A close-up of the girl which reveals how Affinity Designer's Gaussian blur effect combined with the remarkably user friendly Gradient tool, can really produce some fabulous air-brush effects, which are much easier to control than other vector software I have previously used.
The artwork is generated in layers with the base layer being the original Manga Studio drawing. So, in addition to the sketch layer, I have one for the sky colour, another for the cloud, next comes the girl on the swing and then lastly comes the abstracted red blossom.
Affinity Designer is a really terrific drawing tool—it has similarities to Illustrator and, if you are used to working with Illustrator, the learning curve is not at all steep. The results are spectacular and, in my opinion, much more attuned to an illustrator's requrements than Adobe Illustrator.
The Manga Studio drawing has now been imported into Affinity Designer, which is rapidly becoming my software of first resort. It is Affinity Designer that will allow me to produce the vectorised line work and add colour with subtle tones and Gausssian blur effects, without consuming vast amounts of RAM in the process or having to commute between Adobe Illustrator and Adobe Photoshop via Adobe Bridge.
The under drawing for 'Girl on a Swing' which was generated in Manga Studio 5—still the best inking software I have come across.
