Are you stuck with your visuals? Check ‘Canva’ by @OlgaNM7

Hi all:

I usually bring you reviews and random things, but a post by our own Jo Robinson about back covers got me thinking about images and how little skill  I have at manipulating them. I’ve tried a number of programmes but find that other than the very basics, if I try to do anything a bit fancier my mind boggles and the results are less than stellar.

One day visiting a post (I think, it was a while back), I came across ‘Canva’. I wrote a post about it in my own blog and I thought that although I’m sure most people manage better than me, some might be interested in checking an option that requires very little training.

Here it goes. I’m transcribing from my original post:

I’m not an image person at all, and I decided to try and keep it simple. Thankfully, through another post I discovered something called Canva. You’ve probably already heard about it, but just in case…

Canva offers you the option of using their templates to create all kinds of things, from covers for CDs, cards, invitations, Twitter, Pinterest or Facebook posts (so you don’t need to worry about the different sizes of images required), banners, blog posts…

A little bit of everything

Like this one I prepared earlier.

You can change colours, letter sizes and types, upload and use your own images, crop, use filters, etc. They have a fair amount of free resources and quite a large amount of paying ones (it’s $1 per image or paying template or element). Then whatever you make you can download as image or PDF. And it also saves it there.

And the best thing about it is that it offers you a variety of design tutorials where you can learn how to use the different features. And those are short and practical (it gives you 5 or 6 exercises to do that take only a few minutes and you have the option of watching a very brief video if you don’t know how to do it).

Having tried a few of the programmes for manipulating images and being quite clumsy with images, I find this one easy to move around. Do give it a go. I used it to create the slides that I put together in the video (that and images Lourdes Vidal, the designer and I had considered for the cover of the book).

And talking about images, I had promised you to share a few more of the images my friend Christelle took in Florence, as both her camera and her skills are much better than mine.

So here….

Fabulous ceiling
Fabulous ceiling
I had promised the gentlemen a Venus. This is Titian's
I had promised the gentlemen a Venus. This is Titian’s
Street sculpture installation near Ponte Vecchio
Street sculpture installation near Ponte Vecchio
This one I think is so good...
This one I think is so good…

Thanks to you all for reading, to Canva for being, to my friend Christelle for her pictures and…

Thanks Canva!
Thanks Canva!

As another example, I leave you a video I created using exclusively images I put together using Canva. It’s very simple and silly, but…

Olga Núñez Miret

Olga_Núñez_Miret_author.jpg

 

 

 

 

 

 

@OlgaNM7

Olga’s WebSite

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

© Copyright-All rights reserved by litworldinterviews.wordpress.com 2015

Author: olganm

I am a language teacher, writer, bookworm, and collaborator at Sants 3 Ràdio (a local radio station in Barcelona, where I returned in 2018), who lived in the UK for 25 years and worked for many years as a forensic psychiatrist there. I also have a Ph.D. in American Literature and an MSc in Criminology. I started publishing my stories, in English and Spanish, in 2012 and now have over twenty books available in a variety of genres, a blog (in English and Spanish), and translate books for other authors (English-Spanish and vice versa). In 2020 obtained the CELTA certificate as a language teacher, and offer Spanish and English classes. Writers and readers both in English and Spanish are my friends, colleagues, and allies, and after living in the UK for over twenty-five years, have returned home, to Barcelona, Spain, searching for inspiration for my stories. I also love owls and try to keep fit following fitness YouTube videos. Do feel free to connect with me. Here are: My website/blog: http://OlgaNM.wordpress.com

18 thoughts on “Are you stuck with your visuals? Check ‘Canva’ by @OlgaNM7”

    1. I always assume I’m the last one to find out about something but there’s so much information around it’s impossible to see everything, I guess. I hope it’s useful, Noelle.

      Like

      Reply

      1. I haven’t tried any of them yet but if I ever get finished this book, I will 🙂
        Photoshop sounds intimidating. I was pretty amazed with myself when I made a book trailer for my last book using Windows movies. So far, that’s the extent of my techie ability 🙂

        Like

        Reply

        1. Thanks Aimer. I know people who manage well with Photoshop and others that only know who to do the basics with it, but that’s enough (there are whole books and courses on how to use Photoshop so…). If you’ve managed to make a movie using Windows movies, you’ll find Canva a walk in the park…
          Good luck with the book!

          Liked by 1 person

          Reply

    1. Thanks Carol. My friend Christelle is very good taking pictures and we had a great time. I found it difficult to even take a picture with her fancy camera! (I think the camera knew….)

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

Leave a comment