Category: Computer

Willow Island Logo

logo sketch

As I walk up Coxley Valley on a misty morning, I’m surrounded autumn leaves so, thinking about a new logo for Willow Island Editions, I decide that leaves might have more graphic impact than the tree-on-an-island logo that I currently use.

I pick up four crack willow leaves from alongside where the beck splits, creating the willow island that I used as a name for my self-publishing imprint.

A windswept version might have a lively look but the logo also needs a solid hint of authority as I want readers to feel that they can trust the instructions in my walks booklets.

“In nature you’re surrounded simple but stunning copyright-free design”

tree canop
Willow Island Logo: Willow Island Logo

As I sat with a latte and flapjack by the The Little Acorn, the coffee cabin at the top end of the wood, I felt that their pun of a logo shows that simpler can be better.

A woodcut-style ink drawing of the willow-leaf ‘W’ would be more punchy than using the soft autumn colours of the leaves themselves. It would also hint at my hand-drawn approach.

path amongst larches

The reason that I’m rethinking the look of Willow Island Editions is because I’m transferring my 27-year old website, www.willowisland.co.uk, from regular HTML to WordPress.

woodland path

I find that a quiet walk in the woods in the perfect way to clear my mind a bit and focus on design. In nature you’re surrounded simple but stunning copyright-free design.

Affinity versus InDesign

text printed in affinity and INDesign
Printing directly from InDesign (left) and from Affinity.

If you’re enthusiastic bordering on obsessive about typography like me, you might feel that the way Affinity prints type isn’t quite punchy enough.

“I don’t think anyone else would notice,” says Barbara, but after all the effort I’ve put into designing the page, I’d like to see it just as I imagined it, not two shades paler.

Google AI summarises the problem:

The primary reason text printed from Affinity may appear paler than from InDesign is the way black is defined and handled in the color space settings . . .

InDesign is designed for professional print workflows and often automatically handles black text as 100% black (K100), which typically results in solid, crisp, sharp edges when printed.”

A suggested workaround of setting the text to 100% black doesn’t work for me. I’d be interested to hear if there’s a simple way of getting ‘solid, crisp, sharp’ edged text Perhaps there’s a setting that I’ve missed?

I like Affinity’s innovation in combining photo editing, vector design and layout but if it’s not going handle printing text as I’d like it, I’ll have to stick with Adobe InDesign.

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Categorized as Computer

Booklet Printing with Affinity

affinity

In the latest version of Affinity, the two apps that I’d normally use in producing a booklet – one for photos the other for layout – are combined into one.

I used the third included app, the one for vector drawing, to add those orange circles to my screen shots.

Affinity is now free to download and use. There’s an option to use AI but you need a paid-for subscription. AI isn’t part of my booklet printing routine, so I can manage without that.

Some of the print settings aren’t immediately obvious, so I’ve printed this booklet as a reminder to myself, and to give me a bit of practice before going ahead and printing one of my walks booklets.

To Print as a Booklet

Print option

The Print Options in steps 5 and 6 will vary depending on what type of duplex printer you’re using.

  1. From the File menu, select Print.
  2. From the dialog, set your Paper Size, (the size that you’ll be printing on rather than the size of the finished booklet size) e.g. A4.
  3. In the pop-up menu for print options below, select Document Layout.
  4. From the Model pop-up menu, select Booklet. This instructs the print process to impose pages.
  1. From the Print Options pop-up menu, select Xerox Features.
  2. From the 2-Sided Printing pop-up menu, select ‘2-Sided Print, Flip on Short Edge’.
  3. Click Print.

Hope it works for you!

Printing a Booklet with Affinity Publisher 2

printed booklet

I couldn’t resist the 6 month free trial of the three Affinity apps – Photo, Illustrator and Publisher. Printing a booklet, which is the main thing that I’d use Affinity Publisher 2 for, can be tricky as most of the options are hidden in various drop-down menus and pop-ups and the exact settings depend on what kind of printer you’re using.

printing a booklet

I’m using a Xerox VersaLink C600 colour laser printer with a duplex option (it can print on both sides of the paper).

To Print as a Booklet

  1. From the File menu, select Print.
  2. From the dialog, set your Paper Size, e.g. A4.
  3. In the Print Options pop-up menu, select Document Layout.
  4. From the Model pop-up menu, select ‘Booklet’. This instructs the print process to impose pages.
  5. From the Print Options pop-up menu, select Xerox Features.
  6. From the 2-Sided Printing pop-up menu, select ‘2-Sided Print, Flip on Short Edge’.
  7. Click Print.

Lighthouse

Experimenting with Procreate and loosely based on Coquet Island lighthouse but minus the puffins, sandwich and roseate terns this is my take on the first project in the ‘Beginner’s Guide to Digital Painting in Procreate’. My thanks to freelance director and artist Izzy Burton for her step-by-step tutorial.

Fur Balls

Back to my animal illustration course and today we’re making our own Procreate brushes to represent animal hair. It’s the equivalent of using a fan brush or an old splayed brush in traditional watercolours.

Bag and Brush

brush

Barbara’s mum and her friend used to go into town on the access bus on a Friday morning and she’d often come back with a brush. This bannister brush from Wilko’s was a bit of a bargain at £1.49.

camera bag

I drew the brush and my camera bag in Procreate on the iPad, using Procreate’s Technical Pen.

PenTips PenPad

PenTips accessories
Procreate drawing

More PenTips goodies: glove, grip and, my favourite, the PenPad Shortcut Panel for Procreate on the iPad. I’ve used Procreate a lot and gone through dozens of tutorials but there are some shortcuts, such as ‘Cut’, that I have a mental block about. There they all are on the pad, so I don’t have to break my workflow by searching through sub-menus.

I’m still searching for my favourite virtual pen in Procreate. In Clip Studio Paint my go-to pen is usually the ‘Real G-Pen’ but in Procreate with dozens of virtual pens to choose from, I’m still undecided.

Perhaps drawing my chitted potatoes with a selection of pens from the Procreate ‘Inking’ section will help me narrow it down.

Pentips 2 Soft

Procreate drawing

I like the extra control that I get with the PenTips 2 ‘Soft’ rubber-like replacement tip for the Apple Pencil but I’ve now damaged two of the three that come in the pack.

Although most of the time when I’m drawing my touch is reasonably light, when it comes to adding colour or erasing it’s a different story. I find that it’s necessary to press on extra hard to squeeze a pool of virtual watercolour from a brush. If I’m using one of the subtler forms of the eraser I can find myself pressing hard to remove a stubborn line.

3 PenTips should potentially last 2 years but I’m getting through one a week! Perhaps I should have gone for their new tougher version designed for wiring.

The PenTip can then stick to the glass and split at the end, revealing the metal core.

Real G-Pen, Clip Studio, ‘Between the Covers’, BBC2.