This is a continuation of the Pixlr tutorial on how to make a Facebook page cover photo for your author page in Pixlr with a Pixlr template.

If you’re using this as a Pixlr tutorial, in this post we’re going to cover opening a blank image or opening a new image window, adding text to an image using the type tool (I keep calling it the text tool), changing the text font and font size in Pixlr, and working with image layers.

In this post, I’m going to show you how to make an author logo. Basically it’s your name written in a fancy style, with a tagline if you want one. For me, that’s “ES Ivy,” and I’ll add the tagline “children’s author.” (I tried to come up with something catchier, but I haven’t been able to decide on anything.)

So open up a window with Pixlr.com. As a reminder, here are the basic parts of the Pixlr interface in your browser that we covered in [insert link.]

Pixlor tutorial: add text to image for making an author logo in Pixlr

1. We’re going to make your author name in a separate image first and then move it to our cover photo. So we’re going to open a new file. Go up to the left, to file. Click on “File” and then choose “New Image.”

 

2. Name the image (I used E.S. Ivy) and make the width 300 and the height 300.

Your new image is going to be 300 x 300 pixels. Pixels are basically the little dots that make up the pictures on your computer screen. If you’re old enough to remember reading the colored funny papers and seeing the dots, it’s kind of like that! This image as 300 dots across and 300 dots down.

3. Now a new image window, or picture area will appear. If it’s on top of your other picture area you can grab it by the gray bar at the top and drag it around to where you want it.

4. Now move over to the tool area and select the text tool by clicking on the letter A.

4. Move back to your square picture area and click somewhere in the upper left. You will get a box outline on your image and the text editing box will appear:

You can click and hold the top bar of the text box and drag it off of your photo so you can see what you’re doing better. (I left it on top so I could grab an image.)

5. Now when you type in the Text area in the text editor, the text will show up in your photo area. You might want to play around with sizes, font, and styles. I chose Curlz MZ in size 80. I think Pixlr shows some standard fonts, in addition to any fonts you have installed on your computer.

 You will also notice that while you have this text box open, if you click inside the box of text on your photo image,

you can click and hold, to drag the text around and re-position it on your photo. (Remember you can use Ctrl + Z to undo anything you don’t like.)

6. Click “okay” to close the text box.

7. Now I want you to go over and look at something. Look to the right, in area 3, at the box that’s titled “Layers.” Notice that you now have two layers: background and one named for your text.

8. Now I want to add “Ivy” in a bigger text size than ES. To change the font size we can’t just keep typing, we’ll have to add it separately. Go over to the tools area again and click on A to select the text tool. Then click back in the picture area. I typed in Ivy and changed my font size to 120.

9. Click okay.

10. Now I want you to notice something again. Look back over at your Layers box on the right. You now have three layers.

The bottom layer is the background. Think of that as a white table that the other layers are on top of. Think of the next layer, ES, as a transparent sheet with ES on it. The top layer is a transparent sheet that has Ivy on it. Let’s say that now I’ve decide that ES needs to be up a little higher with regard to Ivy. So I go over to my layers box and click on the layer ES.

Now if I move back over to my picture area and click on the ES, the text box will appear and I can move the ES text around. But if I try to click on the Ivy, instead of being able to select it and move it around, I’ll get a new text box and a new layer. If I want to move the Ivy, I first have to go over to the Layers box and select the Ivy layer.

Play around with it. Remember to hig Ctrl + Z to undo anything you don’t like.

Just in case you accidentally click on the check box to the right in the Layers box, here’s another thing. If you un-check a layer it will turn that layer off. You won’t see it anymore. If that happens – don’t panic! It’s still there! Just go over and recheck the box. 🙂

11. Now we’re going to add a tagline. I want to change the font, so I need to make a new text box. I’m also going to change the size. Make sure you have the text tool chosen by clicking on the A in the tools box. Move over to the photo area and click about where you want to put your tagline. I changed the font to Shonar Bangla size 30.

Click and hold to move your tagline around until you get it where you want it.

12. This would be a good time to save a version of the image you’ve been working on! (I forgot to do this while working on the tutorial. Arg!) In the upper left, click on file and choose save.

13. Name your file. I’ve found it useful to always include the image size in the file name. I like names that are very descriptive! I also like to keep more than one version along the way, so I added a number. Choose the format pxd (layered pixlr image) by clicking on the drop-down arrow.  This is a special file type for Pixlr, and it will let you open the file back up and work on it with all your layers if you ever want to change it. Click okay.

14. The file browser for your computer will come up so you can choose where to save it. Click save.

In the next post, we’re going to take a break from our author logo and move over and do some work on the background for our author Facebook page cover photo. (link won’t work until post goes live.)