Mastering Affinity Designer: The 11 Best Tutorials and Resources for Supercharging Your Graphic Design Skills

Looking to upgrade your graphic design toolkit? Meet Affinity Designer. This rapidly rising vector editing software packs a smooth interface plus robust features at an appealing price.

I‘ve compiled the 11 best Affinity Designer tutorials and learning resources here to help you master Affinity Designer quickly. From Affinity‘s official training library to YouTube channels, online courses, and inspiration platforms, there are materials for designers of all levels.

You‘ll discover:

  • Core skills every Affinity Designer user should know
  • Specialized techniques to create stunning graphics and illustrations
  • How the new iPad app takes Affinity Designer mobile
  • Top creators to follow for endless inspiration

Let‘s dive in!

Why Affinity Designer is Exploding in Popularity

Affinity Designer only launched in 2014, but it‘s already won over 100,000+ professional designers. Here‘s why industry pros are choosing it over Adobe and Sketch:

Cost – At just $55 for a permanent license, Affinity blows expensive Adobe subscriptions out of the water.

Features – Robust vector and raster tools rival what‘s available in Photoshop and Illustrator.

Performance – Affinity Designer harnesses the power of modern devices for smooth UIs and workflows.

Cross-Platform – Use Affinity Designer natively on Mac, Windows, and iPad with file compatibility between platforms.

Plus, Affinity Designer has earned glowing reviews from users:

  • 4.8/5 stars across 29k+ App Store ratings
  • 4.7/5 on Capterra across 2,400+ reviewers

As Affinity continues enhancing features while keeping the app affordable and consistent across devices, adoption will only accelerate further.

Now let‘s explore the best tutorials and resources for getting up to speed…

1. Official Training Videos

When learning new software, it‘s wise to go straight to the source. Affinity offers over 90 training videos totaling 13+ hours of instruction on their Vimeo channel:

https://vimeo.com/affinityapps

Their clear instructors will familiarize you with key tools and walk through techniques like:

  • Customizing the interface
  • Creating print vs digital graphics
  • Drawing and editing vectors
  • Building advanced shapes
  • Mastering colors and gradients
  • Working with brushes and masks
  • Much more

With bite-sized videos focused on individual concepts, absorbing all that Affinity can do won‘t feel so overwhelming. Take it slow by watching a new tutorial each day!

While official training won‘t inspire the most unique creative ideas, you will get accurate, up-to-date guidance on using Affinity Designer correctly. Plus, the videos have excellent production polish.

2. Official Affinity Workbook

If videos aren‘t your speed, Affinity‘s workbook contains hands-on vector projects submitted from talented designers around the world:

https://affinity.serif.com/en-us/tutorials/designer/workbook/

Working through all 9 tutorial files will build concrete graphic design skills with techniques for:

  • Illustrating people and characters
  • Crafting scene compositions
  • Building map graphics
  • Designing abstract geometric patterns
  • Constructing product mockups
  • Creating repeating backgrounds
  • Making isometric designs
  • Plus more!

Tackle these lessons from the couch or on the go by downloading the workbook files upfront. No internet required after that, making it easy to focus!

3. Youtube Channel – Frankentoon

Frankentoon is a boutique illustration agency with superb tutorials for Affinity Designer beginners on their YouTube channel:

https://www.youtube.com/Frankentoontoons

Their "Design School" section offers the most valuable content covering topics like:

  • Custom brushes
  • Textures
  • Line techniques
  • Coloring approaches
  • Scene illustration
  • Character design

Watch their most popular tutorial below on achieving marker effects with vector brushes:

https://youtu.be/acbH-a4Kz-s

Frankentoon keeps production quality high across all videos with digestible pacing for following along. Beyond training, the channel can simply offer sparks of inspiration too!

4. Youtube Series – Affinicasts

Another YouTube channel – Affinicasts – focused entirely on intermediate to advanced Affinity tutorials across Designer, Photo, and Publisher before production halted.

Although the creator stopped releasing new content in 2018 due to time constraints, the 70+ existing videos still offer incredible value:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEF-287t4yewsT4iEW0rdYQ

Deep dives into less intuitive functions ensure Affinity power users will discover new techniques here. Video production and pacing are excellent as well, getting straight to practical explanations and walkthroughs.

For access to brilliant Affinity training videos covering more advanced techniques, Affinicasts remains a must-bookmark channel.

5. Go Pro with Affinity Revolution

Ezra Anderson of Affinity Revolution takes Affinity Designer mastery further with his cleanly produced YouTube tutorials and paid courses:

https://www.youtube.com/c/AffinityRevolution

I recommend Ezra‘s content to anyone serious about griding their Affinity skills. His teaching style is focused and methodical, allowing you to implement techniques efficiently. And over 130k subscribers enjoy Ezra‘s videos for good reason – production value is superb.

For extra focused training, Ezra‘s paid courses offer direct feedback and assistance through assignments tailor-made for growth. Support expert content creators investing so much time into the Affinity community when you‘re able!

6. Affinity Designer Master Course on Udemy

This 10+ hour course compilation on Udemy is another favorite for boosting Affinity Designer skills substantially:

https://www.udemy.com/course/affinity-designer-the-complete-guide-to-affinity-designer/

The 80+ video lessons and downloadable exercise files help you transform from beginner to confident Affinity user through real-world projects like:

  • Creating a full brand identity and logo suite
  • Designing website graphics, icons, and interfaces
  • Crafting product mockups and visualizations
  • Building intricate vector landscapes
  • Developing repeatable background patterns
  • Illustrating fun characters and avatars
  • Making abstract game environments
  • Exporting files for digital and print

I appreciate the sheer variety of graphics covered in this course curriculum. Expert instructors share pro techniques while guiding you to invent unique pieces rather than copying their steps exactly.

With lifetime access after purchasing, it makes returning to refresh faded knowledge effortless too.

7. Vector Illustration Design Tutorial

For Affinity Designer newcomers, this sponsored 30+ minute tutorial from Smashing Magazine offers fantastic visual instructions for crafting refined vector illustrations:

https://www.smashingmagazine.com/2018/07/flat-vector-illustration-affinity-designer/

Step-by-step, seasoned designer Isabel Aracama helps you:

  • Set up an Affinity file professionally
  • Import reference images
  • Use vector shapes, curves, and lines to outline key forms
  • Refine edges and angles with precision
  • Add color gradients and shading
  • Export production-ready image files

With Smashing Magazine‘s strong reputation and Isabel‘s decades of design expertise, you can trust all techniques shown align perfectly with industry best practices. Recreate this tutorial firsthand to cement core Affinity skills!

8. Official iPad App Video Lessons

The full iPad version of Affinity Designer takes graphics and illustration work mobile. Affinity‘s YouTube channel offers another set of video lessons tailored specifically for the tablet interface:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kjCyed8QMOY&list=PLLnpHn493BHE6RsZsNJauGwk8povB2E-N

From navigating canvases to wielding vector tools effortessly via touch, these tutorials help unclutter the learning curve. Design can happen anywhere now!

Supplement with additional iPad illustration tips beyond the official Affinity content to maximize the on-the-go potential too.

9. Affinity Designer Master Class for iPad

Jumping further into the iPad app, this 80+ video lesson Udemy course offers 10+ hours of training for Affinity on tablet:

https://www.udemy.com/course/the-complete-affinity-designer-for-ipad-course/

Through real iPad projects crafting graphics, logos, emoji, backgrounds, and more – this course builds concrete skills for:

  • Customizing iPad workflows
  • Drawing smooth curves and lines
  • Building and transforming shapes
  • Tracing images and templates
  • Developing modern texture brushes
  • Adding artistic overlay effects
  • Exporting retina resolution files

As a bonus, lifetime course access plus direct messaging with the instructor helps answer questions anytime. Consider me sold!

10. Jumpstart with a Simple iPad Wallpaper Graphic

If committing to comprehensive courses seems intimidating as a beginner, no worries!

Tackle an easy 15 minute tutorial first to get acquainted with Affinity Designer on iPad:

https://design.tutsplus.com/tutorials/how-to-draw-a-wallpaper-in-affinity-designer-for-ipad–cms-31546

By walking through making a simple wallpaper graphic to use as your iPad background, fundamental concepts like:

  • Creating and modifying vector shapes
  • Importing images
  • Building color palettes
  • Working with brushes and textures

Become more intuitive. Complete this tutorial first to gain confidence before advancing to more complex lessons next!

11. Daily Design Inspiration

Finally, when creativity stalls or motivation dips, these sites offer endless inspiration from top creators around the world:

Designspiration

A digital mood board collecting gorgeous work across all categories:
https://www.designspiration.com/

Dribbble

Connect with designers and discover fantastic portfolio projects daily:
https://dribbble.com/

Master Affinity to Master Design

With Affinity Designer‘s ideal blend of power, flexibility, and accessibility, adoption will only spread further. Especially as more iPad users realize full vector design work is now possible without a PC!

But competency with any software‘s tools can only develop top technical skills. True mastery emerges by studying tutorials from pros then branching out on personal creative explorations.

The 11 resources here will kickstart your journey. Feel free to bookmark this guide and return to it as needed whenever expanding your Affinity Designer skills further!

To complement your progress, check out these top open-source design tools available as well. The more tools in your belt, the more creative possibilities open up!

Now watch those graphic design skills skyrocket!