• What is a Meme Image?
• Where Did Meme Images Come From?
• How Do I Make My Own Meme Image?
• Examples of Meme Images

What is a Meme Image?

A meme is an image that has become a popular template for quotes and funny phrases. Memes often follow a trend or theme. First a person will find a picture they think would be fitting and funny for a certain subject or topic. Next they will add some hilarious text on top of it that is in theme with the meme image. An example of such would be the ‘foul bachelor frog’ meme. This meme is basically a frog who says amusing quotes that a bachelor may say or do, which often may be crude or offensive to some:

Memes often rely on shock value or crude references as their style of humour, however not all memes necessarily follow this trend.

Often people who are not familiar with humorous image websites do not understand some memes. This is because the theme of the meme is not specified in the image, such as the above image of ‘foul bachelor frog’.

The background of a meme is generally in the style of multicolour block colours with  the face of a person or animal as the mascot of the image. Not all memes follow this trend though, some are just a picture of something with text top and bottom.

Not all memes are designed to make you laugh in hysterics either, some are of a humerous nature but also designed to make amusing points or cultural referances. An example of such a meme is the Philosoraptor meme. Philosoraptor is simply a raptor who likes to talk about amusing philosophies.

Philosoraptor was one of the first internet meme images that are traditionally used nowadays and originated from the image shown below: 

Where Did Meme Images Come From?

Memes originated from various internet image boards and forums. Early memes were not the typical memes we see online today. A meme originally was and image or video that has been created by someone but then reused by someone else and redesigned in a different way. Often these image trends went viral and were redesigned by hundreds of people all trying to make the best one. Where as this still applies, people nowadays generally think of images with a short caption when the word meme is said. Memes have evolved a lot since the earliest days.

Often on forums and image boards it was a popular topic to submit an image for people to manipulate in humorous ways. The image would be submitted at the top of the page and then people would change it and repost their modified version in the hope theirs would be best. Some people hypothesise that this was the place that the trend of memes originated from.

Regardless of the place the first memes were created there is one thing that is for sure: Memes are here to stay and will continue to entertain us all for many years to come.

How Do I Make My Own Meme Image?

Making your own meme has never been easier. All you need is some image editing software and a good idea. Your first step in making your very own meme is to find a template for the meme you with to create. A template meme is the picture in its pure form without any of the text or writing on it. You can do this by doing a Google image search for “*meme name* template”. If you can’t find the meme template then you can always edit out the text if possible. Next all you have to do is add your writing on the meme. Remember to use the clearest font possiable and to choose a colour that is easily readable. I would suggest using white with a black outline to the text as this is the clearest font to use.

Alternatively you can read our guide on how to create a meme picture