DIGITAL DIY: How-To Use Your Own Fonts With PicMonkey
PicMonkey added a new free feature for users! You can now use any font, vs being limited to what is available on PicMonkey. I downloaded the fonts I use in this tutorial, from DaFont, which has thousands of free fonts. There are other free font sites too, but this one is my fav. I like scroll, kitchy, and picture fonts. Follow your computer's instructions on how to install them. Mine were to right click on the font file and click install. Worked perfectly. If you already have a lot of fonts installed, you can use those. Make sure to start with a fresh browser, so PicMonkey recognizes the new fonts. Ok onto the easy tutorial!
1) Open PicMonkey in a new browser, so it loads your own fonts into it's system. Every time you add new fonts to your computer, you'll need to open PicMonkey in a new browser, by itself, so it will load them for you. Otherwise, they won't appear when need them. After they are loaded, you can have multiple windows/pages/tabs open. I have Google Chrome, so I have tabs at the top.
Click "Design", to make something from scratch. The fonts will work with "Edit" too, but for today, I designed something special.
2) Under Design, it will default to choosing a Canvas Color to start with. You can change this easily later, by going back to Canvas Color under the "Basic Edits" top tab. This color is hex code "ffc7ee". You can move the cursor around the colors box, to chose your color, or if you know the hex code (color code) you can type it into the code box.
3) Click on the "Text" tab. Select "Yours", and you will see your installed fonts populate. For these letters, I used Stitches. Click your desired font name. Click "Add Text" and a box will show on your canvas. Type what ever you would like. I went with letters, to make a stitch sampler theme.
If you look on the right of this screenshot, you will see a Text box with editing options. I stayed with the default black. Just like selecting the canvas color, you can move the cursor around the color box to select your desired text color. or type in the hex code. I clicked the centered text icon, so all my letters were centered.
To resize the text, you can either pull or push a corner or sides of the your text box on your canvas, type in your size number on the text size drop down on the text sidebar, of select a preset one on the text size drop down.
If you need to move your text around, simply click on the text and move it around with the cursor that appears when you hover over the text.
4) For the next set of letters, I chose "Cross Stitch" and lower case letters. I edited these the same way as before, as you can do with any font...PicMonkey's or Yours. Later on, you'll see that I resized and shifted these text sections around, as I added other design elements.
5) Now, I wanted to make this a full stitching sampler theme, so I added button overlays. Click the butterfly icon, which brings up the overlays section. If you scroll down, you will see a "Buttons" section. I don't have a royal account, so I use the free options or my own overlays. I'll cover using your own overlays in a different tutorial. For this one, I used the 3rd button in the free buttons section.
When you click on the button, it will show up on your canvas. If you pull or push a corner or side you can resize the button, keeping it's ratio. However, if you want to alter the ratio, hold the shift button down while moving a side or corner. This will warp the size. I kept the ratio, since it was a nice round shape.
6) I used 4 buttons. I wanted them all the same size, but I wanted to rotate and flip their orientation, so they mirrored each other. Left click on the button on your canvas. This will select it. Left click on the button and a menu will appear. Select "Duplicate Overlay", and another button will appear.
You will see in the overlay side window, horizontal and vertical arrows. These will flip the orientation of your overlay. Horizontal for side ways and vertical for top to bottom. I did this to each button I duplicated, so I could alter the orientation. Just like the text blocks, you can move these around, by left clicking on one and moving the cursor around while holding the left click down.
7) Keeping with the sewing theme, I wanted to add a line of what looks like stitching...a line of dashes. Click the Apple icon at the bottom of the left sidebar. This is the "Themes" section. Click the 1st theme, "School U". You'll see different sections of options appear. Under "Overlays" you'll see "Dashed and Lined". Click on the 1st line of dashes in that section.
A line of dashes will appear on the canvas. I changed mine to color 38fff7, and stretched it out to fit between the top row of buttons. While it was still selected, I left clicked on it, to bring up the menu. Select "Send to Back" and the line of dashes will go behind the buttons.
Just like the buttons, duplicate this row again. Move the copy down to the bottom. Place it in between the two buttons and send it to the back again. Make another copy. With this copy, grab the tag that appears when you click on it, and turn it vertical. Left click on it, and select "Straighten". Move this line to one side, fitting it in between the buttons. Send to back again. Copy this vertical line, move the copy to the other side between the buttons, and send to back again.
8) I wanted the background to have a fabric texture. Click the "Texture" icon, right above the apple. Scroll down to the bottom. Select "Weave". Click the 2nd fabric texture. I moved the "Fade" to 30%. Click "Apply".
When you are done, select "Save". Type in a file name. Click "Save to Computer" and follow the prompts to do that.
1) Open PicMonkey in a new browser, so it loads your own fonts into it's system. Every time you add new fonts to your computer, you'll need to open PicMonkey in a new browser, by itself, so it will load them for you. Otherwise, they won't appear when need them. After they are loaded, you can have multiple windows/pages/tabs open. I have Google Chrome, so I have tabs at the top.
Click "Design", to make something from scratch. The fonts will work with "Edit" too, but for today, I designed something special.
2) Under Design, it will default to choosing a Canvas Color to start with. You can change this easily later, by going back to Canvas Color under the "Basic Edits" top tab. This color is hex code "ffc7ee". You can move the cursor around the colors box, to chose your color, or if you know the hex code (color code) you can type it into the code box.
3) Click on the "Text" tab. Select "Yours", and you will see your installed fonts populate. For these letters, I used Stitches. Click your desired font name. Click "Add Text" and a box will show on your canvas. Type what ever you would like. I went with letters, to make a stitch sampler theme.
If you look on the right of this screenshot, you will see a Text box with editing options. I stayed with the default black. Just like selecting the canvas color, you can move the cursor around the color box to select your desired text color. or type in the hex code. I clicked the centered text icon, so all my letters were centered.
To resize the text, you can either pull or push a corner or sides of the your text box on your canvas, type in your size number on the text size drop down on the text sidebar, of select a preset one on the text size drop down.
If you need to move your text around, simply click on the text and move it around with the cursor that appears when you hover over the text.
4) For the next set of letters, I chose "Cross Stitch" and lower case letters. I edited these the same way as before, as you can do with any font...PicMonkey's or Yours. Later on, you'll see that I resized and shifted these text sections around, as I added other design elements.
5) Now, I wanted to make this a full stitching sampler theme, so I added button overlays. Click the butterfly icon, which brings up the overlays section. If you scroll down, you will see a "Buttons" section. I don't have a royal account, so I use the free options or my own overlays. I'll cover using your own overlays in a different tutorial. For this one, I used the 3rd button in the free buttons section.
When you click on the button, it will show up on your canvas. If you pull or push a corner or side you can resize the button, keeping it's ratio. However, if you want to alter the ratio, hold the shift button down while moving a side or corner. This will warp the size. I kept the ratio, since it was a nice round shape.
6) I used 4 buttons. I wanted them all the same size, but I wanted to rotate and flip their orientation, so they mirrored each other. Left click on the button on your canvas. This will select it. Left click on the button and a menu will appear. Select "Duplicate Overlay", and another button will appear.
You will see in the overlay side window, horizontal and vertical arrows. These will flip the orientation of your overlay. Horizontal for side ways and vertical for top to bottom. I did this to each button I duplicated, so I could alter the orientation. Just like the text blocks, you can move these around, by left clicking on one and moving the cursor around while holding the left click down.
7) Keeping with the sewing theme, I wanted to add a line of what looks like stitching...a line of dashes. Click the Apple icon at the bottom of the left sidebar. This is the "Themes" section. Click the 1st theme, "School U". You'll see different sections of options appear. Under "Overlays" you'll see "Dashed and Lined". Click on the 1st line of dashes in that section.
A line of dashes will appear on the canvas. I changed mine to color 38fff7, and stretched it out to fit between the top row of buttons. While it was still selected, I left clicked on it, to bring up the menu. Select "Send to Back" and the line of dashes will go behind the buttons.
Just like the buttons, duplicate this row again. Move the copy down to the bottom. Place it in between the two buttons and send it to the back again. Make another copy. With this copy, grab the tag that appears when you click on it, and turn it vertical. Left click on it, and select "Straighten". Move this line to one side, fitting it in between the buttons. Send to back again. Copy this vertical line, move the copy to the other side between the buttons, and send to back again.
8) I wanted the background to have a fabric texture. Click the "Texture" icon, right above the apple. Scroll down to the bottom. Select "Weave". Click the 2nd fabric texture. I moved the "Fade" to 30%. Click "Apply".
When you are done, select "Save". Type in a file name. Click "Save to Computer" and follow the prompts to do that.
Here is the finished piece. I added my site tag to each of the images, using the Text option and "La Belle Aurore" PicMonkey font.
If you like the fonts I used for this tutorial, here is a reference sheet. I used 30 pt for each line and Arial for the font names, so you'd be able to compare the fancy fonts to a standard one. The 1st and 2nd fonts are from the step by step tutorial. The rest are from the tutorial title sheet.
Have fun adding your own fonts to your PicMonkey creations. Hope this was simple enough to understand. I made this tutorial, because I use PicMonkey often. This was not sponsored by them. Happy Makery!
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