Artists know they need to represent themselves with the best content going, but when you’re investing all your time in growing your practice it’s hard to prioritize social media. Yet in the high-stakes art world, digital visibility is essential to growing as a brand, so saving time on creating high-quality gifs and images for your social media is essential. We’ve done the hard work for you and brought together the seven best tools for making images and gifs, so open a new tab and get creative!
Placeit
Looking to get your logo out into the world so you can share it on social media? This is an easy to use tool that will save you launching a whole photoshoot. With Placeit you can drop your logo or product into an authentic-feeling environment without the hassle. Their vast array of stock images provides plenty of options, and their video template option lets you create gifs that have your logo at the heart of them as well! This is a quality service but it’ll cost you: $14.95 for a month or invest in a year for $99.95
Live Mockups
If you want access to mockups but Placeit seems a little pricey, Live Mockups is a simple tool with a handy free option. Dale Coello, a business blogger at DraftBeyond and Last Minute Writing, explains that “by uploading text and background images and combining them with Live Mockups’ stock library you can create great images for your social media. You’re creating something beautiful and improving your visibility at the same time.” Okay, until you splash out on a paid account, the images are going to be watermarked but this is a good tool for getting started. Premium is an affordable $5 a month.
Canva
Canva features tons of templates so you can get to work creating great images for your social media without the steep learning curve you sometimes hit when working with a new tool. Canva has loads of customizable options, so you’ll be able to create something really unique. The drag and drop interface makes designing a breeze—size your image however you like and select from a wide range of fonts to suit your style.
Skitch
Skitch is a screengrab tool with a broad functionality that will let you share a hint of whatever you’re working on to your social media. With Skitch, easily loaded through keyboard shortcuts, you can draw an area of the screen to record, creating a still image or a gif if you want something a little more dynamic. Then you can play around with what you’ve got—for example, annotating it to add an extra dimension of information or blurring whatever you want to obscure.
PowerPoint
Last encountered when you had that big presentation back in your school days, PowerPoint might not be the first thing that springs to mind among artists as an image creating tool. But think of a slide as an image, and suddenly PowerPoint reveals itself as a familiar tool that can create a wide variety of images for social media! Images can be imported into slides as background, text, graphics, and icons are on-hand to be overlaid. As an added bonus you’re probably already familiar with it so you can get started creating right away!
Easel.ly
One of the most attention-grabbing pieces of content you can share is the infographic and Easel.ly’s intuitive tool lets you whip these up in a flash. “Starting with a template speeds things up, but they’re so customizable you’ll always end up with something unique,” says Louis Murrin, journalist at Writinity and Researchpapersuk. “Images, charts, and icons are amongst the vast selection of options on Easel.ly. I rarely get more likes than from one of these creations!”
Smush.it
Once you’ve created your masterpiece it’s time to share it, but large file sizes and slow loading times are a huge barrier to engagement when people are scrolling through a social media feed. That’s why bringing your file down to size can be an essential element of content creation and Smush. It is the perfect tool. Simply upload your work and watch the magic happen as your file shrinks without a compromise on quality.
As an artist, you’re always creating. Add these tools to your repertoire to create fantastic images in quick-time and supercharge your social media.
Cheri.S.Jones is an aspiring entrepreneur and business writer at Finance Assignments and Gumessays.com. She loves all things creative and works with traditional and digital materials to create art that explores the relationship between identity and technology.
