If you’ve been hanging around writers on Instagram or Twitter lately, you’ve probably seen a ton of aesthetics or mood boards going around. Writers nowadays love making these photo collages for their characters or WIPs. It’s a great way to visualize your story and characters and share your ideas with others! I get a lot of questions about how I make these aesthetics, so I thought I’d share my process.
Step One: Load up Pinterest
Pinterest is the number one place where I gather images. If you are interested in making an aesthetic, I definitely recommend getting Pinterest if you don’t already have one. Make a mood board for your story and start pinning images that inspire you! Not all images have to be used in your aesthetic, but it’s good to create a collection.
Tips for finding photos on Pinterest:
Search relevant keywords or character features from your WIP. For example, if your character is a badass redhead ghost whisperer who loves fast food, you might search “Short red hair,” “Ghost whisperer,” and “french fries.”
Another good method is to add the word “aesthetic” at the end. So “Redhead aesthetic,” “badass aesthetic,” “supernatural aesthetic,” might be good searches.
If you find a photo you really like, scroll down to the “you might like these” pins. Pinterest will recommend similar pins based on that one!
Search through others’ storyboards. Add writers and look through their storyboards, or search “Storyboard: Supernatural” and see what pops up.
Step Two: Pick a few favorites and download them.
If you’re anything like me, you can get pin-happy on Pinterest pretty quick. For aesthetics you only need from five to eleven pictures. Select a handful that stick out to you, that represent your WIP well and match each other.
It is important that they relatively match one another. I don’t recommend selecting digital art or drawings alongside photographs. It throws off the vibe, unless you really think you can make it work. It’s also good to have a color scheme going in your photos, but keep in mind that you can edit your pics!
Step Three: Go to Canva.com and make an account if you don’t already have one.
The website I use is Canva, and it’s super easy and user-friendly. I highly recommend it!
Step Four: Select the size aesthetic you’re going to make.
When you create a new post on Canva, you need to select the size of the image. They have certain things preloaded, like Instagram squares or blog banners. You can also make it a custom size.
Once you have your post set up, select Elements > Grids and select a grid that appeals to you. Note that this will affect how many photos you can use.
Step Five: Place photos.
You will have to upload the photos you downloaded. Then go ahead and place them on the collage board! It’s as simple as dragging and dropping. You will have to get creative about placement.
Some design tips:
You can crop photos in any way you like! Sometimes I’ll take a person’s face and crop out their eye or mouth. Get creative with cropping, especially when doing character boards. You can also flip and rotate pictures to get different angles.
Think about where the photo leads the eye and try to make sure it leads towards a focal point. For example, if a model’s eyes are looking left, put them to the right of the collage. Lead the viewer’s eye back to the other photos, not away from the aesthetic.
Think about colors too! You want the collage to feel balanced, so don’t put too many similar colors on one side. Spread out the love.
I recommend having a balance of photo subjects on the board as well. Instead of having a board that’s all models, throw in some objects or textures that evoke your WIP’s vibes.
You don’t need to make it too busy. Sometimes less is more.
Step Six: Edit
Throwing a filter on your aesthetic really helps tie it all together and look cohesive. Sometimes you will have to edit individual pictures as well. Make sure each photo has similar contrast, brightness, tint etc. Then slap the filter on and voila! A cohesive aesthetic.
Some people like to go an extra step and add animation to their aesthetics, but this isn’t necessary or even all too common. It’s just a bonus if you’re interested! I use an app called Legend for Android to add animated text to my aesthetics. On iPhone there is a similar app called HypeType. Play around with things andmake it what you want it to be.
Step Seven: Post up.
Post that baby on your IG and Twitter and watch the compliments roll in for your lovely WIP aesthetic!
Keep in mind, this is only my personal process for making aesthetics and mood boards. There are a million different ways to go about making aesthetics, each with unique results. Experiment with different apps and sites and figure out what works best for you.
Most of all, have fun and don’t get too distracted. Your WIP isn’t writing itself!
Peace out, Grace K.
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