How to Create a Simple Word Poster

Since sharing my original posters, I’ve been asked how I created them. I know many talented artists and writers who would benefit from adding their own quotes or artwork to a “meme,” so maybe I can help with a basic poster-creating tutorial using a free online editor.

Both Pizap.com and Picmonkey.com are good examples of free editors that give the option to edit an existing photo or to create a blank poster from scratch. Depending on which online editor you are using, the technique is often quite similar. Here I will show you how to create a simple poster using Pizap.com since it is the most basic free online photo editor I like to use.

How To:

-After choosing whether you are editing an existing photo or creating a new poster, make your selection of size.

-Then, you will select a color from the palette. When choosing a background color, remember that your text will overlay whatever color you choose, so you likely want to go with either a light or dark color. You can always experiment, so don’t stress. Have fun with it!

-I then chose a frame for my poster image by selecting the square frame icon at the top of the screen. Pizap has a wide variety of frames to choose from- especially in their “Simple” category. Here you can see I chose soft white scrolls to frame this image.

Slide 1: This is the first screen you will come to. Click on the box where it says “Canvas Color” and a color palette will allow you to choose your background color.

Slide 2: Notice the square frame icon is selected above to display the frames. Then I chose the “Simple” frames collection.

–Now I will choose Text by clicking the “T” at the top of the screen. Write your text in the white box and it will appear in the text box on your poster where you can move it around by clicking and dragging. When writing text for posters, I recommend using several text boxes so you can arrange your words easily inside of your poster. With longer quotes, you may also want to use a couple different fonts, so getting used to typing only a few words in each text box will help in your designs. I encourage you to play with your fonts and sizes, but **make sure you click “OK” each time you are done editing each individual text box.** I tend to spend most of my time on a poster arranging text and experimenting with fonts.

-On the bottom of the screen, you will see 3 boxes. One is your text color, one is “Glow” or backlight, and the other adds color inside your textbox. In Pizap, it automatically backlights the text for you. It’s a good idea to un-check the “Glow” box to experiment with the way it looks or view your text with different colors backlit. My image I am creating is without any backlight or “glow” added.

-To add a Filter or Overlay, select the wand icon at the top of the screen. There are several to choose from, and each filter will make the image look completely different. You will enjoy layering filters over your photos also. Just remember that they do layer over top of one another, so make sure to remove each one after viewing it on your image. There are filters in the frames section as well.

Slide 1: Notice where the text box is, the font selection of Chantilli, and the font size. Below, I can change color of my text, and when I’m done typing each section of text, I click the blue “OK” button.

Slide 2: I added an “Overlay” or Filter I found in the frames section (see frames icon selected above?). You can also access more Filters by selecting the wand icon. As you can see, Filters change the whole look of an image.

Slide 1: Here, you can see I changed my font as well as added 2 butterflies from the “Stickers” section. I clicked on the Stickers or embellishments I wanted, then clicked to drag, and used the prongs surrounding the butterfly to make it larger, smaller, or turn in any direction. Notice above, the Heart icon is highlighted to access Pizap’s stickers.

Slide 2: All done! I finished editing my poster, clicked “Save” at the top of the screen, and was sure to choose the “download to my computer” option during the saving process. It also asks if I wanted to share on Facebook, Twitter, and other social networking sites.

Completed Poster using Pizap

I suggest getting acclimated to a simple editor like Pizap if you are interested in making posters with more sophisticated software later on. You can do so many things with free photo editors when you allow yourself to play around freely and experiment. At first, an editor might seem to be limited in options, but if you look with a discerning creative eye, you realize how much you can do with your images.

Pizap has a great frames selection, especially in their “simple” frames set that other editors might ask you to pay for. And Pizap also allows you to cut images out of other photos and insert them into your poster. I also like their large selection of filters, and I’ve noticed they’ve recently added more since reconstructing their page. When you connect your facebook or Twitter account with Pizap, your friends who create with Pizap can also like and comment on the images you create.

If you have been interested in creating a poster or editing an image of your own, I hope you try playing around with a simple editor like this one. I’d encourage you to first “Edit” a photo and play around with all of the tools available to you, lay text over top of it, try filters, etc. And then, try creating a poster from scratch with your favorite short quote. If you do, make sure to download your image to your computer and email it to me at abodyofhope@inbox.com. I’d love to see your creation!

If this tutorial helped you, let me know in comments and I will do a second one on how to edit in Picmonkey.com

Photo edited using Pizap

10000 Spoons Poster Made on Pizap