Just as Serif is taking on Photoshop with its Affinity Photo editor and InDesign with Affinity Publisher, so Affinity Designer sees the company competing with Illustrator. This particular app was the first one to be released as part of the Affinity range, and over the course five years development has been strong.
Affinity Designer is a vector drawing app that, despite being amazingly cheap, offers professional-level tools that can be used for all manner of projects. While this is clearly a rival to the likes of Adobe Illustrator and Sketch, you'd be forgiven for initially dismissing it as being underpowered. But don't be fooled. Serif describes this software as a 'stripped back, pro-end workhorse', and it's absolutely right.
Designer can handle huge documents with ease and gives you the option of switching between vector and raster workspaces, and the ability to work in RGB or LAB color spaces at up to 32-bits per channel. There is a wide range of vector tools available in the app, and vectors can have an unlimited number of strokes and fills for maximum flexibility. Grids and guides are advanced and powerful, and the isometric option will be welcomed by many users.
Reasons for Switching to Affinity Designer: Cost. Adobe = $20 dlls/Month vs Affinity Design = $25 dlls unique payment. Features are very similar, locally installed and run (faster). To me, the Affinity suite is what Adobe Suite (Illustrator, Photoshop, InDesign) was many years ago, before Adobe grew too big. Affinity Designer for iPad 1.8.3: A vector drawing app that takes on Illustrator at a fraction of the price.
For anyone switching from Illustrator or collaborating with Illustrator users, the good news is that Designer can open AI and EPS file, although sadly it's not possible to save as AI. There are a number of both pixel and vector brushes depending on which mode you're working on and, importantly, performance is impressive.
For all of its brilliance, Affinity Designer is lacking in a few areas. It's a shame to see that there is no support for scripting or animation, and also that there is no plugin support.
What's new in 1.8.3?
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- Various stability and performance improvements
Verdict:
Affinity Designer is an astonishing achievement by Serif; this is a highly accomplished design tool which fits beautifully into the Affinity range and serves as a genuine alternative to the big names such as Illustrator.
Steve Simpson combines the Vector and Pixel Persona in Affinity Designer for iPad with amazing results. Watch Steve in action creating his stunning Day of the Dead inspired artwork ‘La Vida Loca’.
As you can see Steve takes full advantage of the dual Vector and Pixel Personas in Affinity Designer, building the foundation of his illustration (the block colours and shapes) using the Pen Tool and flat colour fills, then switching to the Pixel Persona to do much of his fine detail and shading using textured raster brushes to give this artwork a vintage look.
Here are the main tools and techniques used:
- Pen Tool to create vector shapes
- Node tool to edit/refine shapes
- Pixel Persona Brushes Studio for fine details such as the stitched looking parts and large areas of shading using textured brushes.
- Clipping textured brushes to vector shapes
If you’ve been inspired by Steve’s stunning artwork created in Affinity Designer for iPad, you can find out more about his work over at stevesimpson.com.
Want to learn more about Affinity Designer?
Having been hailed as a viable, feature-rich and cost-effective alternative to Adobe Illustrator, Affinity Designer has become a go-to app for graphic designers, illustrators and web developers all over the world, who love its silky-smooth combination of professional vector and raster design tools.
Available without subscription on macOS, Windows and iOS, it contains everything you need to create stunning illustrations, branding, icons and UI/UX designs, print projects, typography and concept art either from your desktop or on your iPad whilst on the move.
Feeling intrigued? Why not try it out for yourself? Its creators Serif offer a 10-day free trial of the macOS and Windows app which allows you to play with all its awesome features before you buy.
And the icing on the cake − Affinity Designer is not linked to a subscription model. It’s available for a one-off payment of £48.99/ $49.99 USD/ € 54.99, for Mac or Windows, and £19.99/ $19.99 USD/ € 21.99 for iPad with free updates until version 2!
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You can find more at https://affinity.serif.com/designer?mc=PRTPTWINE02.
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