Get started editing images

Clipart adds an extra spark to your publications. It can liven up your pages, attract attention to specific articles, and illustrate the meaning of your text. Most of the time, you can find just what you need in The Newsletter Newsletter. But occasionally an article would be enhanced by a piece of customized clip-art. For these times, editing the existing clip-art is the solution. Many programs, such as Microsoft Word, Adobe Photoshop, and CorelDraw, offer editing options that are effective and easy to use. They allow you to remove type, add type, and combine images to produce specialized effects. You can add a person's name, the title of a specific church event, or any unique idea to the artwork you want to present in your newsletter. To get started, here are some specific ways different kinds of programs can edit images. To find out what specific tools your program offers, refer to your software manual or onscreen help menu. 

We also provide a caption-editor tool perfect to update captions for most of our clip-art and photos in our library. To learn more about our caption editor, visit our help document Using the Online Caption Editor

Desktop Publishing programs 

Microsoft Word, PageMaker, Microsoft Publisher, and other desktop publishing (DTP) programs have limited image-editing capabilities. Nonetheless, they can still be beneficial. A cropping tool can be very useful because it allows you to cut off portions of an image. For instance, you can delete text from a piece of clipart or cut off a portion that is not useful. If cropping does not get rid of an unwanted area, try using a white box to cover the area. Then you can add new text to the image. For example, a birthday graphic with a “Happy Birthday!” caption can quickly become a custom greeting that says, “Happy 100th Birthday to Millie Williams!” Keep in mind that with desktop publishing programs the new text does not actually become part of the image, although it appears that way when you print it. Another technique to consider is combining images. Using this kind of program, simply place clip-art images close together or overlap them in layers, if possible. This creates endless possibilities for art. Final cropping can get rid of any unwanted material that remains.

Image-editing programs

In image-editing programs such as PhotoShop, PhotoPaint and Image Composer, bitmap images such as TIFF, GIF or JPEG can be edited, using a few more options. Cropping tools, similar to those in desktop publishing programs, can be used to remove unwanted type or portions of the picture. In addition, image editing programs provide the options of erasing areas with an eraser tool, cutting and deleting elements using a marquee tool or a lasso tool, or filling areas with background color using a fill tool, paint bucket tool, or pencil tool.  With these possibilities, you can greatly alter any image.

Type can also be added directly to the image using a text tool.  For variety, try using the different fonts and sizes of text that are usually available. In addition, text can be copied from one image to another. These image-editing programs are also ideal for combining images. The marquee tool or lasso tool can be used to select the area you wish to copy. Then you can paste it into another picture. Portions of an image can also be copied and pasted back into the original picture to repeat elements.

Drawing Programs

Illustration programs allow vector images such as WMF and EPS to be edited and created. To remove type or other portions of the art, you can usually select it with an arrow tool, then delete it. A text tool allows you to add fonts of various sizes directly to the image.

 Each program has its own specialties, but all offer specialties, but all offer some options to enhance your library of clipart.  Take the opportunity to explore what clipart can do for your publication. 

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