Tutorial: Using PNG’s in Mobile Apps

I have a great little tutorial to share with you today. I absolutely LOVE the TLP line of Mobile Ready Fonts, but sometimes I want to add a little more to my photos without starting up Photoshop. Some of my favorite parts of digital kits are all the fun little wordy bits and I knew there just had to be a way to add them to my photos directly from my phone. So I started experimenting and you know what?!?!? It worked! And now I can share what I learned with all of you 🙂

What You Need*:
Mobile Phone
Dropbox
Phonto
A few of your favorite TLP Elements in PNG format

To start you will need to upload a few elements into Dropbox from your computer. I am using bits from Stated Elements by Sara Gleason.

Open Dropbox on your mobile device and save each element to your camera roll.

I like to double check that all of my photos saved correctly before I open Phonto. You may notice that the background of some PNG will be black. This is normal, it will be transparent when added to your photo later.

Next open Phonto and add your photo like you would normally. In the bottom left corner you will see a menu icon, tap that.

A menu will open, tap Add Image.

Once you have selected the PNG file to add you will see this, click done.

Now just like scrapping a page  from your computer, resize, move and add your PNG’s until you are happy, then save 🙂

Now for some tips.
1. Your elements will layer over your photo in the order that you add them. To bring a layer to the top simply tap it with your finger or a stylus.

2. Any part of your PNG that is “hanging off” the edge of the photo will be trimmed when you save.

3. Phonto has no drop shadow feature, so this works best with word bits, digital stamps or digital washi tape.

Until next time, keep sharing and hashtagging!

* I use the free versions of all these apps with an iPhone 5s and iPad Mini.