Kevin House is the author of Up and running with Affinity Designer, we got the chance to sit down with him and find out more about his experience of writing with Packt.
Q: What is/are your specialist tech area(s)?
Kevin: Digital Illustration.
Q: How did you become an author for Packt? Tell us about your journey. What was your motivation for writing this book?
Kevin: I was approached by a Packt representative. My motivation was to hopefully teach and share my experience with Affinity Designer with anyone who might be interested in learning the application.
Q: What kind of research did you do, and how long did you spend researching before beginning the book?
Kevin: Thousands of hours of research, creating and illustrating over the last 30 years. Working with Affinity Designer since 2014.
Q: Did you face any challenges during the writing process? How did you overcome them?
Kevin: My main challenge was time management, juggling my client illustration deadlines with finding time for uninterrupted blocks of writing.
Q: What’s your take on the technologies discussed in the book? Where do you see these technologies heading in the future?
Kevin: Affinity Designer is a unique software in its class. It is a relatively new application with terrific potential. There is still some ground it needs to cover and features to be added but the future looks very bright for the application.
Q: Why should readers choose this book over others already on the market? How would you differentiate your book from its competition?
Kevin: The main reason I think would be that I am a working illustrator using the application on a daily basis for real world, deadline driven work. I know its strengths and its weaknesses and I communicate this in a straight forward approachable way. We cover a lot of ground in this book and I try to hone in on what I think the reader really needs to know to get them up and running. It’s not a software manual, it’s more like a practical guide.
Q. What are the key takeaways you want readers to come away from the book with?
Kevin: That you can do this. Through the many practical examples and the 3 ‘easy to advanced’ project exercises you can learn this software and gain the confidence to add Affinity Designer to your creative toolkit.
Q. What advice would you give to readers learning tech? Do you have any top tips?
Kevin: Take your time. Tackle one challenge at a time before moving on.
Q. Can you share any blogs, websites and forums to help readers gain a holistic view of the tech they are learning?
Kevin: https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php
https://affinity.serif.com/en-us/
https://www.behance.net/kevincreative
https://www.instagram.com/kevincreative/
Q. How would you describe your author journey with Packt? Would you recommend Packt to aspiring authors?
Kevin: Yes I would. This was my first book and while it was admittedly a ton of work, there is no way I could’ve completed it without the Packt team. They were there for me every step of the way. They listened and offered helpful and knowledgeable advice.
Q. Do you belong to any tech community groups?
Kevin: No
Q. What are your favorite tech journals? How do you keep yourself up to date on tech?
Kevin: Not applicable to me really.
Q. What is the one writing tip that you found most crucial and would like to share with aspiring authors?
Kevin: Just make a start. After that, everything comes easier… most of the time.
Q. What is that one writing tip that you found most crucial and would like to share with aspiring authors?
Kevin: Just make a start. After that, everything comes easier… most of the time.
You can find Kevin’s book on Amazon by following this link: Please click here
