How to Create Custom Brushes in Affinity Designer

Posted on 19th June 2023

How to Create Custom Brushes in Affinity Designer

Affinity Designer is an incredibly powerful vector graphic design software. One of its most useful features is the ability to create custom brushes. This can be extremely helpful when you need a specific brush type that doesn’t come with the software by default, or when you want to create a unique brush that no one else has.

Creating a custom brush in Affinity Designer is actually quite simple. In this article, we’ll walk you through the process step-by-step so that you can create your own custom brushes in no time.

Before we get started, you’ll need to have the following:

Affinity Designer installed on your computer

An image or vector graphic that you want to use as a brush

Basic knowledge of the Affinity Designer workspace and tools

Now that you have everything you need, let’s get started!

Step 1: Open Your Image or Vector Graphic

The first step is to open the image or vector graphic that you want to use as a brush. For this tutorial, we’ll be using a simple black and white image of a flower.

If you’re using an image, make sure that it’s high-quality and that it’s in a format that Affinity Designer can read (PNG, JPG, etc.). For vector graphics, make sure that they’re saved in a format that Affinity Designer can read (EPS, AI, PDF, etc.).

Once your image or vector graphic is open in Affinity Designer, it’s time to move on to step 2.

Step 2: Select the Portion of the Image or Vector Graphic that You Want to Use as a Brush

Now that your image or vector graphic is open in Affinity Designer, you need to select the portion of it that you want to use as a brush.

For this tutorial, we’ll be using the entire image of the flower. However, if you only want to use part of an image or vector graphic as a brush, you can use the Selection tool to select the portion that you want.

To select the entire image or vector graphic, simply click on the image or vector graphic with the Selection tool.

Step 3: Copy the Selected Image or Vector Graphic

Once you have the portion of the image or vector graphic that you want to use as a brush selected, it’s time to copy it.

To copy the selected image or vector graphic, simply press “Ctrl+C” (Windows) or “Cmd+C” (macOS).

Step 4: Open the Brushes Panel

Now that you have the image or vector graphic that you want to use as a brush copied, it’s time to open the Brushes panel.

To open the Brushes panel, simply go to “Window” > “Brushes” or press “F5” on your keyboard.

Step 5: Paste the Image or Vector Graphic into the Brushes Panel

Once the Brushes panel is open, it’s time to paste the image or vector graphic that you copied in step 3.

To paste the image or vector graphic, simply press “Ctrl+V” (Windows) or “Cmd+V” (macOS).

Step 6: Name Your Brush

Now that the image or vector graphic is pasted into the Brushes panel, you need to give it a name.

To name your brush, simply double-click on the name field in the Brushes panel and type in a name for your brush.

For this tutorial, we’ll be naming our brush “Flower Brush.”

Step 7: Choose a Brush Type

The next step is to choose a brush type. There are four brush types to choose from:

Solid: A solid brush is a brush that is filled with a solid color.

Gradient: A gradient brush is a brush that is filled with a gradient.

Pattern: A pattern brush is a brush that is filled with a pattern.

Image: An image brush is a brush that is filled with an image.

For this tutorial, we’ll be using an image brush.

To choose an image brush, simply select the “Image” option from the “Type” drop-down menu in the Brushes panel.

Step 8: Select the Image or Vector Graphic that You Want to Use as a Brush

Now that you’ve chosen an image brush, you need to select the image or vector graphic that you want to use as the brush.

To select the image or vector graphic, simply click on the “Image” field in the Brushes panel and select the image or vector graphic that you want to use.

For this tutorial, we’ll be using the flower image that we copied in step 3.

Step 9: Choose a Brush Size

The next step is to choose a brush size. The brush size is the size of the image or vector graphic that you want to use as the brush.

To choose a brush size, simply select the “Size” field in the Brushes panel and enter a value for the brush size.

For this tutorial, we’ll be using a brush size of 100px.

Step 10: Choose a Brush Opacity

The next step is to choose a brush opacity. The brush opacity is the opacity of the image or vector graphic that you’re using as the brush.

To choose a brush opacity, simply select the “Opacity” field in the Brushes panel and enter a value for the brush opacity.

For this tutorial, we’ll be using a brush opacity of 100%.

Step 11: Choose a Brush Spacing

The next step is to choose a brush spacing. The brush spacing is the space between each instance of the image or vector graphic that you’re using as the brush.

To choose a brush spacing, simply select the “Spacing” field in the Brushes panel and enter a value for the brush spacing.

For this tutorial, we’ll be using a brush spacing of 10%.

Step 12: Test Your Brush

Now that you’ve configured all of the settings for your brush, it’s time to test it out.

To test your brush, simply select the “Brush” tool from the toolbar and draw a line with your brush.

As you can see, our flower brush works perfectly!

Step 13: Save Your Brush

Now that you’ve tested your brush and you’re happy with the results, it’s time to save it.

To save your brush, simply go to “File” > “Save” or press “Ctrl+S” (Windows) or “Cmd+S” (macOS).

When the “Save” dialog box appears, select the “Brushes” folder and click “Save.”

That’s it! You’ve successfully saved your custom brush.

Now that you know how to create custom brushes in Affinity Designer, you can create any type of brush that you need. So go ahead and experiment with different images and vector graphics to see what kinds of brushes you can create.