To give lettering a hand-drawn outline in Affinity on Mac, duplicate the text, convert the working copy to curves, and apply a path brush. Adjust its width and texture, then export with care: a textured brush can contain raster imagery even though its path remains editable.

This tutorial covers a short decorative word in the current Affinity desktop app, using its Vector Studio. The current help documents Path Brushes and Path Brush Line Style; those are the controls used below. The task is to roughen the outlines of existing letters while preserving their recognizable shapes.

Choose the finish before editing the letters

Decide whether you need a textured appearance or artwork made entirely from vector geometry. Affinity documents three brush types: New Solid Brush creates a solid vector stroke; New Textured Intensity Brush uses a raster image’s opacity; and New Textured Image Brush uses a raster image’s colors. An editable path therefore does not establish that its brush texture is entirely vector. Creating custom path brushes

Your requirement Suitable approach Main consideration
A pencil-like or dry-brush outline Apply a textured path brush to the letter curves The texture uses raster imagery
A slightly irregular, entirely vector silhouette Convert text to curves and reshape selected nodes manually You must create the irregularity yourself
Wording that remains easy to revise Keep a separate live-text original The converted working copy loses text editing

The distinction also affects the appearance. A brush applied to a converted letter follows its outline, including enclosed contours. It does not reconstruct the pen movements someone would use to write that letter. The documented operation applies a brush-based texture to selected curves or shapes. Path brush line styles

For a first attempt, use the synthetic word LOOP. Its straight edges, rounded contours, and enclosed spaces make it useful for judging whether the treatment remains readable. Choose a font already installed on your Mac with enough space inside the letters to accommodate an outline. This is an illustrative design exercise; there is no required font or universal brush-width setting.

Prepare a text copy you can reshape

Create and preserve the original wording

In the Vector Studio, select the Artistic Text Tool, click or drag on the page, and type LOOP. Set the font, size, and spacing before proceeding. Affinity identifies artistic text as suitable for prominent words, phrases, and decorative typography. Artistic text

Make a duplicate before converting anything. On the Layers panel, Control-click the text object and choose Duplicate. Keep one copy as your editable original and use the other for the brush treatment. Move the original away from the working artwork so it does not obscure your changes. Affinity documents this duplication method for objects, layers, and groups. Duplicating

Convert the working copy to curves

Select the working text object and choose Vector > Convert to Curves, or use Convert to Curves on the context toolbar. Affinity converts the object into editable curves and selects the Node Tool. After conversion, the letters no longer retain their normal font properties; changing the wording or font requires returning to the live-text original. Converting to curves

Use the Layers panel to select the letter curve objects you want to treat. If the conversion presents them within a group, expand it to reach the individual curves. Working on one letter first makes the width and texture easier to judge before applying the treatment across the word.

Apply the hand-drawn path brush

Open Window > Vector > Path Brushes and Window > Vector > Stroke. These are the documented desktop locations for the two panels. Path Brushes panel, Stroke panel

With a letter curve selected, choose a brush thumbnail in the Path Brushes panel. Browse the categories available in your installation and choose a texture with the degree of roughness you want. Affinity’s documented procedure is to select curves or shapes, select a path brush, and optionally adjust its width and properties. No particular named preset is required. Path brush line styles

On the Stroke panel, check the Style setting. Path Brush Line Style applies the brush selected in the Path Brushes panel. Set Width to control the thickness of the treatment, and use the Color or Swatches panel for the stroke color. Start with a restrained width and increase it while watching the enclosed spaces in the letters. Stroke panel

For filled lettering, keep a solid fill and use the brush as an irregular edge. Try the Stroke panel’s Draw stroke behind order: Affinity documents that this hides the inner half of a closed shape’s outline behind its fill. Draw stroke in front reveals the whole stroke. Compare the two because the fill can conceal some of the texture you selected. Stroke panel

Judge the result at its intended display size. For LOOP, inspect three places: the straight edge of the L, the enclosed spaces in the O letters, and the junction between the upright and bowl of the P. If the texture overwhelms these features, reduce the width or choose a finer brush before adding more adjustments. This inspection sequence is a practical design aid, rather than a prescribed Affinity setting.

Once the first letter works, apply the same brush and width to the remaining letter curves. Then compare the whole word. A treatment that suits a broad rounded letter may look too heavy on a narrow junction, so make local adjustments only where the word needs them.

Refine the texture without losing the letter shapes

Click Properties on the Stroke panel to edit the brush used for the selected path-brush stroke. The documented brush controls include Stroke Width, Size Variance, Opacity Variance, Body, Corners, Head Offset, and Tail Offset. Change one setting at a time so you can identify which adjustment improves the lettering. Stroke panel, Modifying path brush strokes

Use Body and Corners when the texture’s distribution or its behavior around bends needs attention. Head and tail offsets define where the brush’s end sections transition into its body. These are brush-construction controls; they do not automatically produce an attractive handwritten result. If a preset consistently looks awkward around the letter contours, trying another brush may be more productive than extensively rebuilding it. Modifying path brush strokes

You do not need a pressure-sensitive tablet for this workflow. You are applying a brush to existing curves and adjusting its appearance. If you later draw separate brush strokes, Affinity also documents Velocity and Velocity Inversed controllers for mice and trackpads on Mac, alongside Pressure for supported input devices. Those drawing controls should not be expected to recreate pen pressure retrospectively from a font outline. Path brush line styles, Modifying path brush strokes

If the completed lettering will be resized, review Scale with Object on the Stroke panel. Enabled, it scales the line and closed shape together; disabled, it keeps line width constant. Choose the behavior deliberately, then inspect the word again at its final size. Stroke panel

When every visible edge must remain vector

For an entirely vector finish, use the converted letter geometry itself to introduce irregularity. With the Node Tool, make small changes to selected nodes and curve segments rather than adding an image-based texture. Affinity explicitly supports editing the nodes and segments of converted text. This produces a hand-shaped silhouette, although it will not reproduce the grain of a raster brush. Converting to curves

Keep those edits selective: soften one contour, vary another slightly, and preserve the openings that distinguish the letters. Converting text to curves supplies editable letter geometry; it does not establish that an image-based brush applied afterward has become vector geometry.

Export the lettering without dropping its texture

Keep an editable Affinity master before creating delivery files. The current app uses .af files, and Affinity states that its newer files cannot be opened in V1 or V2 applications, although the current desktop app can open files from those older versions. Account for that boundary when sharing the source document. Affinity Download FAQs

To export, select the finished lettering and choose File > Export > Export. Choose a format preset, inspect the preview, and review Area. Selection Only excludes other overlapping layers; Selection Area includes them. Selection Only is useful here because your preserved live-text original should stay outside the delivery artwork. Export dialog

For PDF, SVG, and EPS, inspect Rasterize carefully. Affinity documents three choices: Unsupported properties rasterizes unsupported elements; Everything rasterizes all elements; and Nothing omits unsupported elements instead of rasterizing them. Selecting Nothing is therefore unsuitable as a shortcut for forcing textured artwork to become entirely vector. Export Settings

For a textured treatment, begin with Unsupported properties and inspect the exported result. Review Raster DPI, which controls the resolution of effects rasterized during export. Choose it for the intended output size and use; raising it does not turn the brush texture into vector paths. SVG and PDF delivery can still contain raster content, so their extensions alone do not establish an entirely vector result. Export Settings

SVG’s Export text as curves setting handles text and font dependence. Your converted working letters are already curves; this option concerns any text that remains in the export. It does not replace the rasterization settings for the brush treatment. Affinity also notes that exported text converted to curves loses text editability and text-to-speech use. Export Settings

In the export dialog, choose Ask for Location, click Export, name the file, and save it. Open the resulting file in the application where it will be used and compare the letter openings, texture, corners, and outer bounds with the Affinity artwork. The documented preview supports inspection before export, but checking the delivered file also reveals how its destination renders the result. Export dialog

The finished word should retain its letter shapes at the size people will actually see. Keep the live text for revisions, the curve-based working version for further styling, and an export suited to its destination. That leaves you with a useful hand-drawn treatment and a clear understanding of which parts remain vector.

Sources