#*my photoshop tutorials

For either option, you'll need to save the original gif to your computer. Tumblr usually converts gifs into another format, gifv, which doesn't save correctly. To make sure you can download a gif correctly, right click it and click Copy image link.

Paste that image link into a new tab, load it, and look at the URL in the top bar.

If the URL ends with .gif -- you can download it as is. Right click the image and save it to your computer.

If the URL ends with .gifv -- you need to do another step. Go to the URL and remove the v at the end, so it just ends with .gif, then hit enter to reload with the new URL. You can now right click the image and save it.

Option 1 - ILoveImg

To crop a gif without using Photoshop, you can use ILoveImg -- the link is here. There are similar sites out there, but this one accepts gifs and I found it the most straightforward to use. It looks like this:

Click Select images and upload your gif. It'll now look like this:

Type the dimensions you want the final icon on the left -- the standard icon size here on Tumblr is 100x100.

You'll see the blue cropping box on your gif has changed size. Click the center of that box and drag it so it frames the image how you like.

Then click Crop image in the bottom right. It will take you to a new screen to download your cropped icon.

For most gifs, that should be fine. However, you may run into a gif whose subject is either too large or too small, and the framing of the icon looks strange. I'll use this one of mine as an example.

When I upload this to the site, and enter in the width and height as 100, the square is too small to show his entire face.

As a result, the final icon looks very awkward.

To get around this, go back to the crop options screen. Instead of typing 100x100, type a larger number. It just needs to be square, so the same number for the width and the height. Keep trying larger numbers until the resulting square is big enough to frame the entire face -- for this one, 140x140 worked.

You'll then wind up with a nicer looking icon that's bigger than before.

Now you can go to the same site's resize image section. Upload the icon you just made there.

On the right, change the width and height to 100.

Then click Resize images to download your new icon. This one will be the correct size and have the better framing.

You could also make a bunch of square gif icons at once, in all different sizes, then upload them to resize all at once. It should be able to turn all of them into 100x100 in one go, which would save you time.

Option 2 - Photoshop

For this option, you'll need Photoshop. I currently have 24.1, but any version should work.

Open your gif in Photoshop.

Select the crop tool on the left toolbar (or hit C on your keyboard). Here's what it looks like:

Along the top bar, you'll see a drop down menu.

Open it and change it to W x H x Resolution.

In the two boxes to the right of it, enter 100 and 100.

You'll now see the cropping box on your gif.

Click and drag the corners of this box to resize it. Click the middle of the box and drag to reposition it. Get it size and positioned just how you want it.

When you have it how you want it, click the check mark in the top bar (or hit Enter).

You should now see your gif has been cropped into an icon.

Now you just need to export this new gif. Go to File > Export > Save for web (Legacy). You can also use the keyboard shortcut CTRL + ALT + SHIFT + S.

This will pop up a new window. You don't need to understand what most of this means. These are the settings I use:

The main things that you need to check are that Colors in the top right says 256, and that Looping Options in the bottom right says Forever. If your final icon has poor quality, try changing some of the other dropdowns in the top right and see how that improves things. You'll find the best settings that work for you. You can preview your gif by clicking the play button in the bottom right corner.

When it's how you want it, click save and save it to your computer.