Get Stencil to Create Awesome Images Quickly and Easily

Stencil

Stencil is the simple image creation tool I was looking for.

I use Stencil almost every day.  The image above was created with Stencil.

Photoshop and Illustrator were always way too complicated for me.  And expensive.

But I needed to make a high quality logo with text that didn’t get all pixelated when I zoomed in, so I thought Illustrator was my only option.

Then I remembered I had a lifetime subscription to this thing called Stencil that I bought a while back through AppSumo.

Stencil was exactly what I needed now that I have a website and social media channels.

It’s Like I Could See The Future

Buy Stencil for future you

Back in 2014 when Stencil was called Share As Image I bought the lifetime deal. I thought it might be good to have an easy way to add text to images, and maybe post those on Facebook for my friends.

Now I actually need Stencil for blog featured images, podcast cover photos, logos and any kind of photo you can think of.  Sometimes I just use it to resize images or save JPGs as PNGs.

 

Here are some of my favourite things about Stencil:

  • Fonts:  You can upload your own fonts or connect directly to the Google font database so it’s always easy to find the font you need for your image.
  • Stock photos:  though I mostly use DepositPhotos for my stock images, Stencil has over 1 Million background photos for you to use if you’re making an image from scratch.
  • Graphics and icons:  There are over 200,000 searchable graphics and icons for when you just need a curvy arrow or a tiny computer icon.
  • Upload your own photos:  you can upload and store your own backgrounds and photos to be dropped into your image and resized every which way
  • Built-in image sizes:  Making a Facebook ad?  Just choose “Facebook Ad” as your image size.  Want to post that on Pinterest?  Pick the Pinterest size and move your contents around to fit the tall rectangle that Pinterest loves so much.  Custom size not in the Stencil defaults? Add as many as you want and give them names to re-use later.

Quick and Easy Images

These are just some of the things that I like about Stencil, but there are many more options that help you make images really fast and move things around like you would do in any sophisticated image creation or editing software.

It’s all online so you can work on your images from everywhere and save the progress as you go.

Stencil makes my life easier on a daily basis.

Click here to try the free version of Stencil or get the pro version for just $9/month.

 

NOTE:  THIS POST CONTAINS AFFILIATE LINKS, BUT I’VE WRITTEN IT BECAUSE I THINK STENCIL IS AWESOME, NOT JUST TO GET YOU TO CLICK ON THINGS.  IF IT BOTHERS YOU TO CLICK ON AFFILIATE LINKS, THEN PLEASE DON’T CLICK ON THEM.  I’M NOT HERE TO BOTHER YOU.  THAT WOULD BOTHER ME AND NO ONE LIKES TO BE BOTHERED.  THE MOST IMPORTANT THING TO ME IS THAT YOU KNOW THAT STENCIL IS AWESOME.  NOW, IF YOU APPRECIATE THAT I’VE LET YOU KNOW ABOUT THE AWESOMENESS OF STENCIL, THEN PLEASE SHOW YOUR APPRECIATION BY CLICKING ON THE LINKS. I DID SPEND TIME WRITING THIS AND POSTING IT FOR YOU SO I MIGHT AS WELL GET PAID BY STENCIL FOR LETTING YOU KNOW ABOUT THEM, RIGHT?  THANKS!

Depositphotos has the best stock photos on the internet

“You Get What You Pay For When It Comes to Stock Photos”

Depositphotos logo

Depositphotos was made for people who write quality content and need quality stock photos.

Writing online is not easy. It’s hard work.

When I write a post and publish it online, I spend a lot of time on it. I’m always proud of my final product.

The last thing I want to do after I spend all this time and energy on a post is just throw in some generic stock photo like this one:

Crappy generic stock photo

I want the best photo.

I want a photo that is unique and matches my writing. This one, for example, really fit with a post I was writing about false advertising:

Guy with very long nose

The only place you’re going to find that is Depositphotos.

$29 for 30 Stock Photos is Worth It

I first came across Depositphotos when they ran an AppSumo promotion:

Depositphotos old AppSumo promo

As I wrote in my AppSumo post, US$39 was a great deal for 100 photos.

But once I started using Depositphotos, I realized that they were top quality and that the US$29/month regular plan for 30 photos is still worth it.

You get to carry over any unused monthly credits so it’s not like you are forced to download all 30 photos in one month.

That works out to around $1 per photo. This might seem expensive, but it depends on how often you publish posts and how many photos you typically use in a post.

It really comes down to how much you think your posts are worth. If you value your writing, you should value the visuals that go along with it.

I’ve tried other stock photo sites and they are mostly underwhelming.

On the other sites you are promised unlimited access to hundreds of thousands of photos but when you look closer you find that there is very little variety and the more specific you get, the more out of luck you become.

You Get What You Pay For When It Comes to Stock Photos

I learned quickly that paying less than $1 doesn’t mean you’re getting a slightly worse photo. It means that you’re getting a bad photo that you don’t even want to use because it’s just filling space.

So if you’re frustrated with your existing options for stock photos, before you give up and use that crappy photo again to fill space, please head over and check out Depositphotos first.

Also sign up with AppSumo and keep your eyes peeled for another deal on 100 photos for $39. You don’t want to miss your chance if it comes around again!

Depositphotos stock photos logo

NOTE: THIS POST CONTAINS AFFILIATE LINKS, BUT I’VE WRITTEN IT BECAUSE I THINK THE STOCK PHOTOS AT DEPOSITPHOTOS ARE AWESOME, NOT JUST TO GET YOU TO CLICK ON THINGS. IF IT BOTHERS YOU TO CLICK ON AFFILIATE LINKS, THEN PLEASE DON’T CLICK ON THEM. I’M NOT HERE TO BOTHER YOU. THAT WOULD BOTHER ME AND NO ONE LIKES TO BE BOTHERED. THE MOST IMPORTANT THING TO ME IS THAT YOU KNOW THAT DEPOSITPHOTOS IS AWESOME. NOW, IF YOU APPRECIATE THAT I’VE LET YOU KNOW ABOUT THE AWESOMENESS OF DEPOSITPHOTOS, THEN PLEASE SHOW YOUR APPRECIATION BY CLICKING ON THE LINKS. I DID SPEND TIME WRITING THIS AND POSTING IT FOR YOU SO I MIGHT AS WELL GET PAID BY DEPOSITPHOTOS FOR SENDING YOU THEIR WAY, RIGHT? THANKS!