Create a Flat-Style Vegetable Poster in Affinity Designer

Being healthy and active means eating
healthy food. Greens and veggies are our best friends! Let’s motivate ourselves
and create a beautiful poster in a trendy flat style, depicting a bowl full of
various vegetables. We’ll be using simple shapes, operations and Mask Layers,
drawing each vegetable in Affinity Designer. Let’s do it!

1. Draw a Precious Avocado

Avocado is actually more like a fruit, but people often prepare it as a
vegetable, so let’s include this green guy in our composition.

First of
all, create a New Document in
Affinity Designer of any desired size (for example, 600 x 600 px), make sure that you have the Draw Persona selected by default, and let’s start.

Step 1

We start by making a 180 x 180 px circle with the Ellipse
Tool (M) and fill it with pale-yellow color. Then click the Convert to Curves button in the upper
context toolbar (the area below the Persona
selectors) and select its upper node with the Node Tool (A). We drag it up a bit, extruding the shape, making it
look like an egg.

Step 2

Add another egg-like shape beneath the
first one (Command-C > Command-V), make it a bit larger, and fill it with rich green color.

Step 3

Now let’s add the inner part and the seed.
Form a smaller circle inside the yellow part and fill it with pale-green color.
Select the yellow base and the circle and Align
Horizontal these two shapes to Centre
from the upper context panel. Form a brown seed above the pale-green circle and
put a tiny highlight on top of it.

Step 4

Now we’ll create a shadow. Copy (Command-C > Command-V) the
lower dark-green shape and place it on top in the Layers panel. Fill the shape with light-beige color and in the
Layers panel lower down the Opacity
to 50% and set the Blend Mode to Multiply.

Step 5

We need the shadow to cover only the right
part of the avocado, so let’s take the Vector
Crop Tool and cut off the unneeded part. As you may notice, in the Layers panel, the Mask Layer was applied to the shape after cropping. This is a
non-destructive way of cutting the shapes, which means you can always use the Vector Crop Tool again to edit the
shape or to undo the cropping completely.

Great! Our avocado looks just like it
should look in flat style. Let’s move to the next vegetable!

2. Form a Fancy Carrot

Step 1

Again we start forming our carrot from a
circle of 170 x 170 px size, filling it
with bright-orange color. Convert to
Curves, select the bottom node with the Node Tool (A) and drag it down, forming the base of the carrot.

Step 2

Let’s add a green fluffy top to our
carrot. Make a green circle of about 85 x 85
px size. Add two smaller circles on both sides of the first one, forming a
group and connecting them to the carrot base by drawing three curved lines with
the Pencil Tool (N). Head to the Stroke panel to make the lines thicker,
setting the Width to 15pt. You can change the Stroke color of the lines to green in
the Colour panel.

Step 3

Use the Order function to rearrange the objects, placing the green part
beneath the carrot base. Otherwise, you can do it manually, dragging the green
group and dropping it under the carrot in the Layer panel, as shown in the screenshot below.

Step 4

Let’s add a semi-transparent shadow to our
carrot. Group (Command-G) all parts
of the carrot and duplicate the group (Command-C
> Command-V), and then Ungroup (Command-G)
the parts of the carrot copy. We ungroup the parts because otherwise the Operations panel won’t function.

Now,
keeping the ungrouped parts selected, head toOperationsat the top of your context panel and click theAdd button. This way you merge all the
parts into a single shape, creating a silhouette of the carrot.

Set the Opacity of the silhouette to 50% and the Blend Mode to Multiply, as
we did previously. Take the Vector Crop
Tool and cut the shape, making it cover the right part of the carrot.

Step 5

Let’s add some smaller details to our
carrot to give it a completed look. Carrots usually have those thin lines and
notches on their surface. Use the Pen
Tool (P) to add a few of them, setting the Stroke
color to darker orange and the Stroke
Width to the same 15pt as we
had for the green lines.

Step 6

Our last step here is hiding the unneeded
parts of the notches, which are outside the carrot. Group the notches and in
the Layers panel drag the notches
group under the carrot shape. You will see a blue line appears right under the
carrot (check out the screenshot below) and the notches will be placed inside the carrot shape, like inside the
mask.

You can modify the existing notches and add
more of those for both parts of the carrot.

3. Make a Ripe Radish

Step 1

As before, we start forming our radish
from the even circle of a bright pinky-red color. Convert the shape to Curves
and drag its lower node down. Then, keeping the node selected, head to the
upper context toolbar and Convert
the node to Sharp corner. Select the
upper node and squash the top of the shape a bit by dragging itdown.

Step 2

Let’s form some green leaves for the top of
the radish. These are quite simple. Create three green circles, each one smaller than the previous one, and place them one above the other in a column. Add
a straight line using the Pen Tool (P)
with a thick green Stroke, dividing
the leaf into two equal parts. Add a gentle shadow to the right part of the
leaf.

Step 3

Add a couple more leaves and place them on
top of the radish. Then form the bottom part of the vegetable. Make a
light-yellow ellipse, overlapping the lower tip. In the Layers panel, select the
ellipse shape and drag it beneath the red radish base, placing it inside the
shape, so that the unneeded parts are hidden.

Finally, finish up the radish by
creating a shadow.

4. Form a Sweet Pepper

Step 1

This time we use the Rectangle Tool (M) and create a 30 x 55 px shape for the base of the
bell pepper. Make the corners of the shape 50%
rounded from the upper context toolbar.

Step 2

Convert
the shape to
Curves and let’s make the bottom of the shape narrower. Select the lower
left node with the Node Tool (A) and
either move it to the right with the right
arrow key or use the Transform
panel and type -2 next to the X horizontal position value, this way
moving the node 2 pixels to the right.

Do the same for the lower right node, but
moving it to the left. To do so, type +2
in the X box, moving the node to the
left.

Step 3

Copy the shape, make it darker, and place it
behind the initial shape. Then add another copy and Flip it Horizontal from
the Transforms panel on top, forming
the basic bell paper shape.

Now let’s add the green top to our pepper.
Form a green ellipse and use the Pencil
Tool (N) to draw a curved stem on top. Use the Stroke panel to adjust the Stroke
Width (in my case it is 4 pt, as
I’ve made the whole pepper smaller, but you can set any other Width value to make it fit your shape).
At the bottom of the Stroke panel
you can find the Pressure options window,
which helps to manually set a custom width to each part of your line with the
help of the graphic. In our example, we made the top part of the stem wider
than its bottom.

Step 4

Add two red shapes in the back, creating the
final form of the bell pepper. Let’s add a subtle shadow to finish up the
pepper. Copy the three front shapes and merge them into a single silhouette.
Set the Opacity to 50% and the Blend Mode to Multiply.
Finally, use the Vector Crop Tool to
form the shadow. Add a smaller shadow to the inner green part of the vegetable
as well. As for the background parts, you can just make the red color of the
right part darker—no need to place an additional shadow there.

5. Make a Sunny Corn

Step 1

Maize consists of a bunch of small yellow
kernels. Let’s start by forming a group of yellow circles of 11 x 9 px size and placing them one beneath
the other in a column. You can duplicate each new circle and use the Transform panel to move the object
along the vertical axis by typing +10
in the Y field, thus moving the
corn-piece down by10 px. I’ve
created a darker-yellow base under the set of kernels to make it easier to
shape out the corn cob.

Step 2

To form the detailed shape of the corn,
let’s just copy the first column and place two copies on both sides beneath it. Make those a bit darker. Then create two more
copies and add them beneath, moving them farther from each other, making the
maize shape wider. This way we have seven columns in total.

Step 3

We don’t actually need our maize to be as
long, because its lower part will be covered with some leaves. So we can delete
the unneeded particles in each column and then make the bottom particles in
each column wider than the top ones, giving the maize a conical shape.

Step 4

Now we’ll form a leaf. Make a squashed
vertical ellipse of about 40 x 95 px
size and fill it with dark-green color. Convert
to Curves and make the upper corner of the shape Sharp.

Step 5

Create a shadow on the right part of the
leaf and make three more copies. Finally, decorate our maize with leaves,
placing two in the front of the corn and two in theback.

6. Draw a Bushy Broccoli

Step 1

Broccoli reminds us of a tree—it
consists of a branchy stem, which looks like a tree-trunk, and a fluffy green
top. Form the stem with theRectangle Tool
(M), making a narrow green stripe and then moving its upper nodes closer to
each other, so that the top looks narrower. Add smaller branches and rotate
them, placing them on both sides of the main stem.

Step 2

Let’s form the top of our broccoli. Start by
making a row of dark-green circles, covering the top of the stem. Add three
smaller circles on top, forming a nice bushy crown. Add some dimension to the
shape by placing smaller green highlights on top of the bushy shape.

Step 3

Finally, add a subtle shadow to the stem
and to the top of the broccoli to make it look complete.

7. Draw Fresh Leaves and Green Cucumbers

Step 1

Let’s make another leaf so that we have
enough minor elements for our poster. Form the leaf base from the egg-like
modified ellipse, and add a lighter-green vertical line for the stem. Use the Stroke panel to vary the Width of the stem and play with the Pressure value, making the bottom part
of the stem wider.

Add thinner lines and rotate them, placing them on both sides of the stem.

Don’t forget to add a shadow to our leaf.

Step 2

Now let’s make a funky flat cucumber. We
start by forming a narrow rectangle and make its corners Rounded by 50%.

Step 3

Convert the shape to Curves,
make the top narrower by moving the nodes closer to each other, and add a short
rounded stem on top.

Duplicate the created cucumber base, fill it with lighter
green color and make it narrower, placing it in the center of the basic shape
by Aligning both shapes to the Centre. Use the Ellipse Tool (M) to make a group of tiny circles for the bumps of
our cucumber.

Step 4

Last but not least, create a copy of the
base, place it on top, and set the Opacity
to 50% and the Blend Mode to Multiply. Use
the Vector Crop Tool to make a
half-side shadow.

8. Make a Juicy Tomato

Step 1

Start forming a tomato from a 160 x 160 px circle of a ripe red color.
Then add another, lighter circle inside for the flesh of tomato.

Step 2

Now we need to form those cavities, which
contain juice and seeds. To make this, add another darker-red circle on top of
the previous two. Form a narrow vertical stripe with the help of the Rectangle Tool (M), crossing the
circles in the middle and dividing them into two halves. Fill the stripe with
the same light-red color as the middle circle to make them blend nicely with
each other. Finally, form two small circles in the center of our tomato and
place them in the center.

Step 3

Now let’s make a simple yellow seed for the tomato. Make a small 15 x 15 px
circle, Convert it to Curves, and drag the bottom node down
to extrude the shape.

Step 4

Rotate the seed to about 30 degrees, resize it if needed, and
place it in the top left part of the tomato, inside the dark-redinnercircle. Make a
copy of the seed and flip it vertically to the bottom part. Add more seeds, filling the
dark-red cavity.

Step 5

Copy the seed group and flip it horizontally to the other side of the tomato. Form a small drop-shaped leaf from a circle
and place several copies on top of the tomato, beneath the basic shape.
Finally, add a subtle shadow to the right part of the tomato.

9. Build a Poster Composition

Step 1

Great! Now we have the set of healthy
vegetables ready.

Let’s also add some smaller particles,
which will help us to fill the blank spaces of our poster.

Use the Vector Crop Tool to slice half of the
avocado (I’ve also deleted the seed here) and half of the tomato. Use the Ellipse Tool (M) to make a round piece
of radish and a green piece of cucumber with small circular bumps on its surface.

Make several copies of the leaves that
we created earlier, and recolor some of them. Here we also add a green pea
and a yellow piece of a corn.

Step 2

Let’s form a deep bowl, which we’ll later
fill with the created vegetables. Take the Rounded
Rectangle Tool (M) and make a blue shape of about 230 x 230 px size. Adjust the corner roundness to make the shape look
almost like a circle.

Use the Vector
Crop Tool to cut off the upper part of the rectangle. Add several smaller
details to the bowl—place lighter-blue stripes on top and in the
bottom of the bowl, and decorate the base with a wide white stripe. Add a shadow
to our bowl as we did with all the previous objects.

Step 3

Start filling the bowl with veggies. Rotate
the elements and place them in layers, one beneath the other, making a nice
composition. Add several green leaves to make thepile ofveggies more fluffy and three-dimensional.

Step 4

Place the bowl in the center of the
document and draw a big, light-green circle under it. Apply a dark-green Stroke to the circle and adjust it in
the Stroke panel, switching the Style of the stroke to Dash Line with 1-3-0-0 Dash values.

Step 5

Use the vegetables from our set to rotate
them and place along the edge of the circle.

Step 6

Add smaller particles and leaves to fill
the empty spaces and to make the composition look more detailed.

Step 7

Let’s finish up our healthy poster.
Create a new Layer in the Layers panel beneath the first one,
which contains all our elements. Make a rectangle of the size of our document and
fill it with light-beige color, thus forming a gentle background.

Keep Calm and Eat Your Greens!

Great job, folks! Our healthy vegetable
poster is finished. I hope you’ve enjoyed following these simple instructions
and discovered some interestingnewtips and tricks, which can make the process of
drawing flat objects easy and fun. Stay cool and enjoy your healthy life!