Tools of the Trade: Media Production Resources
Join the meme wars today!
BowTiedBull’s Troll Tuesdays make it clear that the BowTiedJungle has a lot of media-related talent. If you want to join in but aren’t sure where to start, here’s a fairly comprehensive list of resources. No matter what you’re interested in making, there’s a way to make it.
For graphics work (including meme-making) the gold standard is the Adobe Creative Suite. Other tools come close, but if you want to do anything with images, it’s best to check out Photoshop and other Adobe software. Everyone in the design field is at least tangentially familiar with Adobe. The downside, despite the high ROI of Photoshop skills, is the high cost. Full price is $600 annually for the full Adobe Creative Suite. However, the Adobe Creative Suite is also available for free in “certain places.” If you know where to look, just raise a black flag and put on your eyepatch.
Popular Photoshop tutorial channels include:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdf6WtVkThVyEFARiUbr5yQ (Nemanja Sekulic)
Tutorials are easy to find with a simple Google search. (Or Brave Search.) For practice, do things on your own, or check out Facebook groups to fulfill Photoshop requests. For example: https://www.facebook.com/groups/photoshopeditsandrequests/
Alternatives to Adobe Photoshop:
Photopea is a free cloud-based Photoshop clone.
Affinity Photo is an inexpensive paid software, and is the closest competitor to Adobe. Sometimes there are free 30-90 day trials.
GIMP is a free open-source multi-platform image editor.
Paint.NET is another free image editor.
Pixelmator does both image editing and vector graphics.
Krita doesn’t really do photomanipulation, but it’s a decent free open-source multi-platform program for digital painting and vector graphics.
Alternatives to Adobe Illustrator:
Inkscape is a free open-source multi-platform vector graphics editor.
Alternatives to Adobe Premiere and After Effects:
DaVinci Resolve is a powerful and popular free option for video editing.
OpenShot is a free open-source multi-platform video editor.
ShotCut is a free open-source multi-platform video editor.
Wondershare Filmora is a low-cost easy-to-use video editor.
Video recording and live streaming:
OBS Studio is free, open-source, and multi-platform.
Audio production software:
Audacity is a basic free open-source multi-platform audio editor.
LMMS is another free open-source multi-platform audio editor.
Garageband is the standard Mac only audio production software.
Mixcraft is a Windows only alternative to Garageband.
FL Studio (formerly FruityLoops)
More open-source information, tutorials, and news: https://librearts.org/
For more content on audio/video production, check out Tamarin’s Substack.
Multi-purpose cloud-based SaaS:
Canva does pretty much everything for a monthly fee; photos, videos, etc.
Crello by VistaPrint is a similar service.
PixelBin includes image upscaling, background/watermark remover, etc.
Phone/tablet editing apps include:
Android links are given here, but most options are also available on iOS.
Stock graphic sources include:
Undraw for free vector graphics.
The Noun Project for free icons and photos.
Pixabay for free/paid imagery.
Unsplash for free stock photography.
Envato Elements for paid stock photos, video, audio, and more. They also have an Unlimited plan.
If you need to enhance a low-quality image or video, Topaz Labs offers paid software downloads. Some cloud-based services also exist for images, like Let’s Enhance.
AI-generated logos, social media posts, branding, and more:
Social Studio for Instagram posts.
Fronty for converting images to HTML and CSS.
Hatchful by Shopify for creating logos and branding.
LogoToUse for free logo templates.
Fontjoy for pairing multiple typefaces.
VisMe for infographics, charts, etc.
LottieFiles for animations.
Jasper.ai for copywriting.
Copy.ai for copywriting.
10015 for various image/code tool links.
Coolors for a color palette generator (alternatively, view the tools from Adobe or Canva)
FontForge for font creation and editing.
Design resources vary by industry niche. Miscellaneous useful tools include Font Squirrel’s font matcher, Encycolorpedia, and the Pantone website.
UI/UX design includes Figma, Framer, Sketch, InVision, etc.
If you need free images of faces, ThisPersonDoesNotExist is a popular resource. If you want randomly generated information to go with each face, try FakeNameGenerator.
For a big list of 100+ AI-powered tools, I have an organized guide here.
Free web hosting:
000webhost (limited features on the free plan)
Carrd.co (requires paid account for custom domains/branding)
Porkbun (Free Wordpress uses Porkbun branding)
Principles of design:
Lastly, for sharing things with others, any cloud storage service will work. Popular options include:
Disclaimer: I haven’t used all of these services. By listing them, it doesn’t imply an endorsement. There are also NO affiliate links here, to remain unbiased.