I’ve been a consistent user of BeFunky for years….I want to say 9 or 10 of them. I know for a fact I used them in Japan in 2016 for my websites and when I was the web designer for KumAJET (I made a lot of quirky Facebook posts for our online group).

I found BeFunky randomly when my copy of Photoshop Elements 9 died when my entire PC did as well. The newer Photoshops were expensive and had a larger learning curve, and I wanted something easy. Hence, BeFunky. I started out using the free version but there were so many additional features and cool designs that I wanted to use, that I went ahead and paid the yearly subscription fee of $59.99 for BeFunky Plus. I still pay this amount today–if I ever cancel the plan and sign up for it again later, it’ll shoot up in price ($83.88 if paid annually).

I never want to stop using BeFunky Plus, anyway. I rely on it all the time. I:

• Resize and crop photos
• Remove backgrounds to create transparent pngs
• Add frames or stickers to posts
• Enhance photos with tools
• Denoise photos

Some of these are AI. I don’t know how they are AI, but they are labeled as such. I didn’t want to use them for the longest time given my anti-AI stance, but the background remover and denoiser work perfectly, and those are labeled as using AI to do so. I feel hypocritical given how extreme I’ve been against AI that I use these two features, but I honestly don’t know how to get around it. I do not use Ai to generate original images or do silly portraitures or anything else, though, because I’m pretty certain those features were built upon theft. The lines are blurring more and more though, I have to admit.

Anyway, when I first go to make a social media post or use images for my blog, my very first step is to start the process at BeFunky.

I’ve used Canva for at least a decade now, but always the free one, and to be honest, with BeFunky’s features I would forget to go to Canva and play around. This has changed substantially due to the need for visual media on sites like Threads, Facebook, Instagram, etc. I started purchasing or acquiring Instagram templates especially, whose designs make promoting books and authors incredibly appealing.

However…most of, if not all, the assets, were made using Canva Pro, not the free edition. I am currently on a month-long free trial of Canva Pro and have been logged in nearly every day making graphics and advertisements for Son of the Siren and the forthcoming trilogy The Darkening Gate, which includes The Name and the Key. My free trial expires January 3rd, and then it shoots up to $15/month, or, if I wanted to pay annually, $120. To me, this is incredibly expensive…except when it comes to designs, ease, and the sheer amount of assets (plus preformatted templates for all the different types of social media), Canva Pro is vastly superior to Canva’s Free edition. My financial situation right now will not allow me to afford Canva Pro for a while, but readers, I have to say that I love it. I use it for:

• Instagram, Twitter (x), Facebook, and TikTok templates (predominantly Instagram)
• I use it for graphics advertising my books and me as an author
• I use pre-designed templates and beautiful assets to complete the images
• I make little animated graphics, too, as well as brief TikTok videos

Some of the graphics Canva Pro has blows my mind. I typed in a search for “alchemy,” and they had a drawing of a black moon gate. I looked for black moon gates on Depositphotos, Unsplash, and Pinterest, and nobody had what I was seeking….except Canva Pro. I made an Instagram post with it ASAP. How incredible is that?

I have to admit that Canva does have AI and uses it to generate images as well. I’ve avoided doing that out of principle. And it’s harder to tell what is an AI feature versus what isn’t…I played with the one where you type what you are searching for and the search results ended up being generated, not found. So I’ve stayed away. Just be forewarned that if you are against AI, that it’s there.

Unlike BeFunky, I did find the photo editing features to be a bit wanting. That’s why I’m sticking around with BeFunky and using it in tandem with Canva.

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Readers, what do you use to make graphics to promote your work?