NOTE: These are not affiliate links. I have no connection to Affinity. I just intensely dislike Adobe's astronomical subscription fees so I'm quite pleased with the following alternatives.
I'm not an experienced memestriss at this point, but I do have one bit of info to offer. For those who want a nice piece of photo editing software (perhaps to use in addition to the numerous free options online), you might consider Affinity Photo.
It's meant to be a replacement for Photoshop, but at a onetime cost of around $55 US rather than the astronomical subscription prices Adobe is charging. I believe it's available in most countries and they have versions for Mac, Windows, and iPad.
It doesn't quite have all the functionality of Photoshop yet, but Affinity is working towards that goal and it already has a lot of power and is getting close. Plenty for most memesters & memestrisses.
They have three total software options to replace Adobe products thus far, if you are interested:
I have not yet, but that's about to change. I'm very happy to see you doing this thread! I'm taking notes.
Here's a (maybe silly) question. I see other folks here sharing some of their awesome elements for meming. Is there a spot somewhere for everyone to share their individual elements so others may use them to create new memes? I'd be happy to share mine as I create them so others can use them as well.
Follow up question. Do memesters prefer PNGs (transparent backgrounds), JPGs, SVGs, or something else? Maybe a mix?
My personal thought process is that I don't mind sharing at all, nor do I wish for any credit. To me, this is about building our munitions stores. The more the merrier. But thus far, I'm not a huge fan of IMGUR so I'm hoping there are other places to share the bounty.
Purposely sit through a movie or show with the sole intention of grabbing screenshots from it that could be used later in memes (so I have like 100 blackadder screenshots, 100 Lebowski screenshots, etc)... this takes a few hours when I do it.
I had not even thought to do this! I'll have to put that on my list of resources to mine. Great suggestion.
I'm working on some other projects that will take up the next couple of days, but then I plan to start my meme warrior career. Good stuff!
Do memesters prefer PNGs (transparent backgrounds), JPGs, SVGs, or something else? Maybe a mix?
PNG and JPG/JPEG is typical format as they can be opened on all devices.
SVG stands for Scalable Vector Graphic and is what Adobe Illustrator and similar programs output. This is mostly used for commercial related things such as logos, signs, billboards, T-shirt designs, etc. The benefit here is the image will not lose any resolution or details regardless of how big or small you make it AKA no pixelation.
I tend to create memes that are as photorealistic as possible and I usually use professional fonts such as Helvetica, Gotham, etc.
Lately though, I've been using a Comic Book font I really like for some of my memes, which can be downloaded here-
As far as workflow, I've created a Virtual Machine which has no Internet access. I drag in photos I download on my main PC and do all the work inside there. Tools I use are Adobe Photoshop for the most part, but lately I've started using Snagit as well, which is very nice for creating infographs and such.
NOTE: These are not affiliate links. I have no connection to Affinity. I just intensely dislike Adobe's astronomical subscription fees so I'm quite pleased with the following alternatives.
I'm not an experienced memestriss at this point, but I do have one bit of info to offer. For those who want a nice piece of photo editing software (perhaps to use in addition to the numerous free options online), you might consider Affinity Photo.
It's meant to be a replacement for Photoshop, but at a onetime cost of around $55 US rather than the astronomical subscription prices Adobe is charging. I believe it's available in most countries and they have versions for Mac, Windows, and iPad.
It doesn't quite have all the functionality of Photoshop yet, but Affinity is working towards that goal and it already has a lot of power and is getting close. Plenty for most memesters & memestrisses.
They have three total software options to replace Adobe products thus far, if you are interested:
Affinity Photo - akin to Photoshop (raster)
Affinity Designer - akin to Illustrator (vector)
Affinity Publisher - akin to inDesign (publishing/layout)
Hope this helps.
I have not yet, but that's about to change. I'm very happy to see you doing this thread! I'm taking notes.
Here's a (maybe silly) question. I see other folks here sharing some of their awesome elements for meming. Is there a spot somewhere for everyone to share their individual elements so others may use them to create new memes? I'd be happy to share mine as I create them so others can use them as well.
Follow up question. Do memesters prefer PNGs (transparent backgrounds), JPGs, SVGs, or something else? Maybe a mix?
My personal thought process is that I don't mind sharing at all, nor do I wish for any credit. To me, this is about building our munitions stores. The more the merrier. But thus far, I'm not a huge fan of IMGUR so I'm hoping there are other places to share the bounty.
Again, thank you for hosting today's memefest.
Thank you for all the great responses!
I had not even thought to do this! I'll have to put that on my list of resources to mine. Great suggestion.
I'm working on some other projects that will take up the next couple of days, but then I plan to start my meme warrior career. Good stuff!
PNG and JPG/JPEG is typical format as they can be opened on all devices.
SVG stands for Scalable Vector Graphic and is what Adobe Illustrator and similar programs output. This is mostly used for commercial related things such as logos, signs, billboards, T-shirt designs, etc. The benefit here is the image will not lose any resolution or details regardless of how big or small you make it AKA no pixelation.
I tend to create memes that are as photorealistic as possible and I usually use professional fonts such as Helvetica, Gotham, etc.
Lately though, I've been using a Comic Book font I really like for some of my memes, which can be downloaded here-
https://www.fonts4free.net/laffayette-comic-pro-font.html
As far as workflow, I've created a Virtual Machine which has no Internet access. I drag in photos I download on my main PC and do all the work inside there. Tools I use are Adobe Photoshop for the most part, but lately I've started using Snagit as well, which is very nice for creating infographs and such.
Great info, TPoP! Thank you. I will check out Snagit. I had not heard of that.
SVGs are also great for those with craft cutting machines, especially for making stickers or vinyl decals with custom shapes and graphics.
I'm so impressed with how much people are willing to share here. Makes for a stronger meme army. Thank you, again.