How to Texture Fill in Affinity Designer

Creating interesting textures adds depth to an image and can turn a flat looking design into something special. There are two ways to add texture to designs in Affinity Designer. We will cover them in this tutorial on how to add texture fill to text.

Using a Brush to create texture

Step 1 - Add base text

In this tutorial I will be using a bold handwritten font called Pink, but you can use any bold font from Font Bundles. Click on the Artistic Text Tool and type out your words. If you are new to Affinity Designer, check out our guide on adding text to Affinity.

Step 2 - Convert the text to Curves and Ungroup

With the text selected go to the Layers Menu and then Convert To Curves.

Go to the Layers Menu once again and Ungroup the text.

Step 3 - Weld the text

The individual letters need to be made into a single layer object. Go to the Layers Menu, then Geometry and finally click Add.

Step 4 - Switch to Pixel Persona and Select the Brush Tool

Texture brushes work in the Pixel Persona. You can find it in the upper tool bar. Pixel Persona is represented by several colorful squares.

Select the Brush Tool located in the left tool bar. It is shown as an icon of a paint brush.

Step 5 - Choose A Brush

On the right side of the screen select the brush panel and choose your brush. We will be using these textured Affinity Designer brushes by Pixelbuddha.

Step 6 - Choose A Color and paint in the texture

We will use the Color Picker Tool to select the color for the texture. Here is a great tutorial on using the Color Picker tool if you need more information.

Select the layer that the text is on and start painting with the paintbrush. Affinity Designer will automatically add a new pixel layer inside the letters. This means the texture will only show up where the letters are.

Using An Overlay To Create Texture

Step 1 - Repeat Steps and Import Overlay

Follow Steps 1 - 3above to create the base text that we are going to add our texture to. We will be using this set of grunge overlays by Clikchic Designs, but you can use any overlays or textures available on Design Bundles. Go to the File Menu and select place. Navigate to the place that the textures are saved and select it.

Step 2 - Place Texture and create a clipping mask

Click on the canvas to place the texture. From here you can make any changes to the size or rotation of the texture. Next, we will create a clipping mask for the texture overlay.

Make sure that the texture is on the layer above the wording. Right click on the texture layer and select Mask To Below.

Affinity Designer will create a mask from the texture.

Step 3 - Make Adjustments to the Mask

If you find yourself needing to move or change the size of the mask you can still do that. Click directly on the icon of the texture and you will be able to move, resize or rotate it to get the look you want.

You can use the same techniques to add texture to any object, shape or text. If you liked this tutorial you may also like our tutorial on using color palettes in Affinity Designer and making seamless patterns in Affinity Designer.