Recently the Paint Paper Studio app was released in the app store (designed by Olya Schmidt - follow her blog or instagram) and it prompted me to share some apps I love that have fun overlays. You can use these apps to add fun sayings/clipart/doodles/etc to your photos oooorrrrr you can use them to create digital or printable journaling cards or stickers. (Thank you Criss from StopnJotCrafts on Instagram, Facebook, and Etsy for sharing your crazy cool idea with me!) I am addicted to photo apps and used to share a whole hell of a bunch here on the blog. I feel like I need a million gig iPhone to store them all. I'm so glad I have an iPad and an iPhone because I can hoard all the photo apps!
Here are my fave apps with overlays to add fun to your photos:
just realized the far right image in the collage is the ABM app + Paint Paper Studio
Paint Paper Studio - Free (in app purchases)
This app has a variety of hand drawn backgrounds that you can use or you can import your own image from your camera roll. Artwork is provided by various artists which means you get a lot of variety in styles. There are sayings and doodles included for free but you can purchase various packs to create even more designs. I loooovvveee the polka dot patterns included in the app. The only downside is that there is no custom text option so you can not add your own text.
This is the only app I've found with the largest overlay library. They claim to have 38,000 graphics in their library! To access the full library of overlays you'll need to be connected to wifi. There is a new offline option but you don't get the full force this app has to offer. Because there are so many option there are categories and a search option. You can even visit the marketplace to find more licensed overlays (Disney, etc). Open photos from your camera roll, instagram, facebook, driver, and more! You can create a collage or edit a single photo with some of the filters offered and add custom text. You're not limited to just the predesigned artwork offered. This app is truly an all in one app.
(I have a full review on Phonto and I've used TextMask in this tutorial)
These two are designed by the same company and pretty much do the same thing. They are text over photo apps - one does a text mask where the font is filled by the photo you have behind it and the other is simply text over a photo. The unique thing about this is that you can import your own fonts and create your own designs. There are no true overlays in these apps but you can use the fonts to your advantage and create your own designs. There are free and for purchase backgrounds and you as the designer have a lot of control over the text options. You can align the text you've added, create a curve, etc. These are fun design tools. I have Phonto on all my devices and use it all the time for blog, Instagram and YouTube content.
This app was designed by the crew behind the blog A Beautiful Mess. It features a bunch of hand drawn overlays - borders, frames, and doodles - but you can not add your own custom text. You can design a square or rectangle image and the borders/frames will adjust to the design. The overlays are in a specific style of the ABM designers so you won't get different artist's take on things but if you love the blog you'll love the overlays. You can also create a single image or a collage. There are fun collage options too - triangle, chevron, heart - to create a neat effect.
I love this app because of the unique mix of overlays, backgrounds, and font packs. There are overlays for any occasion, fonts to mix and match with the overlay styles, and fun vintage wallpaper inspired backgrounds. Out of all these apps I love the patterned backgrounds of the Rhonna Designs app. This app has a text mask feature built in as well so you can adjust the opacity to get a fun look.
This app is new to me but it's pretty cool. Import from your cameral or use the backgrounds provide and overlay really awesome shapes - including state shapes and greek letters for a sorority or fraternity themed designs. There are a few font packs as well for adding your own text. A fun feature that I haven't quite figured out how to use the best yet is the glitter feature. The overlays can be filled with a glitter design instead of a solid color. There aren't too many overlays but the state shapes really got me (didn't you know I love our states?) Unfortunately you can only save your designs in a square format which makes it great for Instagram but not my favorite for printing.
This app has fun hand drawn and script inspired text overlays to create inspirational images or fun dingbat doodles. Change the colors of the overlays and add multiple ones to create a unique image. The design of the app isn't fluid enough for my tastes as I find I have to do too many steps to delete an image but the artwork is unique enough for me. There aren't too many overlays but the ones they have are really impressive for making journaling cards!
I hope this little round up has helped you find some apps to download and play with. Even a search in the app store of overlay apps will return a lot of different ones to play around with. You never know what you'll find, I'm always on the hunt for more.
What are your favorite overlay apps? Any specific ones that just blow your socks off? Please share!
xoxo, Moe
Have you tried the Studio design app? I like it because there are lots of packages that let you design and if you ever get lazy you can use a template that someone else did on their design on yours and just change a few elements.
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