New Skillshare Class: Symmetrical Florals With the Symbols Studio in Affinity Designer for iPad

I’ve been creating my Modern Folk Art inspired florals and insects for quite some time and, though I love working in the app, I have always felt there was something lacking in Affinity Designer for iPad.

While it has a wonderful symmetry tool tucked away in it’s Pixel (raster) Persona, it doesn’t have one on the Designer (vector) side. Now, you could sketch out your design on the raster side, bring it over to the vector side and either trace it or block it out with the vector drawing and shape tools, but this is time consuming. Not only do you have to recreate your sketch but you also have to either manually make sure your elements are perfectly symmetrical or use equations and the Transform Studio to do it for you. Also, if you decide to make edits to you designs, you have to ensure every duplicate of that original object and make sure the same exact edits are made.

Wouldn’t it be nice if you could create a perfectly symmetrical design, without ever having to leave the Designer Persona or rely on a sketch? Or to make global edits to all duplicates of an object all at once with no manual intervention? You can, and in my latest class on Skillshare, I will show you how to do just that.

I will take you step by step through my Symbol Symmetry process and show you how I quickly and easily create symmetrical floral illustrations right in the vector persona using the Symbol Studio.

In the class, we will take a closer look at the Symbols Studio. You’ll learn what they are, how they work, and how you can use mirrored symbols, along with the built in drawing and shape tools to create floral designs with perfect symmetry, no math required! (and a bonus… symbols aren’t just great for symmetry… they’re also great tools for creating surface pattern designs and intricate illustrations with a lot of duplication throughout.)

I will also show you how, by making edits to one symbol, whether it’s changing it’s size, shape, color or even adding embellishments, like texture, you can make global edits to all duplicates of that symbol automatically, no manual changes required.

And finally, I’ll walk you, step by step, through my process from how I set up my canvas to creating both a simple and complex symmetrical floral illustration. The process you learn in this class can be applied to any symmetrical illustration you want to create using vector shapes in Affinity Designer for iPad without having to rely on a sketch.

When you take this class, you’ll receive my Symbol Symmetry Assets Pack, filled with single layer vector floral and leaf shapes. You can use these, along with the built in drawing and shape tools to follow along with the class and create your own beautfiul, symmetrical illustrations.

This is a beginner friendly class, but some knowledge of the Affinity Designer interface is helpful. If you are brand new to the app and want soup to nuts beginner course that takes you through the User Interface and how the tools work, check out my class, “Textured Florals in Affinity Designer for iPad.”

My newest class is a precursor to my next Skillshare class, “Modern Folk Art Insects Using Affinity Designer for iPad.” (Coming July 2020) where I will use my Symbol Symmetry process to create beautiful Modern Folk Art Insects. In this upcoming class you will learn:

• The different forms of folk art and where you can source inspiration for your Modern Folk Art project.
• Sources for color inspiration and how you can easily import colors in to a custom palette you create for your illustration. 
• How to use the various shape, pen and pencil tools built in to Designer to create the base insect for your illustration, as well as the florals you will add to it.
• How to add subtle, yet effective, shading and textures to give life and dimension to your illustration.
• How to use the Assets Studio to quickly add pre-created shapes to your design as well as how to save your own items for future illustrations.
• How to effectively combine various floral and other design elements to your shapes, as well as use Blend Modes, so that they appear to be an organic part of your insect illustration. 
• I will show you my method for creating PERFECTLY symmetrical beetles and other insects, right in the Designer Persona, without having to rely on a sketch.”

Want to learn more about creating mirrored symbols to create symmetrical illustrations quickly and easily? Check out my class here.

For the class you will need an iPad, the Affinity Designer for iPad app, and an Apple Pencil or compatible stylus.

I have a number of classes in the works on Skillshare on a variety of topics and apps like Procreate, Photoshop, Illustrator, and the entire suite of Affinity products. If you’d like a heads up when I post a new class, just click the Follow button on my Skillshare profile.

Not yet a Skillshare member? Tap on the link below and receive two free months as my guest. That’s a lot of time to look around the site and take as many classes as you would like. (including my previous classes like Creating Floral Typography in Affinity Designer for iPad) See you there!