Learn Spark AR for Surface Pattern Designers

Class Description

Hi! I am Jen Lezan, I’m an illustrator, graphic designer and Educator based out of the Midwest and I run Bella + Sophia Creative studio. In addition to the work I do as a freelacer and teacher, I run an Esty shop and I am always looking for interesting ways to showcase my products and the work I do as an illustrator - specifically with my surface pattern design work. As I thought about new and innovative ways to promote my work on social media, I instantly thought about instastories and the fun backgrounds I was seeing due to the fun AR features. AR if you don’t know, stands for Augemented Reality. I thought this was the perfect way to have some fun with my creations in a promotional way and share them with others. In this class, we will learn how to do this together. We will be learning how to use Spark AR studio to take our surface pattern designs to the next level by creating a background filter that can be submitted to Facebook or Instagram for use in stories.

What the class is about

In this class, you will learn how to create a set of surface pattern designs using Affinity Designer for iPad and use the Spark AR studio to translate them into background filters that we can use in instastories or your stories on FB. We will start with the basics of creating repeats in affinity designer and then creating a file that can be used and uploaded to Spark AR Studio. Then we will create a background for use in instastories as a promotional tool to showcase your surface pattern work or illustration work.

A few of the skills students will learn

You will learn how create a simple repeat pattern in Affinity Designer for iPad. We will start with the basics of understanding the tool bars and functions in the Affinity workspace, then we will start to build out our simple pattern. You will learn how to use the transform tools and brushes to create simple patterns that you can apply to your backgrounds. Then, we will export our files and get them into Spark AR studio where we will go through the process of creating an AR background and then export the file for use. Finally, we will go over how to load your file for review into the Spark AR Hub so you can get them live.

All you need to take this class is your iPad, the Affinity Designer app on it and of course your laptop or computer with Spark AR Studio downloaded onto it. Make sure you have a Facebook account and instagram account set up as well for testing. I hope you enjoy the course, let’s get creating!

An overview of the class project

For your class project, we will be creating a set of 4 seamless repeats for use as backgrounds in Spark AR. When you are done you will have a mini collection of surface pattern designs that will be used as instastories backgrounds to submit to the Spark AR Hub. When you are done with your filters - take some screen shots of your previews in SparkAR studio using your background filters.

Who the class is geared toward or if any prior knowledge or experience is required

This class is geared towards intermediate learners as the Spark AR studio software can be a little hard to navigate at first, but once you get through the process the first time, it will be easier to use. Some very basic technical knowledge of the Affinity Designer platform will be helfpul, but I will be walking you through the basics of the software.

Resources included as attachments (must be logged into the desktop version of Skillshare to access) include: Class Workbook & Resource Guide, Affinity Designer Guide, IG Effects Icon Template and a copy of the class project I created that you can view in Spark AR Studio.

As you are working in both of the programs for the course, please make sure to reference the class workbook and resource guide as I also include some step by step instructions for areas that I felt might be trickier to follow in the video.

Things to Note

You can download Spark AR at the Facebook under Business tools

You can download Affinity Designer for the iPad on the Serif website.