Affinity Designer Tutorial - Create Hair using Strokes with Pressure Curves

In this video tutorial, I create a hairy little monster in Affinity Designer. It's a 'remake' of an earlier tutorial I recorded for Inkscape.
This video explains the creation of hair using strokes with pressure curve adjustments. I use circles to create the main body and the eyes before adding hair. I start with a few variations and group them into clusters. These clusters allow me to quickly duplicate, adjust, and place hair where I want it without having to draw each hair separately.
There will be two quick follow-up videos showing slightly different approaches with textured brushes and global colours [ • Affinity Designer Tuto... ] as well as symbols [ • Affinity Designer Tuto... ].
Enjoy!
See more Affinity Designer and Inkscape tutorials on the website at 2dgameartguru.com.

[@brightstar587]

I just wanted to thank you so much for your tutorials and all that you do. I started designing my on characters a month ago all because I came across your Channel and have been doing tutorials from your channel and blog every day since the beginning of June 2024. My skills have progress so much; I can't even believe what I've created in this short period of time. You have inspired me and shown me a new way of seeing things, though simple shapes and blurring, gradients and strokes etc. Your helpfulness is also unmatch. Thanks is not enough for all you do. You are appreciated. 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

[@marks1584]

This is a great tutorial and cool little monsters. It would be great to see more nice tutorials like this.

[@2dgameartguru]

Thanks, will do! You might want to check out some of the older tutorials like these:
th-cam.com/video/kK8zbJ_IKic/w-d-xo.html
th-cam.com/video/gYiU9i8uqPM/w-d-xo.html
th-cam.com/video/S1119CUKrPg/w-d-xo.html

[@KnightBott]

I thank you very much, as you brought back FUN to vector art. My Affinity apps had been just sitting there. ❤️🙏

[@2dgameartguru]

Wonderful! That is the plan... make it fun, enjoy the process (more than the result)... 😃

[@marekpakua3694]

Great! Thanks!

[@2dgameartguru]

You're welcome!

[@Gentleman_Songster]

Another well-made and useful video: thank you. All your video tutes are thoughtfully planned and created, with clear concise description, and always of skills we can make use of in other projects. I wish more video makers would take a leaf out of your book.

[@2dgameartguru]

Thank you! I try my best and I am well aware of the fact that I am not a youtuber, a voice artist, a sound engineer, or a videographer. I struggle with the videos and they are far from perfect. My main focus is on the content.
Comments like yours make my day - and make the struggle worthwhile. Thank you!

[@lynncarlson2576]

Thank you Chris! Did you ever watch Star Trek? These adorable creatures you have created remind me of Tribbles from that show. :-) A question if I may….with so very many many individual strands of fur, is there a shortcut key or other method you are using to select the individual strands so quickly? Maybe a setting which tells the program to always “select what’s on top” or select what is within a certain pixel tolerance of the cursor”? When I have multiple individual items (in my case, text elements, not curves) I find it hard sometimes to select the one I am “pointing at”. I end up going to the layer list and hunting for it there to select, which takes a lot of extra time. This becomes even more problematic when I have placed everything inside a clipping mask, as the first thing the program selects is the clipping mask (a rectangle). Thanks for any ideas you might have!

[@2dgameartguru]

I work with A LOT of extra layers - and groups - to organize my elements and keep the layer panel manageable. I lock layers I don't need at the moment. I know it's an extra click to unlock again but it usually helps to keep what's left of my sanity with highly complex designs.
Alternatively, turn off the 'Edit All Layers' in the layer panel and work only on the selected layer.
Finding elements in the layer panel is quicker with CMD/CTRL+K. CMD/CTRL and click allows you to directly select items in groups or clipping masks.

[@lynncarlson2576]

@@2dgameartguru I will give this a try! Much appreciated!

[@2dgameartguru]

Enjoy! Let me know how it goes!