Make your own digital paper | Seamless repeating patterns, by Crystal's Crafties on YouTube. 19 min 35 s.
- Video length
- 19 min 35 s
- Time to do it
- 20 minutes
- Difficulty
- Medium
- Steps
- 8
What you need
Steps
Open Affinity Designer or Affinity Photo and create a new document with a 3000 x 3000 px artboard at 300 dpi. A square canvas tiles evenly and gives you a 10 inch sheet at print size.
Place your clipart or drawn elements on the artboard and spread them out. Let some elements run over the edges, since those are the ones you need to wrap.
Select any element that crosses the left or right edge, duplicate it, and set its X value to the original plus 3000 in the Transform panel. The copy lands on the opposite edge.
Do the same for the top and bottom edges. Duplicate those elements and change Y by 3000 px so the copies appear at the other end of the tile.
Check the corners. Elements near a corner need copies offset by 3000 px in both X and Y so all four edges line up.
Group the whole tile, duplicate the group and move the copy 3000 px right and 3000 px down. This previews the repeat and shows any gaps.
Fill the empty spots with more elements, resizing and rotating them so the spacing looks natural. Delete the preview copies when you are happy.
Export the artboard as a PNG or JPEG at 3000 x 3000 px and 300 dpi. File > Export lets you set the pixel size and quality before saving.
Tips and common mistakes
Type the offset into the Transform panel instead of dragging, because a few pixels off is enough to break the seam.
Zoom out to check the tile looks balanced before exporting, since gaps are easier to spot at small size.
Save the working file as.afdesign or.afphoto so you can edit layers later, and keep the exported PNG as the finished paper.
If you use AI-generated clipart, read the tool's licence before you sell the paper.
Questions
Do I need Affinity Designer or can I use Affinity Photo?
Both work. Designer gives you artboards and vector shapes, while Photo handles the same steps with raster layers.
What size should digital paper be?
3000 x 3000 px at 300 dpi gives a 10 x 10 inch sheet, a handy size for scrapbooking and print-on-demand. Keep the same size across a set so the papers match.
Can I make the same pattern in Canva?
You can build a repeating tile in Canva, but Affinity lets you shift artwork by an exact pixel amount, which makes a truly seamless repeat much easier to get right.
This guide was drafted from the video's details and general task knowledge. It has not been checked against the full video. Check the video and relevant product instructions before following a procedure. Report a correction.
