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Blast Powder brushes by Ian Barnard

One of our design heroes, Ian Barnard, has created his epic ‘Blast’ set to use in Affinity Designer and Affinity Photo! Quickly and easily add epic powder blasts to your work with this set of 60 individual brushes, plus this set also includes 4 BONUS neon lettering brushes, to help you create work at a whole new level!

We’re thrilled to have Ian Barnard’s brush set on our store…

In this article, we will take a closer look at what is included in this brush pack and provide you with some tips on using the brushes whilst also giving you some creative inspiration…

So what is the Blast brush set?

The Blast brush set is a collection of over 60 brushes, designed to help you create dramatic powder bursts in Affinity Photo and in Draw Persona in Affinity Designer.

What’s included:

  • 62 powder stamp brushes.
  • 4 bonus Glow lettering brushes.

How should I use these brushes?

These brushes make dramatic additions to lettering and calligraphy projects, the very thing that Ian Barnard is known for. If hand-lettering isn’t you thing, why not use them alonside fonts or add them to your photographs to add a new dimension.

A project by Ian Barnard using the BLAST brushes.

Top tips

Some good tips to take away from this video are:

  • These brushes are randomised to create a natural powder effect.
  • The Glow brushes give different effects depending on what colour background they’re applied to due to integral layer effects.
  • Use them alongside type and try clipping them to different layers.

Any other creative inspiration?

We love using these with photos to create explosive and colourful effects.

I’m sold, where can I get hold of these brushes?

The Blast Powder brush set by Ian Barnard is now available to purchase on the Affinity Store. These brushes are compatible with Affinity Photo and Affinity Designer (Pixel Persona) on Desktop and iPad.

BUY NOW


About the maker

You can read more about Ian Barnard and his wonderful lettering in the interview we did with him a few months ago.

To see more of Ian’s work visit ianbarnard.net and check out his YouTube, Shop, Instagram and Twitter.


Artist relations

Charlotte is an illustrator and arts lecturer who is passionate about the creative industries and is now part of our artist relations team. Her interests include mid 20th century inspired design, comic books, board games, movie memorabilia, baking cakes, feminism and yoga. She shares her 1960’s home with her graphic designer husband and her toddler son who likes to hide her iPad. Get in touch with Charlotte if you have work you have made in Affinity apps to share with us, or tag your work with #madeinaffinity in the usual places.

Credits & Footnotes

Lettering images and all brush designs by Ian Barnard.