she also teaches online learning courses. Visit her KZbin channel to check out more of her tutorials: / sauldrumandbass
You can also find her at:
Website: www.isabelarac...
Twitter: / isabel_aracama
Facebook: / isabelaracama
** Lockdown 2020: Affinity creative sessions **
Stay tuned to the official Affinity KZbin channel as every day in May at 4pm BST we will be premiering inspirational creative sessions for Lockdown 2020. The sessions will be led by top creatives who use Affinity or one of our in-house product experts and give you the chance to follow along as incredible artists, illustrators, designers and photographers work on a project using the apps.
We will be announcing the details of each daily session on our social channels, so make sure you're following us on Instagram ( / affinitybyserif , Twitter ( / affinitybyserif ) and Facebook ( / affinitybyserif ) to stay updated.
You can find out more about the Affinity suite, including getting access to free trials, over on affinity.serif....

[@ryanbergz5642]

Affinity team, please we beg to have more like this. This is awesome!

[@gyananchan4256]

You’re teaching is liquid gold, Isabel

[@isabel_aracama]

Oh, so nice of you to let me know! Thanks so much and happy it helped you!

[@jjb890814]

World needs more of these valuable series. Kudos to Affinity team!

[@Boryathecat]

I find it really cute when she said "three coma five" instead of "three point five". What a lovely woman, love love love your works!

[@isabel_aracama]

hihihi... hardwired commas in my brain hhh - thanks for your nice comment! btw your channel banner is very cool!

[@Boryathecat]

@@isabel_aracama Oh the madam herself replied! This must be my lucky day. Thank you so much! I made it way back when I wasnt aware of Affinity. Anyway, thank you so much for this video, I immediately got inspired and then make this vector work in Affinity Designer; instagram.com/p/CK0jzBzgD0i/

[@isabel_aracama]

@@Boryathecat Very cool that one too! And very nice to know you got inspired by this tut. Thanks for letting me know. 😘

[@lovelyappletv]

Wow! This was the best video yet, in this amazing series from Affinity. Isabel is a great teacher as well as a brilliant graphic artist.

[@isabel_aracama]

Thanks a lot for the kind words :)

[@CTRL_SMarcos]

Great video! Someone explaining what he does ( nicely, by the way), without loud music, just the necessary and at the right volume. Thank you very much!

[@jamessouttar]

That was fantastic too! I‘ve learnt so much from every one of these videos, but especially - since I work mostly with vectors - from what Isabel was showing here. This lockdown programme has been such a benefit, Affinity!

[@12musts54]

BRAVO!!!....Amazing class and teacher!👏🏽

[@rycoryco2888]

Beautiful example of vector-colour illustration.

[@SandcityDe]

Just: wow! So much to learn from - I will have to review this a couple of times ;) love that this is all done in vector shapes, as this is what I attempt to learn in the moment. Thanks for the great tutorial and for providing the original files! Greets, Claudia

[@isabel_aracama]

Thanks Sandcity!

[@lhawkins40]

I am all in Isabel!! I love all your classes and you are a wonderful teacher, designer, and person!! Looking forward to this!!! Sooo excited!

[@isabel_aracama]

Aww thanks Lisa! Super happy to see you here :D

[@makrailston202]

As a newconvert to Affinitys software fm Adobe suite it was wonderful to see an expert user perform beautiful visual magic. Now just got to view it a few times to work out HOW you r doing sooo fast! Thank you so much for a gr8 session.

[@isabel_aracama]

You're very welcome Mak! Very glad you're getting the most out of these useful sessions Serif has put together :)

[@literaturix]

Grrrreat work! And a lot of play-stop-click-rewind.... A lot to learn here, as always. Thank you Miss Isabellina! Ksss :-)

[@isabel_aracama]

Thanks Klaus! As usual supporting my work ...kiss muaaak!

[@literaturix]

@@isabel_aracama No, Isabel: you support me!!!

[@Purple-qi4hj]

Amazing work ! Please more of these sessions.

[@isabel_aracama]

Thanks Purple' :) glad you liked it!

[@glenboid]

Love your work Isabel, really enjoyed seeing how you build up an illustration!

[@isabel_aracama]

Thanks so much Glen! Makes me happy to know you get something out of my work :)

[@glenboid]

@@isabel_aracama Absolutely, I loved how I could hear the excitement in your voice when you saw the colours that you liked, to me that feeling when art just clicks is the best feeling ever! :)

[@AndrewKwabula]

If I could steal a 1/3 of Isabela's design skills, I would haha! Thanks, Isabela, I am learning so much from you starting with that hack pen tool tutorial of yours that has helped me with my affinity penmanship skills.

[@isabel_aracama]

Thanks Andrew for this nice comment! But you can borrow them! Just look and repeat, ask, look again, repeat and ask more. That's the way I learnt... just that I never had so many resources as there are now or ppl to ask to hhhh... You'll get very far if you are persistent.

[@AndrewKwabula]

@@isabel_aracama thanks, means a lot coming from you. Keep up the great work.

[@marceltuchek8615]

WOW! Thank you very much for this tutorial!

[@SketkhW]

This one I'm stoked for too!

[@damianmurphy2916]

Wonderful tutorial, thank you so much for sharing your work flow and ideas. Absolutely loved it!

[@isabel_aracama]

Thank you Damian!

[@rovedajr]

Wow, that was wonderful!

[@ErrkaPetti]

Isabel - this is the best Lockdown-video/tutorial yet!!! Supergreat art!!

[@isabel_aracama]

Glad you liked it Erik!

[@andyorestes9938]

This is superb. More pleasee,

[@roxannalopez773]

Fantastic! Love your artwork and your workflow!

[@isabel_aracama]

Thanks very much Roxanna!

[@labockj]

Awesome Content. Thanks @Affinity

[@chepo1956]

Isabel is an amazing artist. Wow! I'm glad I got this software.

[@DaveQuail]

Excellent! Looking forward!

[@ClodiAlmeida]

Nice. Very good. Congratulations.

[@wmaradei]

These tutorials are awesome, thanks!

[@tjorgensen2007]

Wow!! Thank you for sharing your work. I just need to get some confidence in me to be able to create work of art like you have done.

[@isabel_aracama]

Do it, cause for sure you can ;)

[@MrAkkArt]

Wow! So amazing Tech..now that's Affinity Designer in deed!

[@JulesO]

More of these types of videos! I loved Isabel!

[@isabel_aracama]

Thanks Jules :)

[@benbarling3790]

Thank you Isabel. That was incredible.

[@isabel_aracama]

Cheers Ben! Glad you enjoyed!

[@uwetholey6923]

Wow.. this is fantastic and it seems so easy. Thanks a lot Isabel.

[@isabel_aracama]

Cheers Uwe! I'm glad you find it useful.

[@giannimagnolia5487]

Thanks Isabel thanks Affinity beautiful tutorial. Isabel is a very good teacher

[@isabel_aracama]

Thanks Gianni fot the kind message :) My pleasure to be here for you all

[@stevenpeterson5265]

Thank you.... liked the blending of objects to get water and sky effects!

[@isabel_aracama]

Thanks steven! Blending is magic!

[@mikeames8339]

Increible!

[@MatthewGore]

This is a wonderful video! Great work, great instruction :-) My only complaint is the impossible position of the moon, if the sun is to the left and hitting the side of the bridge. The moon should be a tiny sliver of a crescent, and that always drives me crazy. Obviously, that's completely immaterial, and you can just ignore me.

[@isabel_aracama]

haha... you're totally right, and funny ;)

[@lucabaroncini7370]

Wonderful teaching. Really useful video. Thanks a lot!

[@isabel_aracama]

Thanks Luca! Happy you enjoyed it.

[@chrisburgess9919]

what a great tutorial, thanks Isabel!

[@isabel_aracama]

Thanks for passing by here Chris ;)

[@paulfernando1887]

Love your work. This was truly an eye opener thank you

[@isabel_aracama]

Thank you Paul!

[@IannisMaragakis]

Thank you Madame! Thank you Affinity Team!

[@isabel_aracama]

My pleasure sir :)

[@sokbok]

i love learning from her, thanks very much

[@isabel_aracama]

Thanks for watching lava language!

[@uaephean1]

Thank you for this tutorial. Really good piece of work.

[@isabel_aracama]

Thanks Artur :)

[@ericgcastile]

Awesome!

[@oO5Dynasty]

Dynasty is in the building lol, Thank you for the tutorial, I will add some newly learned tools in my next projects.

[@Pasandav]

Gracias Isabel. Una master class genial!!

[@isabel_aracama]

Muchísimas gracias David!

[@Hectorfuentest]

¡¡Felicidades Chabela, excelente video!!

[@isabel_aracama]

Muchas gracias Hector! Me ha gustado lo de Chabela jajaa.. así me llamaban a veces de pequeña :)

[@multitudes389]

wow this was nice!

[@Michael-zr9yl]

Amazing 👌😍

[@isabel_aracama]

Thanks Michael! My pleasure :)

[@Bryan-bh7cy]

This is the best

[@Annema100]

Thank you for a wonderful tutorial and for your gift! Wow :-)

[@isabel_aracama]

Anytime Anne, happy you enjoyed!

[@Goldmangun]

Really impressive work, thank you!

[@isabel_aracama]

Thanks to you too Goldmangun!

[@olegnest]

Awesome

[@webgirl2381]

Finally :)

[@BondageTuition]

Great video, thank you. Isabel- can I ask if there is a system behind the colour coding of the layers in your documents?

[@isabel_aracama]

Hi Bondage Tuition! It certainly helps to use tools such as the colour chord options implemented within the colour panel in Affinity Designer. The truth is that since I am very used to work with this, I did't use any special combination or colour scheme other than what I prepared initially for the reference, which I created out from scratch following my eye and taste. But, should I need to or should I not feel I'm finding the right balance in colours or right combinations, I like to use tools like this one here, which helps a lot, plus it creates candy for the eye colour schemes in the blink of an eye coolors.co/

[@gavinmanthe8781]

This is fantastic!! Muchas Gracias! 😘

[@isabel_aracama]

Thanks Gavin! Gracias a tí también! 😘😘😘

[@HenryLeib]

Awsome

[@xzenor]

Awesome video! Thank you so much!

[@isabel_aracama]

Thanks for being part of it Michele!

[@xzenor]

@@isabel_aracama No problem, you gained a follower..

[@johndeedee]

Nice tutorial! So fun to do it following your example. A question about the color picker (not the tool) With an object selected, you go to the Fill Button (e.g. 5:30), and in 1 movement you hoover over a place to choose the right color, you click (or let go) and boom: the object has the chosen color. (Like the Color Picker Tool works) If I try that, I have to do that in 2 movements: one to click somewhere with the color picker: the little circle changes into that color; and then I have to click this little preview circle for the object to change into that color. Any idea what I’m doing wrong (beside many other things)?

[@isabel_aracama]

Hi John! Thanks for reaching out with your doubts and for the interest in this tutorial. So, you are doing absolutely nothing wrong. You have been "tricked" by the fact that the video is edited and there is a small cut in there. I probably said "hummm" or "eeehhmm" and so the moment I was editing the video I removed that bit which coincided with the double click and so it looks like the colour picker is working as the colour picker tool works, which we all would love btw! I am not really in love with the double clicking either! (double meaning that I have to come back to the chip and click on it again to get the colour applied). Let's just take this chance to leave it here like... a suggestion hhh :) Cheers and if you do some nice artwork, please let me see it! Kiss!

[@kalevadler1428]

Right in the beginning how do you make the overlay affect just the left corner not the entire image

[@isabel_aracama]

Hi Kalev. If you share the minute (Share >Start at, or simply typing it), it will be easier for me to know where exactly you mean and what is it you need to understand. In any case, I'll try to guess what is it you mean, maybe in minute 2:41 on the top left corner the greenish shape? If this is what you want to know, it is a primitive shape (square) with a lot of gaussian blur and an overlay blending mode applied to it. Cheers!

[@miguelsanchez4461]

Can't wait!!! \m/

[@isabel_aracama]

Gracias Miguel por pasar por aquí, me ha hecho mucha ilusión verte entre el público!! Besitos guapo!

[@ryanlea750]

This is looks awesome.

[@isabel_aracama]

Thanks Ryan!

[@brianhorrocks5757]

Excellent !

[@isabel_aracama]

Thanks Brian!

[@martinclay7557]

Woohoo, Looking forward to this one, Isabel is Ace... Kiss

[@isabel_aracama]

Thanks Martin! ;) very kind of you

[@martinclay7557]

@@isabel_aracama And you didn't let us down, best one so far

[@Gwogster]

As everyone else has said, great tutorial. Just had one question. Why did you create the palette from the reference image as it doesn't look like you used it at all?...

[@isabel_aracama]

Well it was more a tip than anything else in case you want to use something like the colours in the reference. I usually create it and then I use it ... or not! haha...

[@Gwogster]

@@isabel_aracama haha...OK. Thanks for the reply.

[@nonprasertchang572]

Beautiful

[@isabel_aracama]

Thanks!

[@TheSaumon15]

hello you are a great artist

[@isabel_aracama]

You are very kind :D

[@mariuszb6943]

good tutorial :)

[@isabel_aracama]

Thanks Mariusz!

[@marcodimario9918]

Bravissima! :)

[@isabel_aracama]

Grazie mille Marco!

[@paulmudditt8784]

Fab !

[@isabel_aracama]

Thanks for being there Paul! Big kiss!

[@debrawhelan492]

Yahoooooo!

[@isabel_aracama]

Debby my dear student! Thanks a lot for showing up! It was very nice to see you were among the public! Big kiss!!

[@nickbowers]

really good - a little slower would be better for slow me...

[@isabel_aracama]

Thanks nick! And thanks for the suggestion too :)

[@smiffy5467]

To me the bridge is wrong it needed to be larger and further to the left on the horizon, at the moment it's the same size as the smaller image despite being on the large graphic? Nice tutorial though...

[@isabel_aracama]

Thanks Andy for your input and to be part of this! Kiss!

[@wagstaffe7]

Hard to understand her. Even slowed down.

[@isabel_aracama]

Hi Henry. Sorry you struggled here. Try the automatic captions KZbin generates, better than slowing it down maybe. Hope it helps you. Cheers!

[@uglystrawberry]

i gotta say these videos have been a disappointment - This one by Isabel will be good im sure.. ive taken some of her courses on skillshare... real deal tutorial.. no speed painting crap

[@shamelioration]

Get yourself a brain if you can't follow ! Can't stand those people spitting on gifts offered to them ..... run away and shut up if you're not happy.

[@Purple-qi4hj]

shamelioration everyone is at a different level with the software, this session is above the rest for beginners, why be so negative.

[@shamelioration]

Purple' , this is exactly what I sould have said to Raphaël Ponce, so sorry if I hurted your feelings, but seeing the word « crap » made me angry.