Andy Capstick

Documentation manager

34 posts

Andy manages our software documentation here at Affinity and is our chief technical writer. In-between falling off his bike cycling into work, he keeps himself busy ensuring all our apps have up to date and accurate help content.

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Combining vector and raster workflows in Affinity Designer

Frankentoon uses the Designer and Pixel Personas in Affinity Designer for perfect 'vector to raster' harmony in this techniques-based tutorial.

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Downloadable Affinity V2 keyboard shortcut and gesture cheat sheets

Download guides to the very latest keyboard shortcuts and touchscreen gestures for Affinity V2 apps to view on screen or print.

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Under pressure: getting to grips with pressure sensitivity in Affinity

Pressure sensitivity gives a natural drawing experience as if using traditional physical pencils and brushes. Andy explores the basics and looks at some essential concepts and techniques.

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Targeting key objects while cutting and transforming in Affinity Designer

Andy takes a look at key objects, an innovative new feature introduced in our recent Affinity V2 updates.

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Colour theory 3: Applying colour in Affinity apps

Finishing off the Colour theory series, Andy looks at how colour spaces are used in Affinity apps, and how colours are applied.

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Colour Theory 2: Colour in branding and design

Let's look at how colours can give your designs a different message.

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Colour Theory 1: Basic concepts

Andy explores the basic concepts of colour as part of a three-part Colour series.

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Blend modes explained

Explore how blend modes can be used to creatively alter how colours interact between your project's layers.

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Get creative with spirals!

Andy takes a look at some creative ideas for designing stunning spirals using Affinity’s new Spiral Tool.

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Utilising view modes in Affinity apps

Affinity's view modes are a great way of previewing your output and exploring the structure of your designs. Find out which Affinity apps they're best used in.

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8 ways to speed up your logo design process in Affinity Designer

In this article, we'll look at speeding up your routine logo design processes, giving you the freedom to focus on the look and feel of your design in a way that works for you.

Learning

Artboards explained

Artboards can be a little unfamiliar to design beginners. In this article, Andy explains artboards in depth so you can make more use of them in your workflows.

Learning

Cool rotations and transforms in Affinity 2.2

Andy gives a refresher on transforming objects and introduces a new 2.2 feature called Move Data Entry—a cool way to reposition, rotate and duplicate one or more objects—all controllable via a dialog.

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Designing for professional printing in Affinity V2

Explore professional print terminology and concepts in readiness for preparing a document and final artwork delivery to your print partner.

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Understanding mesh warp and perspective live raster filters in Affinity Designer

Use non-destructive mesh warp and perspective filters for distorting placed images and documents.

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V2 Layers Panel: key changes and improvements

Take a short overview of the Layers Panel changes in the recent Affinity V2 releases.

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Exploring warping techniques

Discover different warping techniques using the Vector Warp feature in Affinity Designer 2.

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Viewing and previewing—hidden features

Andy uncovers a few hidden gems while viewing and previewing Affinity documents.

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Inpainting: now you see it, now you don’t!

The Inpainting Brush Tool is perfect for removing unwanted content from a scene—as if by magic! In this article, Andy explains how it works and how to achieve the best results.

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Understanding cropping

Learn about different types of cropping and how the technique can be used both practically and creatively.

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Understanding groups and layers in Affinity

Andy takes a look at groups and layers in Affinity apps and compares how they are used.

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Resizing projects with confidence

"Can you do it in A3 instead?" Andy offers some suggestions to avoid that uneasy feeling when resizing projects.

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Studio panel combinations

Andy takes a look at some useful Studio panel arrangements which can make you more efficient and smooth your workflows. The article may spark your imagination about making your own panel combinations.

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Jargon busting guide for graphic design

We demystify graphic design terminology for newcomers to Affinity Designer.

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5 things you should know about Affinity Publisher 1.8

Our 1.8 updates have landed—and for Affinity Publisher this means a raft of new features designed to power-up your workflow are now available.

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Romain Trystram: Marrakesh Express (a Moroccan journey)

Find out how a study of sunlight and shadow stirs the Moroccan memories of top designer Romain Trystram.

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Understanding clipping in Affinity apps

Clipping is a fundamental design technique in Affinity apps. Andy explores the basics of clipping and the different ways it is used in Affinity Designer, Photo and Publisher.

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Free font websites for Affinity Publisher—our top five!

Bored of your current system fonts? Why not explore some free font websites before parting with your hard-earned cash.

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Hi-res icon/UI design can be pixel perfect!

It’s so important to communicate a strong professional message to online customers. One key way to do this is to present iconography that is uniformly crisp and clean right across your icon set.

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Vector vs raster: what you need to know

Andy looks at the difference between vector and raster design, exploring key aspects in both. He'll also look at how mixed-discipline 'vector - raster' interworking can streamline workflows.

Learning

‘The Eyes of a Butterfly’ with Kevin House

Inspired by the opera 'Madame Butterfly', illustrator Kevin House (aka Retrograde) demonstrates how to create a stunning vector eye as part of his study of the lead character.

Learning

Designing for professional printing

Explore professional print terminology and concepts in readiness for preparing a document and final artwork delivery to your print partner.

Learning

Downloadable Affinity keyboard shortcut cheat sheets

Download the latest keyboard shortcuts for Affinity V1 apps to view, print or customise.

Learning

TOXIC LAND: Creating characters with Frankentoon

Enter the wastelands with Frankentoon's Enrique Figueroa, where you can follow along with his design of a comic book cover.