The rules for Affinitober were simple: in Affinity, draw a raster or vector design based on our daily prompt list and share it on Instagram using the hashtag #affinitober for a chance to be featured on our profile.
The response to the challenge has been phenomenal, and we would like to thank everyone who has taken the time to post their work or support the artists taking part—we really have the best community!
It has been a joy to see so many wonderful artworks created in Affinity Designer and Photo, and there are a number of artists who we feel have stood out from the crowd. Here’s a roundup of some of our favourite illustrations and a bit about the talented artists who created them.
Sarah Oremus
Sarah Oremus is a mixed media artist who favours combining traditional media and digital illustration.
“It’s important to me to have flexible programs where I can import new brushes and work with multiple layers and groups. I also love applying detail and texture in my traditional/digital works to create compositions with movement and life. Affinity Designer and Photo allow me to create freely without the worry of needing to merge my layers at each step of the process or use standard brushes. Affinity Designer and Photo are a powerful combo, and they make it easy to work across both programs on a laptop or iPad.”
To see more of Sarah’s work, check out @sarah_oremus on Instagram.
Kollwitz
Kollwitz is an artist whose main goal is to bridge the gap between ancient and digital art.
“The dynamics of art allow us to put into perspective who we are as a civilization without forgetting inspiration from the past.
“Mushroom” is the perfect example of a composition in homage to comic book artists like Neal Adams, and Affinity photo is the perfect tool to create this type of art. I needed to paint, change lighting and contrast with curves, select, cut out, use inpainting tools, blend, paste, apply textures and finally export to different formats for web editing and NFT creation—there is no limit to the software.”
You can see more art from Kollwitz on Instagram.
Joma Cruz
Joma Cruz is a digital and traditional artist from the Philippines who started using Affinity Designer back in 2019.
“What I like about Affinity Designer is its clean and non-distracting interface, it helps me focus more on what I am creating. I am using it on my iPad Pro and I can literally start creating anytime, anywhere, when ideas strike. No fancy setup is needed.
“I’ve created logos, invitations, website and social media graphics etc. to-date through this app and would love to explore more projects with it in the future. The Pencil Tool is my favourite feature as it is simple and so easy to use.”
To see more of Joma’s work, check out @persontwo.art on Instagram.
Digi Draw Dude
Terry, aka Digi Draw Dude, is an artist and illustrator who uses both Affinity Designer and Photo to create work for his clients, which include clothing stores, car companies, non-profit organizations, podcasts, twitch streamers, dental companies and bakeries.
“With Affinity Designer and Photo both being a one-time purchase, and the quality of the tools and UI, it really can’t be compared to any of its competitors. Serif is set apart and the best. And that is coming from someone who worked with another company’s entire suite for over a decade, daily!”
To see more of Terry’s work, check out @digidrawdude on Instagram.
Jonathan Yazzie
Jonathan Yazzie is a self-taught graphic designer and digital artist based in Arizona. After working as a project design lead for a technology company, he now freelances part-time and sells his own prints.
“I love creating work that represents the passion of a product, and I love illustrating to tell a riveting story. I use Affinity Photo to get into my workflow and complete all my art. Right now, I don’t think there is a better tool for the price to perform all the design and illustration functions I need than Affinity.”
You can check out more of Jonathan’s art on Instagram.
Coso Creative Lab
Coso Creative Lab is a creative laboratory founded by three Tuscan designers (Daniele Mastini, Valentina Sentieri, and Luca Cecchini) who are responsible for creating, promoting and distributing content relating to graphics, the web, illustration and social media marketing. They switched to Affinity Designer in 2019 and over the years have completed the switch with Affinity Photo and Affinity Publisher.
“What we love most about Affinity is the speed, fluidity and stability of the software. Also, Daniele, our illustrator, loves being able to easily combine vector and raster elements in Affinity Designer.”
You can see more from Coso Creative Lab on Instagram.
Vanessa K. Nickel
Vanessa K. Nickel is an illustrator and graphic designer based in Germany. Her work comprises colourful minimalist illustrations that focus on creating an engaging atmosphere while portraying people in different situations.
“Affinity Designer is my favourite tool for vector illustrations on the iPad. The software is very intuitive to use because of its great interface design. I usually start with the Pencil Tool and modify the paths afterwards with the Node Tool. I enjoy choosing colours with the colour wheel, and like the ability to jump back and forth between my favourite versions by taking snapshots.”
You can see more of Vanessa’s colourful illustrations on Instagram.
Fingvo
Sohail MN, aka Fingvo, is a graphic designer, UI/UX Designer and CGI specialist based in southern India. He first became interested in drawing, designing and modelling when he was 16 and started working as a designer after completing his studies. He has been using Affinity Designer for the last two years.
“One thing I would like to say about Affinity Designer and Photo is that they are so easy to learn and design in. You can create truly amazing designs with Affinity.”
You can see more art from Fingvo on Instagram.
Zoltán Bodó
Zoltán Bodó is an Affinity Designer user who enjoys creating art in his spare time.
“I often struggle with a lack of ideas, but Affinitober gave me an inspiration boost. Before I discovered Affinity Designer, I never thought I would ever learn how to draw digitally because the alternatives seemed so overwhelmingly complicated to even begin with. Affinity is so clear and user friendly, not to mention the tutorials and support that allow a complete beginner to quickly acquire the skills they need to make something nice.”
You can see more of Zoltán’s illustrations on his Instagram account.
Éden Marcos
Brazilian freelance artist Éden Marcos graduated in graphic design but has always had a passion for illustration.
“I always liked to draw, and I started to like it even more after going to college. Affinity Designer is great for making various types of illustrations because it is very intuitive and makes my workflow very easy. It is not complex and full of commands like certain software.”
To see more of Éden’s illustrations, check out @edenilustra on Instagram.
Arc Wijanarko
Arif, aka Arc Wijanarko, is an illustrator based in Indonesia who has been using Affinity Designer for the past two years.
“I have been using Affinity Designer since 2020, and I’m very happy with it. The software is so easy to use, plus it’s really fast!”
We love the limited colour palette, use of gradients and transparency and sense of depth in his piece “Flame”. To see more illustrations from Arif, check out his Instagram account @arc_wijanarko.
Diana Deciu, aka lunartful
Diana Deciu is a self-taught watercolour and digital artist based in Bucharest, Romania. After falling in love with the process of watercolour painting five years ago, she then had the urge to try digital art.
“With no experience and no one to ask, I started to do some research into tools I could use, and I came across Affinity Designer. I immediately fell in love with the website, and all I wanted was to learn how to use the tool and create beautiful illustrations. Affinity is the only app I use. It meets all my needs. With each illustration I create, I feel I’m learning a bit more about vector art which helps me to experiment and hone my style.”
Check out @lunartful on Instagram to see more of Diana’s illustrations.
Leah Keggi, aka CoastL Studio
Leah Keggi is the creative talent behind CoastL Studio, an independent art studio specialising in coastal-inspired patterns and prints available on Society6 and Spoonflower.
“As a self-taught illustrator and surface pattern designer, I love that Affinity Designer allows me to do everything from my iPad Pro. I create mostly in repeat patterns, and the ability to work in vector has made scaling patterns and working with clients seamless!”
Check out @coastl_studio on Instagram to see more of Leah’s work.
Gary Seaward
Gary Seaward is a graphic designer and illustrator who also creates his own brushes and assets.
“Switching to the Affinity apps was the best decision I made as a graphic designer and illustrator. I swapped from ‘the others’ over four years ago and haven’t looked back.
“I love the ability to flick between all three apps within Publisher, and the ability to start a design or illustration as a pixel sketch then within the same app, switch to vectors is a game changer!
“The online community is also fantastic, and as an admin and group expert on the Facebook page Affinity-Hands On, I love to help new users learn and expand their knowledge and let more people see there is another way!”
Check out Gary’s Instagram account to see more of his work.
Jason Arsenault
Jason Arsenault is a cartoonist and illustrator living in the beautiful Pacific Northwest.
“I began drawing when I was very young. I don’t exactly remember when, I just remember copying my favourite comics like Garfield and Calvin and Hobbes, so it’s probably not a coincidence that I always dreamed of being a cartoonist or book illustrator.
“Fast-forward 30+ years, and many technological advancements later, I now do all of my work on an iPad with Affinity’s products. What I like about Affinity is that they did not skimp on features for the mobile experience. Many other apps get you only so far before you have to come back to a desktop app to do more advanced functions. Affinity allows for a near desktop-like experience on a mobile platform while remaining stable, intuitive, and affordable.
“This year I’ve been combining the Affinitober prompts with the official Inktober prompts, which is really stretching me to make engaging illustrations daily. Thanks Affinity!”
You can find more of Jason’s Affinitober and Inktober art on his Instagram account @jaarsenault.
Laura Mocelin
Laura Mocelin is a children’s book illustrator and architect living in southern Brazil. After graduating in architecture and urbanism, which helped her develop as an artist, digital art won her heart. It opened an immense amount of creative possibilities and the opportunity for a more in-depth study of light, colour and stroke.
“Affinity definitely helps a lot. As an artist and formatter, I need to work on visualising everything: spacing for text, illustrations, dividing spaces etc., and I can control every step of the process as a book needs in Affinity. I use Affinity Publisher to begin sketching a book, and after that, I use Affinity Photo to finish each illustration. This dynamic offers me almost complete submersion inside the book, while I can see and travel through the pages.”
You can see more of Laura’s children’s book illustrations on Instagram.
Chris Hildenbrand, aka 2Dgameartguru
Chris Hildenbrand, aka 2Dgameartguru, is a self-described pixel-pusher, vector-bender, and quad-turner who has illustrated games for the Commodore Amiga, Atari ST, and early PC as well as a long line of Flash, mobile and handheld games.
“After years of doing artwork for iPhone/iPad games and game development templates, I started writing and recording tutorials geared at programmers with little confidence in their art skills. A decade later, the tutorials cover graphic design as well. Affinity Designer has become my main design tool over the past four years. I still find new and exciting ways to use its vast toolset and the vast options to modify and combine objects and layers. Along with the great UI/ UX, Affinity Designer allows me to focus on my work rather than the tool.”
If you would like to see more of Chris’ work and his tutorials, you can find him on Instagram and YouTube.
John Elliott
John Elliott is a Jazz pianist, Jazz teacher, author and fledgling digital designer.
“I’ve been learning for about a year now using the help pages, tutorial videos and Facebook groups to seek guidance on Affinity Designer. My blog charts my progress, and I hope it will help others.
“As Ira Glass said, “It is only by going through a volume of work that you will close that gap, and your work will be as good as your ambitions.” I’m in that process and Affinity Designer is making it a pleasure. It has cost-effective pricing and tons of features inside. Being a retired computer science graduate, I enjoy engaging with geeky aspects such as compound shapes combined with XOR for making Op Art or using Symbols for designs with reflection symmetry.”
You can find more of John’s digital art on Instagram.
Justin Oeftger
Justin Oeftger is an artist with a passion for design, which led him to a career in professional graphic arts focusing on logos, branding, and vector illustration. His clients include small business, corporate, and non-profit advertising.
“The playful style seen on my Instagram account @LiminSquare developed while learning the software Affinity Designer. Designer on the iPad has been my choice software for vector illustration ever since because of the ease of how it handles points and masks; adding points, adjusting paths or deleting them is at my fingertips.”
You can check out more of Justin’s illustrations on his @LiminSquare Instagram account.
Suppachai Wongbud
Suppachai Wongbud is an artist from Thailand who has been using Affinity Designer since 2019.
“For the “Crystal” artwork, I mostly used vector brushes, the Transparency Tool, the Gaussian Blur effect and adjusted brightness and contrast to finalise the image.
“I find Affinity Designer really easy to use, and I like that the tools are simple to pick up and understand from other software I have used.”
To see more of Suppachai’s illustrations, check out @cappuswong on Instagram.