Tricks for Creating Images for Your Blog

I'm going to do something different this week. We're gonna do some work in the computer room rather then in my art studio. I got my Mac all set up so gather 'round. I want to share with you how I created the lead image for Wednesday's post. It required a couple of steps although if TW wasn't so lazy, she could have done it all in Photoshop. Are you ready cos I'm gonna reveal all my virtual design secrets right here … right now! All you PS experts can have a chuckle at this.

I knew what I wanted but TW was a little unsure about how to get there. I wanted an image where I'm looking at home in the jungle with maybe a leopard or tiger for ambiance and to show how wild this food makes me.

She had taken pics where I'm on Pop's bed posing with the Instinct food. All we needed was the jungle so we downloaded a public domain image from Unsplash, which looks more like a caged tiger in a zoo now that I look at it again. I might add that I have about four hunnert credits from depositphotos but TW loves Unsplash so she uses their images.

We brought the jungle pic into Photoshop and cropped it. TW created another layer and placed the pic of me and the food on it. First we tried to lower the opacity of the layer but didn't like the effect. We erased the background leaving just me and the food using the magic eraser tool but still didn't like that line cutting through my face. If you're not familiar with the magic eraser tool, you should be. We couldn't live without it. A couple of clicks and all the stuff we didn't want was gone. Unlike the cutout tool, it left my furs and whiskers in all their beauty. TW did a sloppy job around my paw but I didn't mind the way it looked so I gave her a pass.

We could have added text in Photoshop too since TW has about a million fonts but decided to take it into Canva to see what they had to offer. We used one of their social media templates and adjusted the location of the type until I approved. Then TW added a text block for the watermark. For the final step, we added the Edge filter to give it an ethereal look and feel.

Nothing too fancy but a striking image nonetheless. I think I might even look three-dimensional.

Check out Athena Cat Goddess Wise Kitty's blog for all the creative links in the Caturday Art Blog Hop and see all the different apps that hip cats are using. You may want to try one and participate next week. Athena and her mum would love to have you.