For context, I want to teach myself Graphics Design as I had dropped out of college copule years ago for personal reason but still want to learn it.
I have heard from few people online that they have got Affinity running with Bottles or Wine. I really want to use less of Windows whereas possible but I’m unsure how well it performs on Linux and if there are a better alternative from Affinity and Adobe in general.
GIMP and Krita are much more versatile than folks give them credit for. And of course there’s Inkscape for vector. I would suggest learning on these tools and if you find yourself limited then you can start considering other options.
I regularly uses Affinity software, Krita, and GIMP.
Affinity software is way better designed and more feature-packed for graphic design. Affinity software avoids a lot of complexity of Adobe and make it easier for newcomer.
GIMP is not even close.
Krita on other hand is only suitable for basic image editing, not full-blown design software. It’s created for drawing-related stuff after all… You only can recommend Krita for people that looking for Clip Studio Paint, Medibang, or ibis Paint alternative.
I got it running on my two kubuntu 24.04 machines using the scripts described in this video:
https://github.com/ryzendew/AffinityOnLinux
The process was still a bit fiddly but i got all three affinity apps running now.
I hate that kind of instructions “just blindly pipe curl to bash and hope it’s not malware “
Well, jeah, i usually don’t like those too much either.
But then i just open the url and read the script line for line.
It’s just bad practice to even post such a thing. Especially with an influx of new users to linux, it appears so often it makes it seem like that’s normal behavior.
It’s like…a gun salesman handing a purchase to a customer barrel first, finger on the trigger. Like yeah, it’s not loaded, nothing is going to happen, but that’s just terrible practice.
This is just an idea, but bazzite could possibly work for affinity. It’s designed around steam and proton compatibility layer, and it can play almost all games made for Windows out of the box.
So perhaps you could use the proton compatibility layer instead of wine. You could even add the exe to steam as a “non-steam-game” to make starting the program super simple.
I am no expert here, it’s just a thought.
The Affinity suite is notoriously difficult to get working properly in WINE and/or Proton
Some people are recommending GIMP. It’s not bad for image editing. For image creation krita and Inkscape are amazing.
Yes, you can do the fundamentals & professional design work in these applications—there is no reason to be spending money just to “get into” graphic arts. Hugin + Darktable are great for photography too.
Affinity is like $30.
Krita is free—as in freedom & beer.
Krita is only usable for basic design stuff. (EDIT: DESIGN =/= PAINTING)
It’s mainly alternative to CSP, Medibang, and other painting software.
Definitely not Adobe Photoshop or Affinity Photo alternative.
There are Linux-native alternatives to Adobe and Affinity suites, though of course if you want to get used to specific app controls and shortcuts for one reason or another, you don’t have much choice.
If you’re OK with using FOSS alternatives, Inkscape and Krita are to Affinity Designer / Adobe Illustrator, GIMP is to Affinity Photo / Adobe Photoshop, Darktable is to Adobe Lightroom and Scribus is to Affinity Publisher / Adobe InDesign. All very capable tools IMO.
Unfortunately, none of them are as easy to use and full featured as Affinity softwares.
As much as I love FOSS, Affinity dev did a great job to enhance UX for first-timer, easier than Adobe or FOSS alternative.
Not to mention, so many new feature than any competitor doesn’t have yet.
The closest one in usability and innovation is Inkscape.
GIMP, Scribus, and Krita, are not even close. (Krita is not even direct alternative to them)
