Why I use Affinity Designer instead of Procreate
When it comes to creating hand illustrations on an iPad, Procreate is usually the program that most artists will flock to.
I get it - when I first got an iPad that I could draw on, Procreate was the first app that I paid for and downloaded.
I watched a lot of videos and Skillshare classes on how to use the app and did manage to create some illustrations and repeat patterns from it.
Then, somewhere along the way, I discovered the Affinity Designer app. I was already familiar with Affinity Designer on my desktop computer and had been using it ever since I cancelled my Adobe Creative Cloud subscription. But I had no idea about the app for my iPad or what it could do.
This ended up being a game changer and has now become the program that I prefer to create my final digital illustrations in.
Why am I not going back to using Procreate and using Affinity Designer for my illustrations instead? Here are the reasons why:
I can create vector illustrations in Affinity Designer
As a former Adobe Illustrator user, I have become a huge fan of vector art. I can turn illustrations into larger sizes without having to worry about it getting pixelated. Unfortunately, in Procreate, there were a couple of times where I did not think ahead to its potential usage and created a couple of designs that ended up being too small for the product I wanted to print it on. I was able to recreate a simple design as a vector illustration in Affinity Designer but, unfortunately, I still haven’t gotten around to re-doing the other one and wasn’t able to print it on the product I wanted.
There is no limit to the number of layers I can use
One of the most frustrating experiences that I would run into with Procreate was trying to add a new layer and then getting the error message that I used the maximum number of layers. Yes, I know there’s the work around to duplicate the file and merge some layers but then when you need to make a change to one of those groupings that were merged, you have to go all the way back to the first file, make the change and then re-do all the other updates.
I found this to be a very tedious and inefficient process when it came to my design workflow so being able to create a design in Affinity Designer and not have to worry about layer limits ever again just eases my mind a lot more.
The Affinity Designer user interface is very similar to Adobe Illustrator
As mentioned already, I used Adobe Illustrator for so long that I did get used to the design and illustration process with that program. One of the most appealing factors that I found with Affinity Designer, when I was first researching alternatives to Adobe, was that it looked very similar to what I was already used to with Adobe Illustrator. At the time, I was only comparing the desktop version of each program but a lot of the functions were similar, a lot of the tools were similar, so it made the switch almost seamless.
I can preview how a pattern tile is going to repeat as I create the layout
Out of all of the things that I’ve mentioned so far, this was probably the big reason why I finally decided to switch from drawing in Procreate to drawing in Affinity Designer. I can create repeat patterns and easily see how it’s going to repeat with the use of templates that I saved that automate the repeat preview. I don’t have to add any tick marks to the corners of my canvas or duplicate and move layers of individual motif design to see it repeated on the opposite side of the canvas. All I have to do is arrange my motifs on the one pattern tile or canvas area and the templated set-up lets me see how it’s going to look once it’s repeated more.
I actually posted a YouTube video recently where I show how I created a repeated pattern for an art challenge prompt. If you haven’t seen it, check it out by clicking here.
I can save individual design elements to the asset library and can reuse them in multiple designs, while still maintaining the vector aspect of it
I have to admit that I’m not really in the habit of saving my individual designs to my asset library as I create things but every once and a while, I’ll go back through my old designs and add individual elements to different categories in my asset library.
I will often re-use things like palm leafs or shells, and sometimes I’ll take animal characters that I’ve created before and modify them to fit a new design idea. Items in the asset library are still vector illustration and if the item is a grouped asset, it will still maintain those grouped items when you add them to your new design so you can add or remove details or change the colour of small details.
If you’re interested in using the Affinity Designer but just think it’s so complicated because of all the buttons, I’ve got the perfect solution for you.
I created a FREE workbook and video guide, called the Illustrator’s Roadmap, that takes you through using 4 basic tools in Affinity Designer. That’s right, only 4 tools out of the many that appear on the app interface because with these 4 tools, you can get started with creating hand drawn illustrations in the Affinity Designer app.
Again, this resource is free, just enter your email below to receive access to it.