UPDATE: SINCE PICNIK CLOSED,
I KNOW USE PICMONKEY!
YAY! I LOVE IT EVEN MORE!
Shhh...don't tell my Photoshop Elements. I have a confession to make. I am having an affair with Picnik.
How can I live with my disgust and insincerity, yet feel so happy and productive and creative and alive? If I wasn't so inspired by Picnik, I would loathe myself, but instead, I'm typing this blog post with a cat-that-just-ate-the-canary grin.
Picnik is a free, web-based tool that allows you to manipulate photos and create your own images - like logos. If you go back to my post here, the collage was made with Picnik. These photos: created on Picnik. For an upcoming post on Thanksgiving day, the photo was manipulated (recolored and text added) with Picnik. Wait until you see my new series coming in December - Craftucation Nation (sneak peek below). The banner for Craftucation Nation was created with Picnik. Yep, I am loving all the creative font choices on Picnik and the plethora of stickers, frames, and effects. Having this affair with Picnik is bliss.
Look at this other cool Picnik feature - Cloning. I took one picture and cloned out Lil O:
This is the same photo remember, I just took out Lil O!
Crazy, huh? I plan to work on my facial wrinkles next :)
Two tips:
1. You can upgrade to a premium Picnik account, but I don't think that's necessary for beginners. There is sooo much to explore in the free option and you don't even need to sign-up for Picnik to use it; no log-ins are required! However, since I am having a mad, passionate love affair with Picnik, I did upgrade for $24.95 for the year; it is worth every penny, in my artistic opinion.
2. To make your own logos and designs (like I did way above), you will need to create a blank jpeg file that can act like a blank canvas. You can easily do this in PowerPoint or another program. To do so in PowerPoint, just open PowerPoint, make a blank slide with nothing on it and then save the blank slide as a "jpeg" file. Here is a screenshot for my visual blog readers....(if you have difficulty doing this, email me and I will send you a blank file).
Since Thanksgiving is right around the corner for many of you, fabulous blog readers, why not start a new Thanksgiving tradition and gather around a computer and enjoy Picnik? You might fall madly in love like I have. And shhh, remember our little secret.
Jen
PS - Here is a super clear tutorial on how to use the premium package of Picnik to make collages. If you type "Picnik" into YouTube, you will also see more tutorials to explore.
{NEW SERIES COMING IN DECEMBER}
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| (Typography added in Picnik; Frame from Photoshop Express App for iPhone; Trader Joe Nation - a work in progress) |
