Image: “Bulletin leaves” by Kyle Oliver & Chris Lawton for prayr.cc (CC BY 2.0)
Post updated November 18 with a reader contribution! (See below.)
My media ministry BFF Chris Hamby recently posted a query to the members-only Slack channel:
any ideas for good modern looking images for a thanksgiving bulletin?
It started us down a conversation about the challenges of church graphics generally.
It’s really tempting to use copyright-free clipart. Anyone is allowed to use it, and it generally looks good in a bulletin.
But clipart also sucks. Chris had another way of putting it that involved a lot of *#&#^ symbols.
Users of this site will know that one approach we advocate is using quality free stock photography sites like Unsplash. Here are some nice choices for a Thanksgiving image:
Photo by Alfred Schrock on Unsplash
Photo by Joseph Gonzalez on Unsplash
Photo by Chris Lawton on Unsplash
Photo by Haley Rivera on Unsplash
Unfortunately, photos don’t always print well in bulletins.
Chris wisely suggested that Prisma and other photo-to-illustration tools might come in handy here, and that can get you to some results that both look great online and in a bulletin. Like the leaf illustration at the top of this post, which I made with Prisma’s “Bull” filter.
So here’s challenge for you: send us your bulletin-friendly Thanksgiving image that doesn’t suck (homemade, Creative Commons-licensed, or otherwise royalty free).
Sketch something yourself. Doctor a (legally modifiable) photo. Prove us wrong about clipart.
We’ll share them in a follow-up post under an attribution license and be very explicit about how people can give you credit.
Needless to say, we’ll be thankful.
Update: Thanks to reader David Norman for contributing this photo, which you may use or edit with attribution.
Photo by David Norman via prayr.cc (CC BY 2.0)
Related Prayer
Collect for Thanksgiving Day (BCP, Public Domain)
Almighty and gracious Father, we give you thanks for the fruits of the earth in their season and for the labors of those who harvest them. Make us, we pray, faithful stewards of your great bounty, for the provision of our necessities and
the relief of all who are in need, to the glory of your Name; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
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Help, Thanks, Wow: The Three Essential Prayer by Anne Lamott
She does have a gift for cutting to the core of things, no?
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Speaking of bulletin-friendly images! Full post coming next week.