How to make Instagram Story GIFs + Tutorial Video
Ah! I’m so excited to finally be able to be able to share this with you guys!! A few months ago I decided that I wanted to create GIF stickers for Instagram Stories and Snapchat, and let me tell yah, it took A LOT of trial and error because there was almost NO information out there on how to do it! But, don’t worry because I made an entire video, outlining EVERYTHING you’ll need to know to get your GIF stickers on Instagram for the world to use!
I show you how to illustrate your GIFs in Adobe Illustrator, how to animate them in Photoshop, and finally, how to use Giphy.com to get them on Instagram Stories and Snapchat!
Ps. If you don’t want to learn how to make your own GIFs, but just learn how to make killer Instagram Stories head here!
I have been asked SO many times how to design GIFs, and it’s tricky to explain in a text or a DM, so I figured I’d help all of you out, and just make a video showing you everything I know!
I also offer GIF design services, if you’d like me to design GIFs for you or your business
The video will show you how to design and make the GIFs, as well as get them onto Instagram, and everything else you need to know. But, scroll down to the bottom of this post if you’d JUST like to read about how to get your already made GIFs onto Instagram!
Watch the Video Here!
What you’ll learn in the video:
- The difference between a GIF and a GIF Sticker
- How to use the pen tool in Adobe Illustrator to create your GIF designs
- How to bring those designs into Adobe Photoshop
- How to use the Timeline tool in Photoshop to create your GIFS
- How to make your GIF twinkle, blink, or flash
- How to make your GIF change colors
- How to make your GIF slide across the screen
- How to make your GIF rotate
- How to save your animation as a GIF
- How to make a Giphy account
- How to upload your GIFs to Giphy
- How to get approved as a verified account
- How to get your GIFs to show up on Instagram and Snapchat!
How to get GIFs onto Instagram Stories & Snapchat
It seems complicated at first, but since I did it the first time, it gotten a lot easier and faster to get your GIFs onto instagram, so let’s get started!
- Go to giphy.com/join and create an account
- Upload at least 5 GIFs using the upload button at the top (you need to upload GIFs before you can apply to get your GIFs onto Instagram/Snapchat)
- Once you hit upload you can add a source (your website, or instagram url). Then you can add tags, this is VERY important, as this is how you and others will find your GIFs! I add everything I can possibly think of. For instance, for the boba GIF below I would tag: boba, bubble tea, drink, cup, smoothie, purple, asian, yum, taro, tea, boba tea. I also add a tag with ‘mikyla’ on every GIF, so that I can find all my GIFs at once!
- Once you have your five GIFs uploaded, go to the menu, under ‘about’ and hit ‘Support’ > ‘Giphy for Brands and Artists’ > ‘Apply for Brand Channel’ OR ‘Apply for Artist Channel’ > fill out all your info then hit ‘Submit Application’!!!
- I personally recommend sending them an email telling them why you want to create GIFs! (Under ‘Contact Us’ on the left hand menu when you are in the ‘Giphy for Brand and Artists’ page) I think it helps speed up the process of getting approved, and hey, why not, right?
- Wait to get approved (by email) as a verified channel (the worst part)
- Once you’re approved you may have to wait a few more days for your GIFs to pop up on Instagram, but once they do it’s SO fun!
- Use your GIFs to your hearts content, and everyone else can too! YAY!!!
Hope you enjoyed this post on how to make Instagram story GIFs plus the video!! If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to ask me @mikylacreates on Instagram, or below in the comments!
Thank you so much for this! Do you ever use illustrator on your ipad? If so, I guess you just would upload that to photoshop and complete the gif there, so maybe I just answered my own question?! Also, what size do you make your photoshop doc?
Yes! That’s exactly what you would do! I make my photoshop file 10″ x 10″, the important thing is that it’s a square. The size doesn’t matter much because Giphy will size it down anyways. Hope that helps!
how do you know if people are using your GIFs & do you get some type of report of what’s popular ? also does instagram and snapchat pay you for GIFs being used ?
Hey Myka!
When you make a Giphy account there is a ‘dashboard’ page that will tell you what your most popular gifs are for the week, month and forever!
You do not get paid for GIFs being used unfortunately. The only way to make money off of it is getting hired to make GIFs for other businesses. Hope that helps!!
When I upload my Gifs from GIFvid to GIPHY the background isn’t checkered like I see when searching other peoples. I do have the background transparent though. Does that matter?
No that shouldn’t matter 🙂 As long as the background is transparent!