Haunted House by Aleksey Rico
Aleksey Soloviev, aka Aleksey Rico, is an illustrator based in Izhevsk, Russia. Obsessed with smooth vector lines and inspired by old Soviet propaganda posters and comic art, he loves to create a wide variety of illustrations, movie and event posters, t-shirt artworks and music covers.
His haunted house illustration was created using Affinity Designer for iPad. To see how it was done, check out Aleksey’s creative session on the official Affinity YouTube channel where he shares a walkthrough of his process.
Follow Aleksey on Instagram and Behance or subscribe to his YouTube channel to see more of his work.
Zombie by Jason Swoboda
This terrifying zombie is the creation of Jason Swoboda, an industrial designer from Mongolia. After completing his formal education and training at the University of Cincinnati, OH USA for product design and the Feng Zhu School of Design for concept art in Singapore, he now freelances in the fields of product design, concept art for movies and games, and many other areas of design.
“I was practising greyscale value painting and playing around with the preset brushes that come available with Affinity Photo when I created this piece. Eventually, a creepy zombie simply appeared out of the black blobbiness of my canvas and I went ahead and fleshed it out.”
“I started using Affinity software over two years ago and haven’t really looked back when it comes to my 2D workflow. It’s lightweight and not bogged down by cloud software, thus it’s my preference over other creative apps.”
You can see more work from Jason on DeviantArt, Artstation and Instagram.
Snow baddies business by Bob Byrne
Bob Byrne, aka Clamnuts, is a comic book artist turned animator and product designer who creates games, books and cartoons for his own product range and for clients such as Google, Apple and Cadbury.
Snow baddies business was created in Affinity Designer using the brushes, styles and assets from Bob’s gritty The Shizzle Style and Brush Pack. The illustration also comes as a sample file in the pack which is currently available to purchase on the Affinity store.
To see more of Bob’s work, visit the Clamnuts website or follow him on Twitter and Instagram.
Why did you do that? by Bodo Bertuleit
Bodo Bertuleit is a graphic designer and illustrator from Lübeck, Germany. After spending many years working as a graphic designer in advertising agencies, he now freelances in the field of book cover design and illustration. He has been working exclusively in Affinity for the last four years.
Bodo has always been fascinated by the clarity of lines and shapes achieved in vector. “One day I tried to make portraits as vector drawings. First, I drew the paths with the mouse then later I worked with a tablet and pen. For ‘Why (did you do that)?’ the eyes was the most important thing to me. I wanted them not to lose their expression and clear lines, even when enlarged.”
To see more of Bodo’s work, visit his website.
Scary Night by Andrew Salfinger
Andrew Salfinger is an illustrator and graphic designer based in Perth, Australia. Since childhood, he has loved the grungy, more rustic styles of art and at the beginning of 2020, he set himself a challenge: to create a hybrid vector and raster illustration during each month of the year to post on social media.
His October illustration, Scary Night, was inspired by the comic books of the 90’s and the illustrated book covers of the children’s horror series Goosebumps.
To keep up to date with Andrew’s monthly challenge, follow him on Instagram. You can see more of his work at madebycampfire.com and on Behance, Dribbble and Twitter.
Wolf by Moon Mane
Benet Zaganjori, aka Moon Mane, is a 25-year-old graphic designer and illustrator from Florence, Italy. Although his background is in design and art history, his illustrations are mainly created in vector. He has been freelancing for the last two years, creating stunning artwork inspired by an eclectic mix of tattoo art, traditional art, mythology, nature and music.
“This piece combines different wildlife elements, including the wolf as the main subject and the sparrows—all these elements are inspired by my passion for tattoo art and nature. I chose to add a forked tongue to the wolf and to use a dark colour palette to give to the whole piece a more surreal and ‘spooky’ vibe.”
Check out Benet on Instagram to see more of his stunning designs.
Monster World by FakeFace
Hugo Marques, aka Fakeface, is a freelance artist and 2D/3D animation teacher from Évora, Portugal, with a background in classical art. He has created several animation projects for big companies and TV advertising, but digital painting is where his true passion lies.
“Affinity Photo and Designer are two main tools in my workflow. The simplicity of use and the possibility of using them on an iPad and laptop make these tools amazing.”
“This piece was born from the need to target kids with some of my works. I developed some cool t-shirts and hoodies with these characters and after creating some of the creatures, I decided to mix them up in a big complex composition. I really had fun developing these cute monsters.”
Check out more of Hugo’s incredible work on Instagram.
Marcelo Goulart
Marcelo Goulart is a professional photographer and artist from Brazil. His images are often inspired by his dreams and characteristically mix dark tones with glistening elements and vibrant pops of colour.
This particular composition reflects how we can sometimes feel powerless and incapable, particularly when passing through an emotional crisis.
You can see more of Marcelo’s work on Instagram and read our Spotlight interview with him here.
A Haunted Potion by Amandeep Singh
Amandeep Singh recently graduated from Stevens Institute of Technology with a BS in Computer Science and is now an Analyst at Hilltop Securities in New York City. As an artist, he started off making simple doodles in class before being introduced to digital art, which allowed him to grow and explore drawing as his main hobby. Amandeep continues to draw often and hopes to make it part of his career in the future.
“I was inspired to create this in Affinity Designer because it has all of the features I need, especially the wide variety of brushes and the ability to use brushes from other sources. It also makes it easier to work with both vector and raster together.”
Check out more of Amandeep’s art on Instagram.
Abandoned School by Bethany Acorn
The Affinity community is full of passionate content creators who share their skills through tutorials. Check out Bethany’s YouTube channel and you’ll find a raft of Affinity photo tutorials, focused on mastering the art of photo manipulation on iPad.
“The inspiration for the ‘Abandoned School’ project came a few months ago when Covid-19 was really starting to affect the day-to-day lives of everyone on Earth. As I saw schools closing and politicians quibbling over the cost of continuing free school meals for the most vulnerable children in the country, everything was feeling very dystopian. With everyone having to stay indoors, not being able to see loved ones and fewer people on the street, it’s what I’d imagine the start of a zombie apocalypse would look like,” she explains.
“I specifically chose the image of the little girl with the teddy bear to highlight the innocence of childhood, to show her tightly holding on to any hope that normality and safety will return, despite how bleak the world has become, there is still a little light off in the direction she is looking.”
Bethany’s Abandoned School tutorial and many others can be found on her YouTube channel. To see more of Bethany’s work follow her on Instagram.
Ghost by Nick Wellfair
Nick is a 30-year-old illustrator and graphic designer from Worcestershire, UK. He set up his brand Yeschef Design after studying graphic design for four years at university. Prior to his journey in design he worked in kitchens for over 10 years before deciding to hang up his apron and move to a new walk of life. His brand has now become a homage to his former self.
“I created this piece as part of a Halloween series. I’ve recently found a love for 1930’s rubber hose style illustration and have been working my way forward in mastering those techniques throughout this spooky month.”
“To me, rubber hose is an interesting style when trying to use Halloween as a reference, as it can go one of two ways: you can make it dark, scary and even a little bit weird due to the fluidity of the lines or alternatively you can make it fun and whimsical, much like my ghost illustration. I feel like even though Halloween is a ‘spooky’ month, it is also a time for fun and festivity; so the bouncy and enjoyable characteristics of rubber hose illustration seemed perfect for the design.”
Check out more of Nick’s work on his website and on Instagram.
La Catrina/ Sugar Skull by Yolanda Godoy
Yolanda Godoy is an Orange County-based artist focusing on illustration and children’s books. She is married with three children and has a background in fine arts.
“I loved having the opportunity to be a full-time Mom but I missed drawing and connecting with my inner creativity. With Covid-19 happening, I had time on my hands and the opportunity to start drawing again. I got an iPad and started working with various apps to find one that worked for me. I found the Affinity Designer app and fell in love since it enabled me to bring my images to life,” Yolanda reveals.
“Previously, I had worked with acrylic and oil paints and Affinity Designer lets me feel like I’m using the real mediums and that I can express myself—I can focus on what I want to see and draw without the app getting in the way.”
“As part of my Mexican heritage, every November 2nd, I celebrate the Day of the Dead holiday. During this holiday, we traditionally use bright colours as part of our celebrating and remembering family and friends who are no longer with us. This cultural tradition inspired me to draw my ‘La Catrina/ Sugar Skull’ piece. Affinity Designer enabled me to portray the contrast between what is usually considered a grim subject and overlay my cultural beliefs. I hope my drawing speaks to you!”
To see more work from Yolanda, check out her YouTube channel, Instagram and Etsy shop.