Time for action – creating a new image containing some text

As already stated, it is often useful to generate an image containing only some text or a common shape. Such an image can then be pasted onto another image at a desired angle and location. We will now create an image with text that reads, "Not really a fancy text!"

1. Write the following code in a Python source file:

   1 import Image
   2 import ImageDraw
   3 txt = "Not really a fancy text!"
   4 size = (150, 50)
   5 color = (0, 100, 0)
   6 img = Image.new('RGB', size, color)
   7 imgDrawer = ImageDraw.Draw(img)
   8 imgDrawer.text((5, 20), txt)9 img.show()

2. Let's analyze the code line by line. The first two lines import the necessary modules from PIL. The variable txt is the text we want to include in the image. On line 7, the new image is created using Image.new. Here we specify the mode and size arguments. The optional color argument is specified as a tuple with RGB values pertaining to the "dark green" color.
3. The ImageDraw module in PIL provides graphics support for an Image object. The function ImageDraw.Draw takes an image object as an argument to create a Draw instance. In output code, it is called imgDrawer, as used on line 7. This Draw instance enables drawing various things in the given image.
4. On line 8, we call the text method of the Draw instance and supply position (a tuple) and the text (stored in the string txt) as arguments.
5. Finally, the image can be viewed using img.show() call. You can optionally save the image using Image.save method. The following screenshot shows the resultant image.
   

What just happened?

We just learned how to create an image from scratch. An empty image was created using the Image.new method. Then, we used the ImageDraw module in PIL to add text to this image.

Reading images from archive

If the image is part of an archived container, for example, a TAR archive, we can use the TarIO module in PIL to open it and then call Image.open to pass this TarIO instance as an argument.