STEP BY STEP CITY SPLATTERS
Transform city scenes into colourful art in Affinity Photo
01 BLOW OUT THE SKY
Open the image then grab the Selection brush. Check ‘Snap to Edges’ in the options then paint over the sky and background details. Click Refine and increase the Border to improve the selection edge. Hit OK then click the Adjustment icon and choose Levels. Drag in the White Level to blow it out.
03 MAKE SHAPES FOR STREETS
Right-click the layer and choose ‘Rasterize’. Next trace around the next street with the Pen tool and complete it loosely within the other street shape. Fill and Rasterize again, then Cmd/ctrl+click on the street shape below to load a selection and hit Delete so that the edges match up. Repeat for the rest of the streets.
05 FILL THE SCENE
Click the arrow in the layer thumbnail to expand the layer, grab the Move tool and position the paint streak to fit neatly over the street. Hit Cmd/ctrl+u and adjust the colours if you like. Repeat the process by copying in another paint streak and placing it over the next street. Carry on until all the streets are filled in.
02 TRACE AROUND A STREET
Add a Black and White Adjustment. Next zoom in close and grab the Pen tool. Click to add anchor points and make a path that follows the shape of one of the streets, including the tops of the buildings. Click back on the starting point to complete the path. Click the Fill option and give it a random colour.
04 BLEND THE PAINTS
Open the paint image supplied. Grab the Lasso tool and make a rough selection around one of the streaks. Copy (Cmd/ctrl+c) and Paste (Cmd/ctrl+v) it into the main image, then drag the layer onto the layer name of one of the shapes. Set the blend mode of the shape layer to Screen.
06 PERFECT THE COLOURS
After hiding all the layers except the bottom three, then hit Cmd/ctrl+shift+alt+e to merge a copy. Drag this new layer to the top of the stack, then set the Blend Mode to Screen. Fine-tune the colours and try blending textures with layer blend modes (see box) to finish off your project.