An easy-to-follow tutorial on how to create custom watermarks using PicMonkey.
For the longest time I have been searching for ways to create a watermark {a transparent overlay} for my images here on Mom On Timeout. Every tutorial I could find referenced Photo Shop which I don’t have. I felt for sure there had to be a way to do it on PicMonkey and sure enough, there is! The trick to a watermark is that it has to have a transparent background and the way to do this in PicMonkey is with a collage. PicMonkey is my go-to source for all my photo-editing needs and I am so excited to be able to make custom watermarks now as well – so awesome! Okay, let’s do it!
Step 1. Go to PicMonkey.com and select “Create a collage“.
Step 2. The Collage editing screen opens up. Select the background tab on the far left all the way at the bottom. Click on “transparent background“. You’ll notice that the entire collage is now transparent because we haven’t added any images to the collage.
Step 3. Click the small “x” on any two cells to remove them. You are now left with one single transparent cell.
Step 4. Click on “Save” and save the transparent background as a .png file. You can resize it now but we will be cropping it in the next step anyways. You can see the file size is tiny :)
Step 5. Okay now we’re going to close out this collage and open up the image we just saved. Click on “Edit a photo” and open the transparent background image that you just saved {hopefully you remember where!}. You won’t see anything because it’s transparent but trust me – it’s there :)
Step 6. Now it’s time to actually design your watermark. Use the tools found on the far left to design your watermark. Use the text tools {that is the “P”}, overlays and anything else that grabs your attention to create a watermark that people will recognize as your own. You can see that I made mine very similar to my header. I also chose to make my watermark white – you can pick a different color of course! Next, we’re going to crop the image. You want to place the crop tool as snugly around your watermark as possible and then crop. Don’t worry too much about the size of your watermark because you will be able to re-size it when placing it on an image.
Step 7. Now we have the watermark nice and tightly cropped and we’re ready to save. Make sure to save it as .png file again and name it something awesome, like, I don’t know… “Watermark”!
Step 8. That’s it! You’re done! Now to add it to a photo. Open up PicMonkey and select “Edit a photo”. Click on the Overlays tab and select “Your Own”. Open the watermark and voila! It’s now on your photo! You can easily re-size the watermark and you can use the overlay tool to fade your watermark if you’d like.
Can you believe how easy that is? Now anytime I want to edit or create a brand-spankin’ new watermark I don’t have to hire someone :) Thanks for being so awesome PicMonkey!
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Thanks for the tutorial!
You’re welcome Jenn!
This was so helpful. Thank you!
You are so welcome Blair :)
Great post Trish!
Thanks Dorothy!
Thanks for sharing this! I’m going to create one right now. This will be so much easier than typing in my blog name on each picture.
Exactly! That was getting soooo old!
I LOVE Picmonkey! Thank you for the tutorial. You explained it very well. Can’t wait to do this!
Thank you Gloria! Hope you have a wonderful weekend!
Thanks so much! I love Picmonkey too! This will be super helpful as I usually open my images and just add text every single time. Huge Timesaver Thanks!
You are so welcome! I was doing the same thing :)
Thanks! Awesome tutorial!
So glad it helped Jessi!
I’ve been trying to figure this out forever! I’m redesigning my blog and want to use a logo instead of my url as the watermark. Now I know how to do it. Thanks so much for posting this.
You are so welcome Kelly! I was trying to figure it out forever too :) So glad it helped!
Thank you SO MUCH for this – it is super helpful!
You are so welcome Mary :) I’m so glad it helped!
I love it! It sounds like something I can actually do and I love Pic Monkey:). Thanks for the great tutorial. Those rolls look delicious by the way:)
You totally can Shannon! Those rolls are tomorrow’s post :)
This is EXACTLY what I needed! I have been trying to figure this out for days, lol! Thank you!! :)
Wow! That’s going to save me SO. MUCH. TIME!! Thank you so much for sharing this Trish. I knew there had to be a way to do it in PicMonkey but never thought of doing it this way. Do you do the same thing for the title on your pictures (i.e. Potato Herb Wheat Rolls)? Thanks again!
For the titles I just use the existing overlay options – there’s so many of them! So glad you found this helpful Hilda!
Thanks Trish! This will come in handly!
Awesome Tammy! Thanks for stopping by!
WOW! Thank you, thank you, thank you. I don’t think I ever would have thought of this, though I always find myself wondering when I would ever use my own overlays in PicMonkey!
Thanks so much for sharing!
You are sooo welcome! Hope you’re having a great week!
I so need this…I have the lamest watermarks ever! Thanks…pinned, Stumbled, shared!
LOL! I think that’s a pretty common situation :) Thanks for all the social media love!
Thank you so much! I love picmonkey and use it for all my pictures as well!
This is so easy; I had been editing every picture and putting my blog name on it every time; what a pain! This makes it so much easier!!!
So glad you found this helpful Sarah!
Trish…this is a great tutorial. I just began using Picmonkey. I have been using photobucket….but I like some of the features that you can do with Picmonkey. I just found your site via House of Hepworths link party. I’m a new follower, and can’t wait to look around. Please consider coming over and linking this up at my link party too. I know many of my readers that would benefit from this. Hope to see you there at The Patriotic Pam.
Pam
This is great advice and I can’t wait to try it. Just pinned!
Hi, Trish…thanks so much for the great lesson. I’ve been using PicMonkey for quite a while, but always used the text tools to brand each and every picture! Your way is a real time saver! It was great to meet you at Bloggy Boot Camp in Las Vegas and hope to run into you again at another blogging conference in the future. Take care and keep up the great work!
Thank you so much! I have been wondering the same thing, since I don’t have Photoshop either. Now following you via Facebook. (Psst, I found you via OPC’s, The Better Half’s Link Party.)
This was just what I was looking for! Thanks for a simple tutorial:)
I seriously need to sit down and create a water mark because I’m tired of typing every time I do a picture. This looks so easy to do too!!! Thank you for sharing!
Well done and extremely helpful. I have been wanting to do this for a long time…because of you, now I can. Thanks so much.
I really need to subscribe to pic monkey! This is a great tutorial! I am going to pin it for later!
I just started using this today ~ thanks for the tips!
I found you today on Featherd Nest Friday’s Linky. I hope you can stop by my blog to say hello!
~ Megin of VMG206
http://www.vmg206.blogspot.com
Thanks for stopping by Megin! Have a great weekend!
Thank you so much I am going to try this
Janice
Great! Thanks for stopping by Janice!
I just finished making my own watermark using your tutorial. Thanks for this!
Blessings,
Lisa
You are so welcome Lisa!
Thanks for the great tutorial.
You are so welcome Lori!
Great tutorial!! Thanks so much :)
Thanks for stopping by Michelle!
That is AWESOME!! Thanks for sharing!!
Krista
You’re so welcome Krista!
Thank you! I was wondering how to do this.
So welcome Carrie!
Thank you! I make my own everytime…never thought of doing it this way and saving it!! You are so smart! Thanks for sharing this idea!
So glad to help Danni! It’s been saving me lots of time :)
I wish I could hug you right through the computer screen! Your tutorial will no doubt save me countless hours of tedium wasted by MANUALLY adding watermarks to each individual picture in my photo heavy tutorials :). Happy Dance ensues as I skip away to create a new watermark.
Thank you thank you!
Amy*
Hugging you right back Amy! Have fun!
Thank you so much! This is exactly what I have been trying to figure out on my own and I have been stumped!
So glad I could help out Valarie! Thanks for visiting!
Another reason to love PicMonkey! Thanks so much for the great information! Pinned!
Thank you so much Charlene! PicMonkey to the rescue!
Hello! I’m just getting started with blogging. Thank you so very much for this great tutorial! Your site is amazing!
Welcome to the blogging world Brenda! Thank you so much for your sweet comment!
Pinned! Thanks.
Thanks for the pin!
You’re a genius! Thanks so much for this. I’m so sick of typing out my blog name on EVERY picture. Gah. This is going to save so much time!
Hehe! I’m so glad you found it helpful!
Very clever! Thanks so much! I’m so happy to get rid of the ugly generic watermark I’ve been using.
You are so welcome Carolyn! Glad you found this useful :)
Thanks for this wonderful tip. I am sure I will get use out of right away!
That’s wonderful! Thanks for stopping by!
This has been wonderful! I’ve spent the last several minutes creating a watermark and your instructions were as easy as could be. Thank you so much! I can’t wait to use my watermark!
Awesome Erika! So easy right? Thank you for stopping by and letting me know!
Great tutorial! love all those screen shots. last time I tried pic monkey it was soooo slow i couldn’t handle it. Has it sped up at all?
I haven’t ever had any problems with speed. Maybe give it another try?
Thank you for this wonderful tutorial! I’ve pinned it and now I’m off to read your other blogging tutorials.
I’m so glad you found it helpful Sharon!
Great tutorial- and who doesn’t LOVE Picmonkey- even with a silly name, it’s the best freebie tool in town!
Thank you for sharing with the rest of us! Always great to see creative minds at work. :)
Visiting from Catch As Catch Can @ My Repurposed Life linky party
Smiles,
Suz @MaytagNMom
NW Illinois
Link To My Party Project This Week
Thanks for stopping by!
Very helpful! Thanks so much!
So welcome Alison :) Thanks for stopping by!
holy schmoly!!! the tute i have been searching for for a year has ARRIVED thanks to YOU! :>D
So welcome Lisa! I’m glad to have been a help :)
This is something I have been wondering about for awhile now! Thanks so much for taking the guess work out of it!
You are so welcome Heather!
This is a gret tutorial! I just love PicMonkey and this seems simple enough and looks so professional .
PicMonkey is awesome :) Very simple Melissa and you can’t customize to your heart’s content!
I’ve been using picMonkey for quite some time
and did not think to do this… Thanks so
much for the heads up and this will be my
evening project…
Happy Spring
sandy
Awesome Sandy! Thanks for visiting!
Just did this in no time flat!!! Thank you! Brilliant….easy….and going to be such a time saver, not to mention how nice it looks. THANK YOU again for sharing and making it so simple to follow!
You are welcome Kristy! So happy to make your life a little easier :)
very great- thanks so much!
So welcome Kelly!
great tutorial! I use ippicy…. I’ll need to try picmonkey
gail
You’re a rock star! This is going to save me so much time! Thank you for a very pertinent and easy to follow tutorial.
So glad to have helped!
Thank you so much for the watermark tutorial… I now have a new one!
Susan
That’s awesome Susan!
I’ve just recently started using Picmonkey and can’t wait to give this a shot. Thanks for the tutorial.
You’re so welcome Emily!
Reading this was a duh moment for me since I’ve done this for collages but never thought to save the transparent background for other things! Totally opened up a whole new world for my blog design ideas!!
Helen
Blue Eyed Beauty Blog
Exercise Encouragement Group Blog
I have those all the time :) Thanks for stopping by Helen!
OMG…you are awesome!!! I also do not have Photoshop, and have been trying to find a way to do this…and here you are :) Thank you so much!
Thank you! I am going to give this a try.
Thanks so much for the tutorial Trish! I’ve always wondered how to do that! Pinned!
Jenn xo
I just went over to PicMonkey, followed your tutorial and it worked! Thank you so much!
Yay! Thanks for giving it a try Gina!
Yeah! I’ve been wondering how to make a watermark! You are AWESOME! Thanks for sharing this great tutorial (found ya on Tatertots & Jello party!) PINNING and making one tomorrow! =)
Awesome Marcy! I’m so glad you stopped by!
Thank you sooo much for sharing! I’ve been tryin to figure out how to do this forever!
Stopping by from TT&J Wrap Up Party!
You are so welcome Danielle! I figured if I wanted to do it others must too :) Hope you’re having a lovely weekend!
Thank you for this amazingly simple tutorial! Everything was so easy to understand. I appreciate that.
Rebecca recently posted..william + liz
I’m so glad you found it helpful Rebecca!
Thanks a lot! You saved my day! I really appreciate.
It’s great!!! Thank you very much! I searched so long for something like this!
I’m so glad it was helpful to you! Have a great weekend!
Thank you for a fabulous tutorial! I have almost made exactly what I want–but missed a step someplace–the background is white! How do i get it to be clear/transparent except for the words? THANK YOU so much!!
Check out Step 2 Karen – that should fix it! Have a great weekend!
THANK YOU Trish! Somehow I managed to skip that part :) Got it now and I love it!! You rock :)
Yay! So glad Karen!