Category: Tutorials

Welcome to this Affinity Designer tutorial, in which you’ll learn everything you need to know about Affinity Designer brushes, from how to create and install brushes to how to use Photoshop and Illustrator brushes in Affinity Designer. You’ll also learn where you can find Affinity Designer halftone brushes and other valuable design resources. Let’s jump straight into it!

What You Will Learn in This Affinity Designer Tutorial

• How to open the Affinity Designer Brushes panel
• How to set up and use vector Affinity brushes
• How to create your own vector brushes in Affinity Designer
• How to set up and use raster brushes in Affinity Designer 
• How to create your own raster brushes in Affinity Designer
• How to install or save Affinity brush packs 
• How to use Photoshop or Illustrator brushes in Affinity Designer

Follow along with us over on our Envato Tuts+ YouTube channel:

Tutorial Assets

You’ll need the following resources in order to complete this project:

• Textures Pack

1. How to Open the Affinity Designer Brushes Panel

Step 1

So, first of all, we need to open the Affinity Brushes Panel. To do it, just go to View > Studio > Brushes.

Step 2

Now you can see the standard Affinity brushes and different categories of presets such as Affinity Designer watercolor brushes, acrylic brushes, and much more.

2. How to Set Up and Use Vector Brushes in Affinity Designer

Step 1

So, to create a brushstroke, you should just hit B to activate the Brush tool and create a stroke with any brush you like.

Step 2

You could also change the settings of the brush: just Right Click on the brush and then select Edit Brush. Let’s change the Brush Size to 50, the Size Variance to 100%, and the Opacity Variance to 90%. You could also adjust the outline of the brush using the sliders at the bottom of the Edit Brush Panel.

Step 3

If you don’t have a digital pen, you could easily change the pressure settings manually. Go to View > Studio > Stroke, open the Pressure tab, and just change the Points of the graph.

Step 4

Another great option here is that you could activate the Stabilizer function and your brushstrokes will be much smoother, as you can see in the picture below:

Step 5

Also, you could change the Blending Mode of the brushstrokes not only in the Layer Panel (by changing the Blending Mode of the layer) but in the brush settings. Let’s create a few red strokes and then change the Blending Mode of the brush to Color Dodge and create a few orange strokes above.

Step 6

Besides that, you could add a brushstroke around any shape. Let’s create a shape in the center of the document and then add a Brush Stroke around the shape just by selecting any of the brushes while your shape is still selected in the Layers Panel.

3. How to Create Your Own Vector Brush Affinity Designer Packs

Step 1

Let’s now try to create our own brushes for Affinity Designer. In the Brush Panel, click on the icon in the top-right corner, and here you’ll see three options:  New Solid Brush, New Textured Intensity Brush, and New Textured Image Brush. 

What’s the difference between these brushes? New Solid Brush just creates a simple stroke brush with no textures/colors or images applied to it. New Textured Intensity Brush creates a brush with a texture from a PNG file. New Textured Image Brush allows you to copy the image with the colors of the original PNG file.

In the example below, you can see the difference between these brushes. So you could easily create your own Affinity Designer assets using these three options.

Step 2

Let’s create a New Textured Image Brush. Select the green watercolor PNG file from the attachment, and then change the settings of the brush strokes to the following:

• Brush Size: 50 px
• Size Variance: 35%
• Head Offset: 80 px
• Tail Offset: 400 px

Step 3

Draw a stroke with the brush we’ve just created, and after that let’s try another great option. Go to the Brush Settings and change the Body setting to Repeat.

So now, your brush stroke will create copies of the PNG image you opened as a textured image.

4. How to Use Raster Brushes in Affinity Designer  

Step 1

Let’s move to the part of our Affinity Designer tutorial where we will take a look at the raster Affinity Designer brushes. So, to switch to raster mode, you need to press that button in the top-left corner. Once you’ve pressed it, you can see the different raster brushes. I especially love the Affinity Designer watercolor brushes section here, as it gives you these realistic and handmade-looking brushstrokes.

Step 2

Let’s take a look at the cool option of raster brushes in Affinity Designer. In the top settings panel of the brushes, put a tick on Symmetry and change the Symmetry Number to 4. So now, when you draw one stroke, Affinity will automatically create four symmetrical copies of your main brushstrokes. As you can see in the example below, you could create cool ornaments or patterns with almost no effort.

5. How to Create Your Own Raster Brushes in Affinity Designer  

Step 1

Let’s take one of the Affinity Designer watercolor brushes and create a stroke with it to see what it looks like.

Step 2

Now you can set up Affinity Designer brushes to suit your needs. Just Right Click on any of the Affinity Designer brushes and select Edit Brush. After that, let’s change some of the settings to the following:

• Accumulation: 50%
• Spacing: 25%
  
• Flow: 25%

After that, go to the Dynamics tab and use the following settings:

• Size Jitter: 70%
• Scatter Y: 80%
• Hue: 15
• Saturation: 20%

Step 3

What’s I really like about Affinity brushes is that you get not only the dynamics and general settings of the brush, but you can also add textures and sub-brush layers (it’s pretty similar to Photoshop textures and dual brush functions). Let’s add a texture from the attachment. Go to Texture, and then hit the Set Texture button and select the Texture PNG from the attachment.

This is what our brushstrokes look like now. As you can see, we can easily make new brushes from the standard Affinity Designer assets by adding our own textures.

6. How to Install or Save Raster or Vector Brush Packs in Affinity Designer

Step 1

If you’ve bought or downloaded some brushes for Affinity Designer, you can install them in the following way: In the Brushes Panel, click on the top-right corner icon, select Import Brushes, and then select the brushes you want to install.

Step 2

If you want to save the brushes you’ve created to share them with your colleagues or friends, press the same button again and select Export Brushes.

7. How to Use Photoshop or Illustrator Brushes as Affinity Designer Assets

Step 1

Let’s now learn how to use Adobe Photoshop or Illustrator brushes in Affinity Designer. Create a new document with 500 x 500 px size and a black background in Photoshop.

Step 2

Create a white stroke on a new layer using the brush you want to convert for use in Affinity.

Step 3

Select the area around your brushstroke with the Rectangular Marquee Tool, and then go to Image > Crop.

Step 4

After that, go to File > Save As and select the PNG file format.

Step 5

And finally, create a New Textured Intensity Brush in Affinity and then Right Click > Edit Brush in the Brushes Panel and set it up as you need.

The same technique could be used for Illustrator brushes as well. This is what our exported brush will look like:

Conclusion

There are plenty of useful standard brushes and loads of settings in Affinity Designer that could help you to achieve the desired results for any of your needs. I hope you found some useful information about Affinity Designer brushes today, and feel free to ask anything in the comments below or share your tips and tricks for Affinity Designer. 

Need Some More Affinity Designer Assets?

As you may have noticed, there are no standard Affinity Designer halftone brushes or textures, and you might be wondering where you could get them? Check out Envato Elements, where you’ll find plenty of Affinity Designer assets for an affordable price.

Learn More About Affinity Designer!

If you are looking for more Affinity Designer tutorials, here’s a list of useful ones with different techniques:

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• 
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With the battle to contain the spread of Covid-19, face masks have now become a necessary and unavoidable part of our daily lives, and designers across the globe are making sure that we protect ourselves in style. 

If you’re looking for a face mask mockup to showcase your latest designs, we’ve got a terrific collection of the very best mockups from Envato Elements, Placeit, and GraphicRiver. Have a look.

You can also learn more over on our Envato Tuts+ YouTube channel:

Premium Face Mask Mockups (PSD) at Envato Elements

Envato Elements is a terrific resource for premium face mask mockups in PSD format. Not only does Elements offer a great selection of photo-realistic mockups, created by talented designers around the world, but you can also download as many as you want, as often as you want, for one flat monthly fee. 

What’s more, that monthly fee also allows you to access thousands of other top-quality digital assets like logos, graphic templates, photos, business card templates, and much more. Here are just eight of the awesome face mask mockups in PSD format found at Elements.

Face Mask Mockup Template (PSD) 

This face mask mockup includes a model to show off your design. The PSD file lets you change the background colour and the colour of the mannequin’s head. Everything is editable, from the design to the ear straps. 

Face Mask Mockup (PSD) 

If you have multiple face mask designs, you should try this mask mockup for Photoshop. It features two opportunities to show your products to consumers. Change the background and face mask designs with this template’s organized layers.

Face Mask Mock-up 3 (PSD, PDF) 

It’s nice to have options in a mockup. This face mask template gives you seven of them. Choose from the different views to show off your mask design. Quickly edit Smart Objects and background colours, and enjoy this template’s high image resolution.

Mouth Mask Mockups (PSD)

This template will allow you to show off the many angles of your fabulous designs. Use the smart objects to customise every aspect of the mouth mask mockup. There is a useful help file included to help guide you if you get stuck.

Medical Face Mask Mockup Template (PSD)

Medical staff and the general public alike will love this medical face mask mockup, which makes it super easy to add your latest designs. The high-res PSD files are well-organised in layers, and all aspects of the design can be customised using smart objects. 

Surgical Mask Mockups (PSD)

Why should surgeons have all the fun? Use these fabulous, photo-realistic surgical mask mockups to display your own mask design professionally. The template contains five face mask mockups in PSD file format, with smart-object features to help you replace the current designs with your own within seconds.

Anti Pollution Face Mask Mockups (PSD)

This collection offers three face mask mockups in PSD file format. They allow your potential customers to view your mask from every important angle so that your design is well displayed. These high-quality mouth mask mockups are easy to edit using smart objects. 

Fabric Mask Mockup (PSD)

This template offers seven different face mask mockups in PSD file format. The templates are well organised in layers and are easy to customise using smart objects. The fabric mask mockup includes a PDF help file in case you get stuck. 

Placeit Face Mask Mockup Generator

For those of you who don’t feel confident about your Photoshop skills or want an easier approach to customising a mockup, there’s Placeit. Placeit is an affordable online design generator that makes professional branding, promotion, and marketing tools accessible to everyone.

It does this by providing design novices as well as those with more experience with high-quality designs, logos, videos, and mockups that they can customise online and download in a matter of seconds.

This means that you can design all your branding and marketing materials directly from your browser, without needing complicated software. Let me show you how to create an awesome face mask mockup online in minutes.

How to Create a Face Mask Mockup in Minutes

1. Choose a Face Mask Mockup

Go to Placeit.net and type “face mask mockup” into the search bar. Scroll through the mockups and click on the one you like.

2. Add Your Design to the Mockup

This will open up the Face Mask Mockup Maker. To customise your template, start from the menu on the left and upload your design from your computer. 

3. Choose Your Colour Scheme

Next, move to the menu on the right and use the dropdown colour pickers to choose your mask lace colour and a colour for your background. 

4. Change the Text

Now let’s move back to the menu on the left and add some text to our mockup. Once you have written your text, you can change the font and the colour of the text and background. Resize your text and move it to your preferred location on your template.

5. Download Your New Face Mask Mockup

You can add a logo or graphic to your template if you want to, by using the Add Graphic button in the menu on the right. 

When you’re happy with your mockup, you can download it for a small fee. And your mockup is ready to use!

Now let’s take a look at some of the cool face and medical face mask mockups available at Placeit.

Mockup of Some Face Masks Featuring Sewing Tools

If you’re sewing your own masks and looking for a template which reflects that, this fabric mask mockup is for you. The gorgeous flatlay allows you to add up to three of your designs so your customers can get a real feel for your design aesthetic. 

Face Mask Mockup Featuring a Customizable Surface

This head-on photo of a medical face mask mockup allows your design to sit front and centre. Use the mockup generator to add your design, change the colour scheme, add text or your logo if you want, and download your logo for a small fee. 

Face Mask Mockup With a Customizable Background

Perhaps you like the front and centre layout of the previous template, but you prefer a more angled approach. In that case, this medical face mask mockup is an excellent alternative. It allows a full view of your design while offering a more dynamic angle.   

Mockup of a Ghosted Face Mask

Use this half-turn surgical mask mockup to display your designs. Use the transparent background to blend your mockup into an existing background on your website or print document, or you can add any background colour of your choice. 

Mockup of Three Face Masks Featuring Sewing Supplies

Display up to three original designs when you use this fabric mask mockup. You can also opt to use the same design in different colours or with subtle variations. 

Mockup of a Face Mask Over a Customizable Surface

This side view of a mouth mask mockup can be combined with other mockups here to show your designs from every angle. After you’ve added your design, select a colour for your background or leave it transparent in order to blend the mockup into an existing background. 

Mockup Featuring a Customizable Face Mask Against a Solid Colour Background

This fabric mask mockup gives you another option for displaying your design from a side view. The template is fully customisable and can be ready for download in a matter of minutes.

Mockup of a Series of Face Masks Surrounded by Sewing Materials

Give your customer a bit of a peek into the background workings and materials that go into creating your masks when you use this terrific fabric mask mockup. Use the mockup generator to upload up to three versions of your design or three completely different designs.

Mockup of the Front View of a Ghosted Face Mask

Of course, masks come in all sizes and styles. This mockup offers a slightly broader surface, which means more space for your design, while the full frontal shot means all eyes will be focused on it.

Minimal Mockup of a Ghosted Face Mask Against a Coloured Backdrop

This half-turn shot of a mask mockup benefits from being shot from above because it gives people a clear view of your design while adding some visual interest to the template. Upload your design, choose your colour scheme, and your mockup is ready for download. It’s as simple as that. 

More Premium Face Mask Mockups (PSD) From GraphicRiver

GraphicRiver is yet another service that offers loads of premium face mask mockups in PSD file format. But it works differently from Elements and Placeit. 

While Placeit is the best for those who are looking for an easy approach to mockups, and Elements is the best source when you have Photoshop skills and want to buy many mockups and other resources, GraphicRiver is the best option for those with Photoshop skills who are on a budget and need only one face mask mockup. Here are some of the best options.

Face Mask Mockup (PSD) 

The Face Mask Mockup from GraphicRiver gives you full control over how you show your design. Change the colour of the strap, edges, stitches, pattern, and background with this template. Choose from five different perspectives with the easy-to-use Face Mask Mockup. 

Face Mask Mock-up v6 (PSD) 

Here’s a great face mask mockup for your creative designs. Choose from eight different perspectives for your product. You can show off up to three face masks in a single mockup. Everything from the elastic ear straps to the stitches can be customized.

Face Mask Mock-up v2 (PSD) 

Here’s another mockup for multiple designs. It’s easy to make changes to the face mask and background with Smart Objects. The included Photoshop file is well organized, and there’s a help file if you ever have trouble.

Face Mask V2 Mockup (PSD) 

Create a high-resolution, photo-realistic mockup with this template from GraphicRiver. Edit your face mask quickly with a single Smart Object. Straps, stitches, and backgrounds are all customizable. You can choose from five different perspectives to make it come to life. 

Face Mask – Animation Mockup (PSD) 

This animated face mask mockup was made to impress. You can choose from 17 perspectives to make a shareable photo, but that’s not all. Make a 180-degree preview animation of your face mask design with a single click. Just add your design and export it to a video or GIF file. 

Face Mask Mock-up (PSD) 

This face mask mockup uses a real photo instead of a render for photo-realistic results. The Photoshop file loads your designs quickly, so you can see the final product. With the help of Smart Objects, you can edit all parts of the face mask, including the inside design. 

Face Mask Mockup (PSD)

When you need to wear a face mask day in and out, you want a design that shows your individuality or even your concerns. Use this high-quality face mask mockup in PSD file format to add your own twist to your masks. The template offers three views—front, half-turn, and side—and what’s more, it allows for a high degree of customisation using smart objects.

Medical Face Mask Mockup (PSD)

Looking for a surgical mask mockup with value included? This is the template for you. Easy to use and fully customisable, the template includes three PSD files offering a front, half-turn, and side view.  Use the smart object for fast and easy editing.

Mouth Mask Mockup (PSD)

Display your stunning designs and messages with this mouth mask mockup from GraphicRiver. The template contains seven PSD files that you can customise extensively using smart objects. A PDF help file is included. 

Fabric Mask Mockup (PSD)

Add your special design to this fabric mask mockup and create a mask that stands out. This PSD file is organised in layers for easy editing. You can change the text, edit the colours, move items, turn off/on layers, etc., to create different looks.

Surgical Mask Mockup (PSD)

This surgical mask mockup template offers four different styles of masks and 11 layered and well-organised PSD files. The high-quality files make it very easy for users to change the design using smart layers.

Choose Your Favourite Face Mask Mockup Today 

Envato Elements is an excellent resource for gorgeous face mask mockups in PSD file format. If you also regularly need fonts, icons, and other design resources, Elements offers unlimited downloads for one low monthly fee. 

Alternatively, if you just want to buy a single face mask mockup in PSD, GraphicRiver is an excellent source for high-quality mockups. 

If you don’t use Photoshop or are looking for an easier option for customising face mask mockups, then Placeit is the perfect choice for you. Its online face mask mockup generator is easy to use and will allow you to customise your own mockup in a matter of minutes. 

Finally, if you want more information on other terrific mockups, check out these really helpful resources below: 

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