Affinity for Beginners — The Only Selections & Masking Tutorial You Need
Selections and masking are two of the most important skills you can learn in Affinity — and in this tutorial, you’ll finally understand how they work and how to use them confidently.
In this beginner-friendly lesson, I walk you through the different ways you can make selections in Affinity, what masks really do, and how selections and masks work together for clean, non-destructive editing. If you’ve ever struggled with cutouts, refinements, or understanding why your selections don’t look right, this video will clear it all up.
In this tutorial, you’ll learn:
🔹 What selections are and why they matter
🔹 The different types of selection tools in Affinity
🔹 How to refine a selection for cleaner edges
🔹 What masks do (and how to use them non-destructively)
🔹 How selections and masks work together
🔹 Tips for cleaner extractions and more flexible editing
🔹 Real examples to help you practice each technique
Selections & masking are foundational skills — and mastering them will instantly improve your design workflow inside Affinity, no matter what you’re creating.
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⭐ Table of Contents
00:00 - Introduction
01:25 - Basic Selection Tools
04:30 - Super Helpful Keyboard Shortcuts/Modifiers
06:38 - Modifying Existing Selections
12:34 - The Shortcoming of the Normal "Dotted Line Selection Display"
14:07 - Layer Masks
16:01 - Masking Explained
17:29 - Editing a Mask Directly
19:36 - Why Mask Position in the Layer Stack Matters
21:13 - Releasing a Mask
24:32 - Order of Operations Can Matter
27:34 - Inverting Selections
30:53 - Quick Masks Explained
35:15 - Loading a Mask as a Selection
36:35 - More Affinity Selection Tools and Methods
44:58 - Making Selections by Color
48:36 - The Pen Tool
50:10 - Selection Modifications
51:12 - Canva AI Tools (AI Studio)
Thanks for watching, I hope you find this content helpful!
cheers,
Greg