in this tutorial i'll show you how to easily add a watermark to your photos with a single click of
a brush tool but before i can create this custom brush i first need to produce a watermark to do
this i'll start by creating a new empty image with the new option in the affinity photo file menu
this is to give me a working image where i can create my watermark the important thing is that
it needs to be of a reasonable size so that you can see what you're doing i'll be using
my youtube thumbnail preset for this which produces an image that's 1920x1080 pixels
my next step is to fill the image with black using the flood fill tool that's going to make it easier
to see the white text of my watermark when i work with it to add the text of the watermark i'll use
the artistic text tool if we look at the context sensitive toolbar you can see the different text
options i want to use white text for the watermark which i'll pick by clicking the color swatch i
also want to use a large font size to help me see the text so i'll pick 144 point don't worry about
getting the font size right at this stage though because we're going to change it in a minute we
just need to be able to see the individual letters we're working with clearly the main text i want to
use for the watermark is my name so i'll enter that first now using the move tool i can select
the text to move it around the image but i can also use this to resize the text by clicking
and dragging these side and corner handles the next step is to choose a more inspiring font for
the watermark the best font to use for a name is a script style font to make it look like a signature
i'll use one called whisper which i've already downloaded from the google fonts website
i'll include the link to it in the youtube video description having changed the font i need to
resize the text again because it's looking a little small to work with the effect i want
to create is having the first letter in both of my names appear larger than the rest of the text if i
double click on the text of my name affinity photo switches me back to using the artistic text tool
now i can select the text that i want to resize in my first name what i'm trying to do when i resize
the font is set a relationship between the size of the first letter and the rest of the text now
i can repeat the step with my other name this is probably going to leave your watermark looking a
little small so select the move tool again then use one of the corner drag handles to resize it
using the corner handle keeps the width and height of the text in proportion
in the next step of creating this watermark we're going to work with the individual letters in the
text but before we can do that we should duplicate the layer in case we make any mistakes if we need
to start over again it means we don't need to repeat everything we've done so far i'll just turn
off the visibility on the original layer so that it's not distracting when we edit the watermark
now be sure to select the new layer in the layer studio panel and have the text selected with the
move tool you'll then see the convert to curves button in the toolbar click this and it converts
the watermark text into a group of layers each layer containing a different letter of the text
now i can reposition the individual letters in the watermark all i need to do is click the layer
with the letter and then drag it into position i can also use the arrow keys on my keyboard to
nudge them into position this allows me to make the letters of the watermark overlap just like
they would in a signature in a minute i'm going to add my website address to the watermark but before
i do that i'm going to make the r in my first name larger and also move it down in the text
i'll then select all the layers for the letters that make up my first name and i'll rotate them
slightly this gives my first name in the signature a nice angle i can then continue to select move
size rotate and even stretch the different parts of the watermark to produce something that looks
unique having done that i can add my website address using the artistic text tool again
as before i need to choose a suitable font this time i'll pick a regular style font rather than
a script so that it gives a more professional feel a couple of rules of thumb to help you are
don't use more than two fonts for your watermark and if you have two elements of text don't use a
script font for both of them i'm going to pick a serif based font for this which is copper plate
and i'm going to use a light weight this also converts my text to use small caps but you can
use small caps with any font all you need to do is open the character studio panel from the view menu
then in the typography section apply the small caps option when you have the different elements
of your watermark in position you can use them to create a custom affinity photo brush
to create the brush you need to use the brushy studio panel if it's not visible you can select
it in the main view menu under the studio section when you have a lot of brushes in affinity photo
as i do it's a good idea to organize them into categories i already have a category called
watermarks but if you need to create one select the create new category option in the panel menu
my next step is to merge the various layers of my watermark together onto a single layer first
though i'll hide the black background layer so that it doesn't get added to the watermark
this means the text in my watermark is going to be on a transparent background then using the move
tool i'll select the layers that i want to merge by clicking them whilst holding down my shift key
i'll then use the keyboard shortcut of shift option command in e which on a windows pc
is shift control alternate this produces a new layer containing all the elements of my watermark
i can then save this as a new custom brush using the panel menu in the brushy studio panel
it's also a good idea to rename the brush by right-clicking the entry in the brushes panel
having created a watermark brush let's look at how to apply it to a photo all i need to do is select
my brush tool in affinity photo and then click on the image where i want to add the watermark
and because i'm using a brush i can change its size in either the toolbar or using the square
brackets on my keyboard the drawback with this approach though is that it applies the
watermark directly to the pixels of the image i find it's much better to first add a new empty
layer using the layers menu you can then apply the watermark to that layer allowing you to hide
and display it then if you use the move tool you can reposition the watermark as well as resize it
the reason that i no like to use a watermark on my images isn't to stop people copying them rather
it's to let people know that i took the photo and where they can find my website you will never
prevent people removing a watermark if they really want to with a bit of careful planning it's easy
to remove anything from a photo as i show in this video it's a great one to watch next and it shows
the power of affinity photo tools don't forget to subscribe and i'll see you in the next video