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Creating a geometric design with Sebastiano Cullemi

Artist and graphic designer Sebastiano Cullemi loves to experiment with geometry and gradients in his work. We asked him to create one of his signature geometric designs using Affinity Designer for iPad, and he kindly documented his process. Follow this step-by-step guide to learn how it was done…

To recreate Sebastiano’s geometric design, check out his process video below and then follow the instructions in our step-by-step written guide.

Geometric Design Tutorial

The process

Open up Affinity Designer for iPad to begin.

Step 1

Create a new document with the following settings:

  • Width: 5120px
  • Height: 5120px
  • DPI: 72

Step 2

Create a “standard” grid with a spacing of 256px. The result will be a modular grid 20x20.

Step 3

Create a circle of 12x12 module size.

Step 4

Create another two circles of 6x6 module size and place them in the centre.

Step 5

Create a rectangle of 12x6 module size and place it at the bottom.

Step 6

Select all the elements, go to the Edit Menu and select Divide under the menu heading Geometry.

Now select just the elements shown in the above image and delete them. You will be left with a geometric shape as represented below.

Step 7

With the new shape selected, choose the Fill Tool and change the type to elliptical from the context bar.

Place the selection handles as shown and create a new point at the centre of the line. Then select the colours you want.

I used:

#FFE500 (Yellow)

#FF006E (Pink)

#000000 (Black)

Step 8

From the Colour Studio set the Noise slider to 25%.

Now open the Layers Studio and go to into layer options (the circle with three dots inside). Select Add Blend Mode.

Step 9

Duplicate the item, rotate it 45° and place the central vertex on the central vertex of the first item.

Step 10

Repeat the operation up to the completion of the circle. In total there will have to be eight items.

Step 11

Finally add a black colour wallpaper level with the noise at 25°.

Congratulations!

Now you can sit back and admire your work, or try playing with the colours and blend modes to get different results.

Sebastiano on using Affinity Designer

I started using Affinity Designer nearly one year ago and I liked it from the beginning. I find the interface intuitive, fluid and with a well-finished design.

The tools are outstanding and work effectively, providing all that a graphic designer or an illustrator needs to draw and design. I really like the grid management and customisation. The colour management and the ‘noise’ effect at hand are great ideas.

In my opinion the Affinity Designer app for iPad has revolutionalised and improved my workflow and it has given me the opportunity of sketching ideas by using the Pixel persona or designing vector images, drawings and logos in any moment of the day or in any place I am.

I hope you will go on surprising me with new tools.


You can see more from Sebastiano on his website and by following him on Instagram.


Artist relations

Umar is part of our artist relations team. He likes to tinker with computers, build things and play competitive games. His favourite colour is green and he enjoys bouldering, which is basically climbing without any ropes. It’s less dangerous than it sounds.

Credits & Footnotes

Images used with permission from Sebastiano Cullemi.