Beginner's Editing Tutorial

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Hey everyone, Kida here! Our team has had 12 , and a lot of us have a spectrum of editing talents. But will all talents, they take practice. We all didn't just wake up one morning and became good editors. It took time and a few helpful tools to learn and become better. Today I'm going to share them with you in hopes of spreading more editing throughout the community. There will be a part two for people who know how to edit and want more advice to become more advanced. Anyways, here are the three basic skills you'll be learning about in the tutorial, and apps to help you master them.

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The Three Basic Editing Skills

Cropping

Cutting Renders

Manipulating Text

These skills are your entrance into making an edit. Cropping an image is easy, and generally, most photo-editing apps have a tool to do that. It's basically reducing an image to what you want it to be, or need it to be.

Cutting renders, or what some may call clipart or stickers, is way better than blending. Trust me I used to do that so many times, but when you blend an image with another image, you're not just blending the subject (the character or being featured in the image) [such as Lapis Lazuli in my tpl] you're also blending the background the subject is on. That will change the color of the background (if it isn't black or white). That's why you should practice cutting out renders, such as the one below. It just takes time, it's a lot easier for me because I use my Chromebook, but I got my start on my phone, and it's not hard to master.

To Manipulate text means being able to change the size, color, orientation (vertical or horizontal), adding shadow, stroke, or spacing, but most importantly picking a good font. The font is what helps distinguish a good edit from a bad one. The font doesn't always have to be perfectly readable, but it needs to be placed properly, and the colors shouldn't make it too difficult to read.

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Apps

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PicsArt

This is what me, and many s on Amino, use as a beginner or base app. I use this app to make my tpls (triple picture layout) for blogs, which are the last images you can see at the end of this blog. PicsArt has a lot of basic properties that can help you develop more complex ones, and it's easy to learn. It's free, with some aspects needing payment (just the ones), and I suggest it is your first app as an editor. There's many free filters, mainly the most common ones you'll find in the editing community, and even free renders by other uses, and ones you can buy from PicsArt directly. The only downfall is that sometimes the quality can randomly change and it's harder to add a shadow because you have to make one through a separate process. There are free fonts, but the next app has more fonts and better ones.

Phonto

I used to recommend 500 font, but that app has a lot of issues, and I believe that Phonto is significantly better. Unlike 500 font you don't have to give them 5 stars to receive all the fonts, and you can fonts to use on Phonto (which has an easier process that PicsArt). So the image you see above are the menus that have all the controls you can do with a text. Some of the fonts provided are common ones you'd see among any editing app, but I a lot of my fonts from [1001 fonts|001fonts.com].

PicsCollage

You can create collages on PicsArt, and both of these apps are good for making collages. The only reason I prefer this over PicsArt is that you can insert gifs that will play, unlike PicArt which can only handle photos. Otherwise, this isn't the best font wise since it's constrained compared to other editing apps, but it's straightforward to use and give you more freedom collage wise.

Websites

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Fotor

This program is what I used for making the CA Magazine, and it's really reliable. It has all basic features and even helps with centering and spacing. There are lots of fonts, and you can add some, but I think one of the best features is adding shadows. It's effortless to do so, and there's not much software that does it as well. They have so many template designs with fresh crops, and they make it easy to crop by allowing you to select a size or type size.

[BC[Giphy

This is just a basic gif software I suggest for people who also want to do multimedia edits. It allows you to images, videos, and even edit gifs. You can add text, and there are some filters they provide.

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Sourcing

Sourcing is when you add a link to any artwork, that belongs to someone else, you use in your edits. I'm adding this so that the next generation of editors develop this healthy habit. Other editors on CA and I have gotten too used to not sourcing our work. This needs to stop. Lately, if you notice in my edit blogs or post for The Amalgamates, I've been doing more to continue this trend. As someone who creates what I'd call art, I would hate it if someone used it without referencing where they go it. Sourcing can be hard, I won't lie, especially if you don't save the link right when you the image or if you get it from Pinterest or a Wikia. There's also a time when the artist deletes the direct link from where you get the artwork. My tips are to look for a signature, and if there isn't any or it's not legible, look up specific characteristics of artwork (colors, items, character, etc.) or check your history. This is just me, another community member and editor, asking the community to make an effort and try.

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Tips

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Practice and Play

You only get better at anything by practicing or playing it. Play with filters and fonts, practice cutting out renders, and even practice with different techniques and designs. In the image above, you can see how my style and quality has developed over 19 months. In my opinion and from what my peers have said, I've improved significantly, and that's because I wasn't afraid to experiment and try things. Never limit yourself or your art to a cycle of the same filter or font, always expand to something more.

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Thanks for reading! I hope this helps out a lot of you who want to begin editing, or need help getting past step 1 (ing an image). Like I said before, I'll be making another one (hopefully soon) for people who have a bit more advanced skills and wanna be able to do more. If you have any questions pertaining editing, app recommendations, or how to do something, don't be afraid to ask. Sista has already made some editing tutorials, so I suggest checking out her page for more advance techniques and tips.

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Sources

(Lapis Lazuli TPL Art)

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See Ya Later ☆ミ　☆彡