# Geometric Vector Illustration in Affinity Designer + 33 Geometric Vector Assets - review & insight | Gareth B. Davies Source: https://garethbdavies.com/course-insights/geometric-vector-illustration-in-affinity-designer-33-geometric-vector-assets/ [← All courses](https://garethbdavies.com/course-insights/) Illustration & Drawing · Solid intro · Rated 7 /10 # Geometric Vector Illustration in Affinity Designer + 33 Geometric Vector Assets Updated August 2026 Liz Kohler Brown · artist | designer | teacher | author Intermediate · 160 min A fast, technique-dense walkthrough of precision vector illustration on iPad, but only for people who already own Affinity Designer and some Procreate experience. [Get a Free Month on Skillshare](https://skillshare.eqcm.net/c/3155494/298081/4650?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.skillshare.com%2Fclasses%2Fgeometric-vector-illustration-in-affinity-designer-33-geometric-vector-assets%2F817278160) New to Skillshare? Your first month is free, enough to take this course at no cost. ## What the course actually teaches Liz Kohler Brown's class is built around four progressively harder projects, each layering on new Affinity Designer techniques: a lettering composition made of repeated triangles, a symmetrical circular motif with dotted spokes, a decorative eye illustration, and a full astronomy-themed piece that folds in gradients, textures, and dozens of premade assets. The throughline is precision. Nearly every lesson comes back to the Transform Studio, exact pixel dimensions, and the magnetics snapping tool, because the whole appeal of doing geometric work in Affinity rather than Procreate is that shapes can be locked to exact coordinates instead of eyeballed. The most useful stretch of the course is the middle section on radial symmetry. Building a circle of evenly spaced spokes or dots comes down to a simple formula: divide 360 by the number of elements you want, rotate one copy by that amount, then use Affinity's "duplicate repeats the last action" behavior to fill out the rest automatically. It's a small piece of math, but it's the kind of thing that turns a tedious manual task into a five-minute process, and it recurs throughout the later projects. ## Strengths and gaps The class is honest about being intermediate. Brown repeatedly points viewers toward her separate Affinity Surface Design class for pen tool basics and an explanation of what vectors even are, rather than re-teaching fundamentals here. That's a reasonable choice for keeping this course focused, but it also means anyone without that background will hit friction almost immediately, since concepts like stroke versus fill, node editing, and grouping are used quickly and assumed rather than explained from scratch. Where the course earns its keep is in the density of practical, transferable tricks: always giving shapes a matching stroke and fill to avoid hairline gaps between vectors, turning on "Scale with Object" so a saved asset doesn't distort when resized, and separating stroke and fill into different layers within a group so a saved asset can be recolored in seconds. These are the kind of habits that come from someone who has actually production-tested a workflow, not generic tool-tour advice. The Boolean operations lesson, where a circle and rectangle are divided to carve out a half-moon shape, is useful but brief, and the course doesn't go much further into that toolset. Similarly, the gradient and masking techniques used to reveal a texture underneath a group of vectors are shown as a single worked example rather than a generalizable method, so viewers get one recipe rather than a deeper understanding of Affinity's masking model. The 33 included vector assets and color palettes are a real value-add, not filler. Because the course spends real time explaining how Brown builds and organizes her own asset library, complete with grouped stroke and fill layers, the bundled files double as a study reference for the techniques taught in the lessons rather than just a shortcut to skip the work. Overall, this is a tightly practical, technique-first class rather than a conceptual one. It rewards someone who already has the tool literacy to keep pace and wants to see how a working illustrator actually assembles precise geometric compositions, layer by layer, angle by angle. The standout The radial rotation math (dividing 360 by the number of repeating elements, then using duplicate-and-repeat to fill a circle) turns a fiddly manual task into a repeatable, precise workflow worth the price alone. ## What you will learn - · Setting up pixel-precise documents (grid math like 9000x9000 divisible by 9) so shapes align without guesswork - · Using the Transform Studio, magnetics/snapping, and duplicate-and-repeat to build seamless geometric patterns - · Calculating rotation angles (360 divided by number of spokes) to build radial, symmetrical shapes like dotted circular motifs - · Boolean operations (divide) to cut compound shapes such as half-moons from overlapping vectors - · Building, grouping, and saving reusable vector assets with separate stroke/fill layers for fast recoloring - · Masking techniques to reveal photographic textures through vector shapes and applying gradients to backgrounds Best for: Illustrators who already know Affinity Designer's basics and want to move from freehand iPad drawing into structured, symmetrical, print-ready vector compositions. Skip it if: Complete beginners to vectors or Affinity Designer, who will be lost in the tool-menu speed and are explicitly told to watch a different class first. Clarity of Instruction Engaging Teacher Organization of Lessons Helpful Examples [Get a Free Month on Skillshare](https://skillshare.eqcm.net/c/3155494/298081/4650?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.skillshare.com%2Fclasses%2Fgeometric-vector-illustration-in-affinity-designer-33-geometric-vector-assets%2F817278160)