Pixelmator Tips
I use Pixelmator for all of my "main images" on my blog as well as other images I create. For instance, I created my website logo using it, my husband's blog logo, and numerous iron-ons for some DIY shirts (Birthday Shirt and Disney Shirt). We spent approximately $15-$20 2 years ago on it. I would say we have definitely gotten our money's worth. I also have the iPad/iPhone versions as well. I believe that cost around $10. Since my husband and I have family iCloud on our devices, we were able to also share the use of Pixelmator on ALL of our devices (including our Macs).
There is so much you can do with this tool. Many things I have not even discovered yet. I currently do not use it as a picture editing tool which is what it is advertised as. I edit most of my pictures through Photos on the Mac because I do very little editing. For me, Photos literally does everything I need...cropping, rotating, lightening, darkening, filters, and retouching. Now that I have a really nice camera that my in laws gave me for Christmas, I am sure I will eventually start editing photos beyond Photos capabilities. The great thing with Pixelmator is that there are numerous tutorials through their website.
Again, I use Pixelmator more to create images. So that is what I am going to really go into today. By no means am I a pro, but I have learned a lot in the last few years. There is so much more for me to learn as well. So if you have tips or tricks you would like to share, feel free to leave them in the comments below. I rarely use clip art anymore. I usually create my own images from the standard shapes provided. The big thing to always remember is that you need to have an idea in mind. Whether it is something you find from Pinterest or just something you simply thought of on your own, have an idea in mind to help things go smoother as you are designing.
To create an image from scratch, I open up Pixelmator and start a new document.
My "standard" size is 5 inches by 5 inches with a 1000 pixels/inch resolution. You can adjust yours as you prefer.
Below is a screenshot of the screens I always have "open". You can use the "View" tab at the top to hide and show different screens that are more important to you.
I leave open the tools screen so that I can easily access any tool I want to use. If you want to add a shape or text, you can do it from here. You can hover each tool to see what it is.
I use shapes so often that I also keep that screen open. If you don't intend to use shapes, you will not need this open.
I keep the styles screen open for text purposes. You can add/edit shadows, colors of the text, the outline of the text, etc.
I have the colors screen open for the same reason. If I really like a new color I picked out that isn't a "standard" color, I can add it here so I can always access it.
Lastly is the layers screen. This is the most useful to me. I added some text to the document so you could see the benefit of this screen. You can click on a layer if you want to access just it. You can also click on multiple layers to group them. If you uncheck the box next to the layer, you can remove it without deleting it in case you want to use it later. And the last thing I use is the capability of moving layers in different orders. This is especially useful when you are designing new shapes using existing shapes.
So I am going to walk through one of my easier designs that I did for Brad's birthday.
I am going to start off backwards since it is an image I already designed. So here is the final screenshot.
You can see below my rolled up layers.
Here is one grouping:
And here is the final grouping:
For the fonts I used the following (I get most of my fonts from fontspace)
- Happy - Janda Cheerful Script
- Birthday - SF Balloons
- Daddy - greenteacookies
So now the breakdown of how I "drew" the cake.
I started with the base. I used the circle shape and adjusted it to be more of a long oval. It does not have an outline, and the fill is purple. It is going to be at the bottom of the layers so that it is in the back.
Next is the cake itself. I did a layered cake because at one time I planned to have "icing" separating the layers, but I changed my mind. Therefore I could have used one shape. Instead, I did two rounded squares. And I manipulated the shapes to make them cake-like.
If you double click on the shape, you will see red dots that give you the capability to edit the shape and mold it more into what you want. You will also notice white dots that allow you to make the image rounder. The fill is yellow, no outline.
Next I did the red icing. I literally just did circles starting on one side of the cake. The circle has a red outline and no fill.
The last circle I had to manipulate since it would be "off" the cake.
Then I did the cake topping. It is a circle that I adjusted to fit on top of the cake. It has a yellow fill and red outline.
The last piece was the candles. I used a rectangle shape with a gradient fill. Then I used two teardrops of different sizes. The larger one had a yellow fill while the smaller one was orange.
If you want to rotate any part of your image (like I rotated the cake slightly), right click on the image you want to rotate. Then select transform.
You will then see at the top different options to transform the selected image. If you do not see that toolbar, go under the "View" tab and be sure that you have the tool options showing.
In the future, I plan to give more tutorials on specific outfits and images I create for Melody. I have a quite a few coming up with football season and the holidays.
