Affinity Intro Course

One app for vector design, photo editing and page layout — covered in two practical days.

Beginner-friendly training for creatives who want professional results without an Adobe subscription.

Affinity Intro Course

One app now does what three used to. The unified Affinity brings vector illustration, photo editing and page layout into a single workspace — switching between studios without exporting, without switching applications, without breaking your flow.

This beginner-friendly two-day course covers all three studios in the context of a joined-up creative workflow: you will set up the workspace and build custom studio layouts, create vector artwork in the Vector Studio using shapes, paths and freehand drawing tools, edit and composite images in the Pixel Studio, construct multi-column layouts with placed images and flowing text in the Layout Studio, and export finished work for print, screen and digital publication — all within one application.

Two Days

10:00 - 16:30 UK Time

Private Options

Key Learning Points
Build vector illustrations in the Vector Studio using shapes, paths and the Pen tool
Edit and retouch images non-destructively in the Pixel Studio
Design multi-column layouts with master pages and flowing text
Switch seamlessly between Vector, Pixel and Layout studios
Export finished work for print, screen and digital publication

If attending an online course you must have a licensed copy of any software required and access to a suitable computer.

You need no previous experience to attend this course.

Who is this course for?

For designers, marketers, photographers and content creators who want to learn professional creative software without the cost of an Adobe subscription. No prior Affinity experience required.

Course Outline

The Affinity workspace

How Affinity brings Vector, Pixel and Layout into a single application
Understanding the three studios — Vector for scalable illustration, Pixel for image editing, Layout for multi-page documents
Getting around the interface, toolbars, panels and the Studio switcher
Customising your studio layout and saving setups for different project types
Setting up new documents with the right dimensions, DPI, colour space and bleed
Canvases vs artboards and when to use each
Importing existing files including PSD, AI, PDF and native Affinity formats

Vector Studio: building artwork from shapes

Drawing and combining basic and special shapes
Combining and cutting shapes using Boolean operations to build complex artwork
Flipping, rotating, aligning and distributing objects precisely
Working with the Layers panel to order, name, group and lock objects
Using the Knife Tool to slice and divide shapes

Vector Studio: colour and fills

Using the Colour Wheel, Colour Picker and manual RGB/CMYK entry
Creating, saving and reusing colour palettes in the Swatch Library
Applying linear, radial, conical and mesh gradients
Working with spot colour and transparency controls

Vector Studio: paths and freehand drawing

Drawing precise curves and straight segments with the Pen tool
Adjusting anchor points and curve handles with the Node editor
Creating freeform paths and organic lines with the Pencil tool
Working with brushes including stroke types, pressure, opacity and flow
Setting stroke width, dashes, caps and the scale with object option

Vector Studio: type and text effects

Using the Artistic Text tool for headings and display typography
Adjusting tracking, kerning, leading and baseline shift in the Character panel
Placing text on a path and fitting text to a shape outline
Adding outline fills, gradient text and other creative text styling

Pixel Studio: image editing fundamentals

Switching to the Pixel Studio and understanding raster vs vector layers
Placing, cropping, resizing and straightening images
Making precise selections using the full range of selection and masking tools
Working with adjustment layers including Brightness, Curves, Hue/Saturation and Levels
Keeping edits non-destructive with live filters and layer effects

Pixel Studio: retouching and compositing

Removing unwanted elements with the Healing Brush and Clone Brush
Filling areas naturally with the Inpainting Brush
Using masks and clipping masks for non-destructive compositing
Choosing between embedded and linked images to manage file size and updates

Layout Studio: document and typography setup

Switching to the Layout Studio for multi-page document work
Setting up documents with margins, columns, bleeds and guides
Placing, linking and flowing text between frames
Creating paragraph and character styles for consistent typography
Building master pages with headers, footers, page numbers and repeating elements

Layout Studio: images and complex layouts

Placing and scaling images within frames
Wrapping text around images and shapes
Running Preflight to check for common errors before export

Exporting finished work

Using the Export persona to batch export with slices and named layers
Choosing between PNG, JPG and SVG with the right colour profiles and compression
Setting up PDF export for print-ready and screen-optimised output
Exporting multi-page documents and individual artboards