#gif icon tutorial

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.

1. I don't show where I downloaded the video because it depends on what i'm giffing. But I usually download torrent videos.

2. When I click "import > video frames to layers" a screen shows. I move those arrows to find the exact part of the video I wanna gif. If the video is too big, this doesn't work properly - it will open like 500 frames at once. What I do is to crop the video in smaller parts (with 3/4 minutes max) and it makes this process easier. 

3. It's always better to use videos with good quality (at least 720p), because you probably won't like the gif you used a video with low quality.

4. I put directly 80px x 80px (and make sure you selected W x H x Resolution) when I'm about to crop my video. It makes the process faster because you won't need to reduce the gif's size after cropping it.

5. After doing this, I change the time of each frame. I put 0,07 because this video, for some reason, gets too damn fast if I put 0,06. But most gif makers use 0,05 or 0,06 sec per frame.

6. Changing the frames to a timeline is extremely important. The gif won't work if you don't do this. After that you'll select all layers and click on convert to smart object. 

7. After your layers are converted, you'll use a sharpening action. I'm not sure about the settings I used on the video (when I changed PS language all my actions were deleted). But i know the ratius (0,03px) and the gaussian blur are right - edit: i'm using this settings (ratius 0,03px, remove gaussian blur and reduce noise 25%)

8. After that, all you have to do is put a psd !! But make sure your pattern "ends" at the same time as your gifs (if it doesn't, you'll have an extra layer on your gif). 

Crop your gif.  Going to show you two different ways to get the same result.

Crop your gif here.

Are my settings.   The aspect ratio is more important.

Hit crop image!   Go to Resize next that is under your cropped image.

Are my settings.  Hit Resize Image.

Click this.  It will take you to the overlay section.

Above is an image / png of a border that I will be using.   You can’t see it on the dash though because it is white.

Upload image.

And hit generate image.

The downside is that you can’t add some custom psds to your gifs this way.

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Now onto the photopea way.     Here is a tutorial on how to add a psd to your image.  You will need this.

Go to the cropping tool and crop your image.

Add your psd.   Then go to  Image > Image Size and resize your image.

My settings.  Add your premade border the same way you add your psd.

Go to file > Export as > Gif which will bring up the Save for web.  You can slow down the gif,  preview the gif, see the size,  etc right here in that window that pops up.

the absolute best source for videos is youtube . that’s just because you have the ability to download videos in hd . there are many different convertors out there that will allow u to download a youtube video as an mp4 , but my personal favorite is FLVTO because it will allow u to download videos that are typically restricted ( such as music videos ) and allows u to pick the quality of the video as well . the higher the quality , the longer it will take to download , but it’s so worth it . u just pop in the url , and i would reccommend using mp4 hd , it’ll look like of like this :

go ahead and covert that and download ur video . that’s basically my go - to method of downloading youtube videos . with instagram , it’s a bit different and you will be sacrificing some quality in video but some face claims just don’t have a variety of content on youtube .

for instagram videos , i recommend using google chrome as ur browser . go to the chrome extensions store , and get urself THIS extension . after installing it , u’ll be able to easily download videos from both stories and posts from ig . the download option will appear in the upper lefthand corner of the video / picture like so :

so now you know how to download your videos from either instagram or youtube . remember youtube will give u higher quality gifs , but not by much . for a visual reference , the normani gif is downloaded from youtube , whilst the cierra gif is from instagram :

from here on out , my gif making process is identical . u’ll have an mp4 file that u’ll want to open in photoshop . keep it in the video timeline format . frames are annoying as fuck in my opinion and are just tedious . i prefer having one video timeline to work from . 

i also tend to scroll through the video and find the best cropping window . sometimes u will need to have multiple windows of the same video open because some videos , mainly videos of interviews , have different angles of zooming . it’s tedious as fuck , but welcome to gif making . it’s tedious and time consuming and u can spend a long time working with just one particular video . i tend to keep my gifs either 65 x 65 px or 70 x 70 px . this is entirely personal preference , so play around with different sizes until u find what what u like . u can easily manage set ur dimensions in the crop tool like so :

once u crop ur video , go to the image > image size panel so u can officially resize ur video to the correct pixels bc more than likely , the video ur using is at least several hundred pixels big :

and the image size window will look like :

see that cute little paperclip looking thing ? make sure u have that clicked , it’ll keep the dimensions equivalent square or equal to each other if ur making a rectangle shape or whatever . it’s handy as fuck .  

so now that u have a nicely shaped gif icon , now is the time to apply ur action . don’t apply actions to ur gifs until they are sized down . besides , the action won’t work correctly on the video until it’s a smart object which cropping it turns it into . a handy thing to remember : if ur video timeline is purple , it’s a smart object . a blue timeline is not and will not be compatible with many of the editing effects photoshop offers .

click here to be directed to @lvcifcrs​ sharpening action .

make sure u click on ur video layer itself ( not the video group layer ) so the action is applied where u want it like so :

then ur actions toolbar looks exactly like a play button . if it’s not showing up and u need to locate it , follow this pathway :

regardless , here is the pathway u’ll use to apply the action :

u’ll click on the 001. layer and then go down and click the button that looks like a play button in between the circle button and folder icon . it’ll apply the action and u’ll have a beautifully sharpened gif .

that’s how u make a gif , or . . . how i make my gifs . u’ll know ur action is successfully placed bc it’ll look like this :

now as for placing a psd , i put that above the video group layer , like so :

some starting tips:

gif icon making, or gif making in general can be strenuous. do not give up if it doesn’t look like you want it to the first time! it’ll take time to find what you like. 

don’t compare your gif icons to other’s, which i’m guilty of, but your gif icons are unique and lovely in their own way and you should view them as such!

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i am using a macbook, with a mac operating system and adobe photoshop 2020. keep in mind that this is the way i make my own gif icons, and i’m just sharing what i know so this may not be the best/easiest way to go about things, like you can probably include scripts that save it for you, etc. but i prefer having more control over to process.

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screenshots will be distorted, for easier viewing i’ve added a link that will take you to the full size image.

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before anything, a high quality gif comes from a high quality video. when downloading your content, make sure it's either 720p or 1080p resolution.

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step 1: open up your .mp4 file

open it up as if you are opening any other file on photoshop. no need to import video frames to layers or anything of the sort. i find that way better for making gifs for gif sets instead of like 100+ gif icons. your photoshop should look like the image below.

this works best with shorter video files of around 1-3 minutes.

step 2: find your faceclaim

your video should now be open in photoshop as a video timeline, keep this the way it is, you’ll be able to move along the video to the next gif. using the timeline layers (see:layer 1), you can slide along until you find your faceclaim.

*extra info for those that don’t know. to extend your layer and make it easier to find your faceclaim, you can use the slider down below which looks like this:

this will essentially space the frames out more, if that makes sense?

step 3: select your gif focus and crop

use the rectangular marquee tool (circled in red) and select the area of your gif icon.

following this, use the crop tool (again, circled in red) to cut out the rest of the area. you are now left with a square.

step 4: select the length/frames of your gif

this step can be done pretty much anywhere between step 2 and step 7, depending on your preference. anyway, use the slider (red arrow pointing to it) to decide where you want your gif to end. 

then, bring the end of your video timeline (red arrow pointing to it) to where your animation slider is. your video timeline should now look something like this:

the space in between the lil sliders will only includes what will be in your gif. 

step 5: resize

using image size, resize your gif to whatever size you wish. i prefer 80px. 

following this, it should say that your file is going to be converted into a smart object, click okay. (i can’t show the pop up since i got rid of it). 

yet, now that you’re looking at your gif icon, you’ve realised you don’t really like the placement of it. simply cmd/ctrl+t to go to free transform. i moved it a tiny lil bit to the left. 

as you can see, the rest of the video area is still there. you can now transform it to your liking. this will be useful when you want to change the area again.

step 5: add sharpen settings

you now have an icon, you can sharpen it to your liking. 

i use smart sharpen and gaussian blur. i tend to have them in this order. 

you can change the opacity of each smart filter to your liking. i won’t be sharing my exact sharpen settings (not that they’re hard to figure out), as i’d like them to stay unique to me, but do play around with this and see what you like the most (the key is less is more). 

the trick here is to include the sharpen>blur>sharpen filters, which will give a sharpened appearance without overdoing it, and make your gif icon a lil smoother as well due to the blur.

**also, you may see the lil video group 1 in my layers there (and in your own too), this isn’t really necessary and is more of a pain in the ass that anything. if you have this, you can get rid of it by right clicking on it and ungrouping layers.

step 6: add your colouring

my colouring is a mixture of psds i’ve interchanged for years and i have lost the originals so do not intend on sharing. do look around at psds or make your own colourings that suit your tastes. 

BE MINDFUL OF WHITEWASHING!!! if you are giffing people of colour, use colourings that do not make them into a white sheet or a gray mess. i see this constantly as if it isn’t 2020. 

adjust! adjust! adjust! your colouring will not always work on different people or different scenes. adjust your levels, saturation, selective colour, brightness, etc to make sure the colouring works for your previous gif, as well as your next one.

even you can see here that my layers are mess because i adjust constantly. 

step 7: save for web

now that you’ve made your icon all pretty, save it for web and it should look like this:

step 8 (optional): speed

if you like your gif icons slower, you now have to upload the gif file into photoshop again. this will take you to the frame timeline. you can change the speed of your gif to whatever you want, and save again.

and there you have it, your is gif icon complete.

step 9: making more!

instead of going through this whole cropping process again, you can continue to move along the video timeline to different frames of your faceclaim, and making the next gif with just the exact sharpening settings, colouring, etc. this will make it super easy to make more gif icons in less time.

this can be done by simplying moving your animation timeline.

again you can use cmd/ctrl+t to adjust your gif placement. of course, this doesn’t always work, and you may need to revert back to your original video to crop the area again. an example of this is if you need a bigger or smaller area for the gif.

i just made this gif in a few seconds.

action

i use my own script to crop and have included the rest all in one action file. i did a lil digging and found this gif icon making action (resizes to 80px) that does essentially the same thing with no script. this will make it already 10x easier to make an icon. you can then make your sharpening into an action and you’ll basically have most of the job done for you in one click.

tips: 

make things into actions! for example, i cut down a lil on the speed changing process by making actions that change the speed for me.

save your actions! you never know when you’ll lose them

you might get tired of looking at your gif icons after a while, they might even start to look ugly but that’s most likely because you’ve been looking at them for too long, so don’t feel discouraged! 

crop close to the face, this is important! what in the fresh hell am i supposed to be seeing in a 70px gif icon if its so far away, or in general tbh

HOW TO MAKE GIF ICONS:

so this is simply a tutorial on how i make MY gif icons. i’m sure there’s plenty of ways to do it, but i hope this helps anyone looking to learn. i use PHOTOPEA for all my editing since i can’t afford photoshop.

first, you’re going to open the image & psd you plan on using. i’m using a gif of ariana i made from scratch. then, you’re going to crop it to the desired shape. i just do regular squares, but i know some indie writers like mixing things up a bit.

then, you’re going to crop it to your desired size. for this gif, like all my gifs, i went with 80x80. you’re going to want to make sure that your psd & gif are the same size, or else the psd might not cover it all the way. this is also a good time to edit the brightness or coloring of the gif.

next is the psd ! select the psd & texture ( if you plan on using both ) before dragging them over to your gif. before merging the two, make sure you’ve selected only the psd parts you want, & that the top gif ( on the gif tab ) is highlighted. if the top gif layer is NOT highlighted the psd will only be applied to SOME of the gif rather than all of it.

the side box showing you all the layers should look something like this when you’re finished. the darkened, smushed layers are the psd. from here all you need to do is export it !

MAKING GIF ICONS FROM PRE-EXISTING GIFS:first, of course, you gotta save your gifs into a folder ( or put the gifs you made before into a folder ) and open them in photoshop. my program allows me to open 15 gifs at the same time so i do that but if your computer is slow, i’d say just open one gif at a time to be safe.

tho BEFORE opening your gif, make sure to change your settings to motion!!

get your gif & the psd you’re going to use ready.

click to the crop tool and change your settings to 1x1 (square). and then crop your gif, but make sure to try cropping the face instead of the whole body.

now, click window and make sure to make actions visible.