Agh! how to make the best possible series icon / thumbnail

[frostdrive]

When I look for comics 90% of the reason I check one out is because the icon / thumbnail looks KICKASS.

Which made me look at mine. While they're not bad, I think I could make them MORE KICKASS.
I'll post mine, in an effort to get feedback ideas, but feel free to post yours too! I"m down to offer advice. Let's all be icon informatives xD

^This is the one for my series "Evil Villain Academy"
I originally thought it was perfect since it's shows the series extreme cartoonyness, and her with the notepad shows part of the theme to the story. School.

^This is for my other comic, Max Parrish.
I made this last year, althought the actual drawings of the characters were made in 2012!

So I REALLY want to update this one and make it better.

^I just made this. Even the drawing is recent (and admittedly I think it's the best one I've made of this character)
but I"m not so sure it pops out, or even is all that perfect/representative of the series.

BUT, if it gets me those sweet delicious subs I don't care that's all I"m after. That's all anyones after amiright
xD

[DiegoPalacios]

This link has some thumbnailing wisdom. Hope it helps!

Judging A Series By Its Thumbnail – Tapas App – Medium

[frostdrive]

Thanks! That's a pretty interesting read! I hadn't thought about purposefully designing to be harmonious with the color scheme of tapas!

[AnakngTinapay]

Put "BL" somewhere on the corner, even if it's not.

[frostdrive]

Hahahah I actually considered that. For 0.00000001th of a second xD

My concern is people UN-subbing after seeing the BL

[AnakngTinapay]

I've seen creators do that trick.
Anyway, your 3rd pic looks good for a thumb :]

[DiegoPalacios]

I think the BL tag also implies a focus in gay romance, or at least people expect some erotic elements, so if this is not the focus of your stories i would not recommend the tag.

disclaimer: someone more familiar with the genre can tell better what would be expected with the BL tag

[AnakngTinapay]

-- It was a joke.

[SleepingPoppy]

disclaimer: someone more familiar with the genre can tell better what would be expected with the BL tag

Your response is kinder than they deserve. They're making fun of BL creators and readers by implying BL content gets more than its deserved attention.

They could instead consider that BL is a convenient way of communicating the content of your comic and there for has an easier time attracting an existing fan base. But you know, we could also just go "haha, some people like gay romance, lets wrongly tag things to mess with them!"

(I know you guys are just being silly, but it is actually really rude)

[DiegoPalacios]

I know, i just took the chance to convert the joke into some practical advice to keep the thumbnail advice theme

[SleepingPoppy]

And for the record, the first Max Perrish icon has a better background for making the characters stand out. Perhaps try a darker background in the new one so the figure stands out more? In addition, the small size of the display icon will make the text hard to read, AND it's redundant as the icons on tapas display the title for you, so you might drop it or think of something besides the title to communicate.

The drippy font is cool though so you might re-purpose it for cover pages, or the banner!

[TheFalseVyper]

I love the new thumbnail you created! The colors are very attractive and easy on the eyes.

Great work

[dawgofdawgness]

For EVA the current thumbnail works well since it has the main character making a >:C face so the audience knows what to expect - a comedy with bright colors and fun art.

And I REALLY like the current Max Parrish thumbnail, the colors are dynamic and it shows off the characters' personalities well. The new thumbnail (however comma) could work better since the composition is more simplistic and also she looks really cute with those overalls And the logo! I dunno about logos in thumbnails, it might be a little redundant since your comic title is right beneath it. is that in the link that Diego sent? No clue. Are they good? Bad? No clue. No clue.

[frostdrive]

icon will make the t

That's treally true! I had forgotten the title displays under the icon. xD
So I did take the text off! Looks better.

and yeah! the background on that first icon, I purposelly made yellow and black, because I"ve read somewhere they're a memorable color combo. Especially with black text on a yellow background.

So yeah, maybe I"ll change the background colors around on the new one as well! thank you!

And thank you too dawg! (: