Using Picasa 3 to make an Avatar…A Tutorial

In my last post, you can see some of the different Avatar's I've made using Picasa 3 Free photo editing software. Now I am going to detail HOW to make these. Here is the layout of the software.

 

When you first install the software, it searches your computer and finds all your photos. This makes them accessible to edit from the software quickly and easily. On the left side of the screen you will see all of my folders with photos in them. The main window shows which photos are in the selected folder. At the bottom is the menu of what can be done with your selected photos.

 

You will see that I have 8 photos in the selected folder. When making a collage, the photos you want to use must all be in the same folder. When you have your photos ready, click on the button that says "Collage". This screen will come up. On the left side is your choices of collage types, the center has your collage, and the bottom has the shuffle button to change your photos around.

First pick which kind of collage you would like. Your choices are: Mosaic, Picture Pile, Frame Mosaic, Grid, contact Sheet and Multiple Exposure.

Once you choose a Collage type, you can modify how the collage looks including Grid spacing ( amount of space between each photo), background color, page format, draw shadows, etc. Play with these different options. I use the square: CD cover option when making my avatar for twitter, artfire, entrecard, etc.

Once you have your collage looking how you want it to look, click on create collage. It will create the collage and place it in your folder. Now you can add text to your avatar.

Choose the Font, size, color, outline color, amount of transparency, etc. Click on your photo to type what you would like.

Good luck with your photos and have fun with Picasa 3!! I hope that this helps!!