How to Make a Flat Character in Affinity Designer

In this tutorial, we will be creating a flat character illustration in Affinity Designer. A flat character is a 2D design, sometimes based on a reference photo. This style of drawing is very popular due to its neat and colorful design.

To get started, I'm going to be using a reference photo of a little boy eating ice-cream.

Step 1: Place your reference images

Start by creating a new document and placing the reference image into the canvas.

Resize your image if needed.

And, lock it (command/Control + L) by clicking on the small padlock on the top right corner of the Layers panel.

Step 2: Create the color palette

You can create a color palette from your image. In the Swatches panel, click on the small menu on the top right side of the panel and choose create palette from image.

Select the number of colors and other settings in the popup and click OK.

Your new color palette should now be in the Swatches panel.

Step 3: Start outlining the character

First, create a new layer by clicking on the icon on the bottom right side of the Layers panel.

Use the Ellipse Tool (M) for the face.

Click on the convert to curves button to make the shape editable.

Then, use the Node tool (A) to adjust the shape to the subject’s face.

Depending on what kind of design style you want to create, make it more or less accurate.

Step 4: Use the Pen Tool for more complex shapes

The more complex shapes need to be done with the Pen Tool (P). If you need to make a curved path straight while creating the nodes, just click on top of it. You can also do it in the Pen studio panel on the top menu.

Use the Node tool (A) to select the individual nodes and adjust your shape if needed. Continue doing this until you finish outlining your character.

Step 5: Add the details

For some details like the eyes and nostrils, you can create the shapes, select them and create a copy (command/control + C, and command/control + V).

Then, right-click on top of the duplicate, choose transform > flip horizontal.

And then drag the duplicate to its desired position.

Remember to create some overlapping paths where the “shadows” or darker color areas should be.

Step 6: Join the shapes that need it

Some of the shapes created may need to be merged together, just select them and click add on the Geometry studio panel.

Step 7: Add color and adjust placement of shapes

Start changing the color of the shapes to the ones from the color palette.

To add the shaded parts, create them with the pen tool (you don’t need to make their outsides fit the ones of the other shape). Cut them (command/control + X).

Then, select the other shape, and swap the fill and stroke colors and finally, go to edit > paste inside.

Sometimes you may need to place certain shapes on top or under others. Right-click on top and go to Arrange and choose the placement you want (Top, bottom, etc.).

You can also use the color picker tool (I) to select colors that are not included in your palette.

Keep adding the shaded portions to your various shapes. You can always use the node tool to modify nodes and/or create more shapes with the pen tool.

You may need to swap the fill and stroke color back and forth to be able to see the reference image below.

Step 8: Check over your character and add details

Check how your flat character looks like and add details to it if you think they are needed. You can also add some background shapes to complement your design.

This is our before and after.

If you want to learn how to create this type of artwork with other programs also, you can check how to draw flat characters in Procreate or How to make a flat character in Illustrator.