Umar Lawson

Artist relations

42 posts

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.

Inspiration

Chris Mock: ‘discover the landscape in front of your doorstep’

Cologne-based street photographer Chris Mock speaks to us about his love for black and white and rock 'n' roll!

Learning

Drift away with this vector art tutorial from Jhonatan Silva

Enjoy the sunshine long after summer has gone with this Affinity Designer for iPad tutorial from Jhonatan S. Silva.

Inspiration

Pope Phoenix: comic books, anime, and a splash of realism

Pope Phoenix is a self-taught, Bronx-born art director, illustrator, and motion designer. A father, a full-time digital mercenary and a mentor to designers on social media.

Learning

Creating a geometric design with Sebastiano Cullemi

Follow this step-by-step tutorial to create a bold geometric design with Italian graphic designer Sebastiano Cullemi.

Inspiration

Secteur 19: creating intricate illustrations with a touch of humour

Secteur 19 is a graphic illustrator and artist based in Vevey, Switzerland, who creates playful Art Nouveau-inspired illustrations with a modern twist.

Inspiration

Mathis Burmeister: ‘I love it when artworks have an extra dose of trippy weirdness’

We worked with Mathis Burmeister to create an amazing piece of vector art for the launch of our 1.8 update. Here we find out more about how he works and get his thoughts on using Affinity.

Learning

Create floral typography with Affinity Designer for iPad

Nastya Kuliabina AKA Jungle of Colors, walks us through how to create her signature floral characters by illustrating 1.8 to celebrate our latest update.

Behind the Scenes

Jarek Majewski: ‘Game development is hard, prepare for a lot of work and don’t be discouraged easily’

We recently caught up with Jarek 'MindJar' Majewski to talk game design and how the Affinity apps fit into his workflow.

Inspiration

Introducing Christi’s Comix Toolbox

Professional tools for illustration and comic artwork now available to purchase on the Affinity store.

Inspiration

102 Lightning Brushes by Xresch

We welcome a new brush pack from Xresch to the Affinity store—102 Lightning Brushes!

Inspiration

Express yourself with Frankentoon’s Neptune Illustration Kit

The Neptune Illustration Kit is a phenomenal collection of raster brushes and paper textures by one of the most prolific content creators for Affinity—Frankentoon.

Inspiration

Viktor Sakshaug: ‘Working in the space between what I have sketched, and what I imagine is a fun place to be’

We caught up with Oslo-based illustrator Viktor Sakshaug who works with bold colours, clean lines and negative space so well...

Inspiration

Inktober Roundup 2019

We have scoured Instagram for the best Inktober posts tagged with #madeinaffinity. Here's a roundup of our favourites and a little bit about the talented creatives behind them.

Behind the Scenes

7 top tips for Inktober with illustrator, Christi du Toit

With Inktober on the horizon, we thought we'd get some pro tips from an illustrator we've worked with many times to great effect—Christi Du Toit!

Learning

Cool vectors: creating an ice cream graphic with Jhonatan Silva

Brazilian games artist and UI designer, Jhonatan S. Silva shows us how to manipulate shapes and text to create eye-catching graphics in this step-by-step tutorial.

Inspiration

Chris Smere: ‘I always needed change to get on even if it meant starting over again with something completely different’

Chris Smere AKA @transitdiagrams creates amazing transit maps using Affinity Designer!

Inspiration

Diego Omega: ‘A lot of my life I dedicate to listening to the stories of those who give a bit of skin to me’

Diego Omega, tattooist and artist talks about his inspiration, techniques and story, expanding on how he uses Affinity Designer to aid his design process.

Behind the Scenes

Aleksey Rico: smooth vectors and Soviet propaganda posters

We have been admirers of Aleksey Rico's work on Instagram for a while and were delighted when he surprised us with a stunning piece of art he created in Affinity Designer.

Inspiration

Abstract ABC: Custom lettering from Chroma Supply

This entire alphabet of custom abstract painted letters will bring some vibrancy to your typography projects! Available now in the Affinity Store.

Inspiration

Emblem Graphic and Logo Bundle: Custom logo templates by The Vector Lab

Introducing TheVectorLab to the Affinity Store! This new vector graphic and logo bundle created for Affinity Designer provides fully customisable designs to create high-quality graphics and logos.

Inspiration

Abstract Paint bundle: Hand painting effects by Chroma Supply

News & Updates

Affinity Publisher Public Beta - 1.7.0.305 and 1.7.0.312

Double update! Here we cover Affinity Publisher beta builds 1.7.0.305 and 1.7.0.312, which were delivered in quick succession. Latest improvements include DocX import and pinned objects for text!

Inspiration

Dennis Gabbana: A short trip to AntiGravity

Exploring artist Dennis Gabbana's Anti Gravity series of artwork.

News & Updates

Affinity Publisher Public Beta - 1.7.0.283

Get your hands on the latest version of Affinity Publisher! Free in beta.

Inspiration

Falk Louis: ‘I just kept zooming’

Falk Louis is an illustrator and comic artist from Berlin, who describes himself as "not especially good at drawing". We talk to him about his WO comic and the concept of never-ending zoom...

Inspiration

VRHUMAN: ‘Virtual Reality is the next evolutionary step’

We discovered the amazing work of VRHUMAN through #VREVERYDAY, his daily playground for artistic experiments.

News & Updates

Affinity Publisher Public Beta - 1.7.0.257

Arrowheads (and more!) in the latest update for the Affinity Publisher Public Beta.

Inspiration

Christi du Toit: ‘Digital, but hand drawn, with lots of grit’

Christi du Toit is an illustrator and avid graphic-maker, born, raised and currently residing in the beautiful city of Cape Town, South Africa.

News & Updates

Affinity Publisher Public Beta - 1.7.0.238 now available

Read all about the fixes and new stuff in our latest version of Affinity Publisher, free in beta. This version brings our first try at support for hyperlinks in the app!

Behind the Scenes

The parallel worlds of Michał Karcz

We love the dreamlike landscapes Michał creates armed with only his computer and his imagination. He was the perfect choice to create the epic 1.7 splash screen for Affinity Photo.

News & Updates

Affinity Publisher Public Beta: vs. 1.7.0.227 now available on auto-update

This latest beta includes some big changes to Master Page functionality! Find out all the fixes and updates you can expect in version 1.7.0.227 of the Affinity Publisher beta...

Behind the Scenes

Metin Seven: ‘I’ve always loved the magical light of computer screens’

Metin Seven is a 2D illustrator and 3D designer living in Bussum (near Amsterdam). He works with his wife—a freelance webdesigner—in their home studio.

Behind the Scenes

Vlad Grama: ‘Don’t let a white canvas paralyze you’

Vlad Grama Design, aka Vlad-Christian Grama, is a Romanian designer who has embarked on a project of creating 365 posters, one a day for a year...

News & Updates

Affinity Publisher Public Beta - 1.7.0.192 now available

More new fixes for Affinity Publisher, free in beta.

Inspiration

180 Smoke and Cloud brushes by Xresch

We've fallen in love with these smoke and cloud brushes created by xresch for Affinity apps, with 180 to choose from you're sure to find the natural effect you need for your compositions.

News & Updates

Affinity Publisher Public Beta - 1.7.0.162 now available

It's our 8th update for the Affinity Publisher Public Beta! Thanks to all of your participation, this is our most refined build yet. Give it a try and let us know what you think…

News & Updates

Affinity Publisher Public Beta: 1.7.0.157 now available

All the details of our newest Affinity Publisher Beta build!

Behind the Scenes

Capturing a galaxy in a crystal ball

Astrophysicist Juan Carlos Muñoz-Mateos talks to us about photography, the universe and capturing a galaxy in a crystal ball.

News & Updates

Affinity Publisher Public Beta: 1.7.0.145 now available

Check out a whole raft of new fixes in the latest public Beta version of Affinity Publisher.

News & Updates

Affinity Publisher Public Beta: 1.7.0.139 and 140 (Mac) now available

Another one! The latest Affinity Publisher Beta is now available to download. Many thanks for your feedback for helping us make Publisher the best it can be.

Behind the Scenes

A sneak peek at our Spotlight contributor gift box…

Go behind-the-scenes and check out our special thank you gift boxes, exclusive to Affinity Spotlight contributors.

Behind the Scenes

Toy photographer Hung Doan: ‘Everyone wants a Death Star’

Hung Doan from ForcedadPhotography tells us how he combines playtime with his kids with his passion for photography and storytelling.