Banner Critiques, get 'em here!

dan_thepainter 2023-01-26 04:54:12 UTC #21

This is mine. I didn't have time to finish it so it didn't get submitted. i had a hard time trying to come up with something and looking at everyone else's, my banner might have too much going on in it.

darthmongoose 2023-01-26 09:05:50 UTC #22

Definite improvement there @abigaillmartin , well done!

All right, let's go through the new batch...

@theyrebothakilogram I can see that you were unhappy with what you had from that border. When somebody adds a border that isn't a really specific design choice, it's generally a sign that they knew the design was missing something, but they weren't sure what.

I thought the thread drinking game was going to be "needs more diagonals", but I think it's actually going to be "Don't use fonts that came with your computer". It came up earlier with the Copperplate on Cracking Eggs, and here we have it again with Bauhaus. I can see why you picked it; it's a bold font for visibility and to work with bevel effect (good) and it's fancier than something like Arial, so feels like a title font (also good), it's just... not really right for "modern superhero story". So, you have a decent start, and you're on the right track here, but let me teach you some tricks (which I hope will help a few people on this thread!)...

First, get a better font. Here are some on Google Fonts (all the fonts there are free!):
Bebas, Staatliches, Bungee, Squada, Koulen, Bowlby.
And on Blambot we have these free ones that might fit the vibe:
Bulletproof, Government Agent, Lowrider, Ultraviolent, Worlds at War.

Let's use Bebas to keep things simple... And let's write the two lines of text as separate lines, so we can smoosh 'em up together more too...
Keep the gold and the bevel, but change the shadow colour of the bevel to a nice dark orange to add some warmth to that gold Also change the light mode from screen to linear dodge to make that yellow pop (feel free to play with the settings! The "contour" settings can also do VERY fun things!). Second, change the bevel type from "chisel soft" to "chisel hard" to make it cleaner.
Make the stroke thinner and a similar nice dark orange, and now add... a gradient overlay. 90 degree angle, goes from dark orange to white or transparent, multiply mode and lower the opacity til it looks good. You can use "copy layer style" and "paste layer style" to make sure both lines of text share the same effects.
Make a copy of these text layers, clear the style on both. Make these ones just a dark orange. Offset them a little to make a nice, cheesy comic book shadow. Annnnd....

The drawing itself is a good design and sells an interesting idea about the premise and character dynamics, and I think the main issue is you maybe need to look at some reference for sky colours and clouds and things, or to consider putting hints of a cityscape or ground below them. Here's a quick mockup where I messed around with a stock photo of an aerial city view, just warping it to make an exaggerated curve and throwing on a gradient map, but drawing one (or drawing over one) would probably look better. Other change, the sky is more "sky blue" now and lighter so the characters pop without needing that shadow effect around them and increasing the contrast. Threw in a few "god rays" because whenever a sunny sky feels like it's missing something, throw god rays at it, it usually works. I also nudged the characters a little because, (take a shot) Needs More Diagonals!

Feel free to play around and find your own way to do things, but I hope this gives you some ideas. You're at the level now where the improvements to your work are going to be all the little fiddly bits of polish and attention to detail.

Okay @VersusVII Just want to say, your logo is great. Getting that out the way first. This one, there's nothing wrong with the drawing or rendering; the colours look great with a consistent vibe, the expressions and poses are well drawn.

The problem is... I... don't really know what scenario this cover is depicting because it's so complex and subtle (vampire kid transfixed by glowing paper with maybe arcane or scientific symbol, while this other character feels annoyed that other person isn't interested in the glowing paper?). I can see that it's trying to tell a story, but I'm having to look at it way too long to try to work out what the story is. You maybe tried to be a little bit too clever here, and need to pull back and remember that most people are going to decide in the space of like five seconds if the banner interests them or not. If I had plenty of time to describe my comic, I might go into the feminist themes, the exploration of seeking redemption when a patriarchal system has given you power and stuff, but in five seconds I'd be like "ghdfbj! Er! SWORDS! MAGIC! GAY!?" which is... pretty much what the banner depicts!
If the magic piece of paper is the main focus, it might be better to have everyone's gaze interacting with the paper or the character holding it rather than splitting the viewer's focus between that and the other characters who are more interested in each other. Keep it simple! Also (take a shot) see if you can add more diagonals to the composition somehow in terms of poses, props, backgrounds or something, it'd add a bit of extra visual dynamism.

@UnTalAugustus same issue as above. I like the way the characters are looking at the reader, that's very cool and really draws the eye, but I feel like this banner would be better if it was just those characters bigger to take up more of the banner and then the title written normally in space. It takes too long to work out what's going on with the billboard. Make the characters the stars, not your title.

@powerplantanimations This is pretty good! I like the composition of this one and the poses are giving us those sweet, delicious diagonals. Only two changes here:
1. The flowers are making it too busy. Lose the flowers, go for a simple flat BG, gradient or subtle texture.
2. If you can get the characters in there without obscuring their faces with that glow, that'd be better. Always try to avoid stuff over character's faces.
Oh, and use the new logo off your new cover, but I think that goes without saying.

@LostKelp The logo is nice, the composition is solid, and it's clearly getting across what the series is about! It's a good banner with just one problem... It's too dark and I'm having to squint to see what's going on in places.
Fun biology fact: Humans are a lot better at differentiating small differences between light values than dark ones. This means that if an image has a lot of dark values, it can get hard to read. Try to increase the contrast, and maybe try adding a glow or something behind those darker skinned characters so they stand out from the dark space behind them. Even the white space suits here are quite dark, so there''s definitely room to bump up the brightness a bit.

Everyone else, I will get to you soon, I'm just going to take a little break before tackling more.

LostKelp 2023-01-26 09:38:59 UTC #23

Thanks for the feedback, I definitiely knew there were some problems going in with the value work. There are definity some parts I'm still not happy with but the advice helped.

darthmongoose 2023-01-26 11:24:11 UTC #24

@LostKelp That's an improvement, but the figures in the foreground need more contrast, because now the background is the brightest, most attention-grabbing thing in the image. Even if a character's skintone is very dark, you can still have it with some strong light to help it stand out. There are some good tips and examples in this article (about photography, but the guidance applies well to painting.)

Okay, next batch...

@ARARAHU That's some damn good drawing right there. The drawing itself is fantastic; great perspective and anatomy, and it's a great composition too, which isn't easy to do when one of the characters is a giant!

Three things I have to say about this one that I think could be reasons it didn't get picked out.
1. The lack of rendering does make it hard to see if those buildings could look good on the final version, because they look so plain without it. in my head... I'm imagining that maybe it'd be rendered as a night-time scene, with the lights on the... I think those fuzzy things will be cars with their lights blurring past, right? And the light will be shining up at the buildings and also the giant woman (a giant woman!), and it'd look really cool! ...But not having the rendering is kind of hurting this one because it's hard to get a sense of the tone, or how value will be used to draw the eye without it.
2. I don't know where the logo will be or how it'll be integrated. Title integration is really important and I think not having it on there is a missed opportunity.
3. The figures are really well-drawn, but their expressions are very neutral, so there's a lack of drama to the piece. If it looked like the foreground character was scared of the giant lady, or if they were smiling at each other or something, it would really help make the cover feel more intriguing. Right now, everyone's a little bit too chill and relaxed, which doesn't sell the excitement or fun of whatever the relationship between this guy and this giantess might be.

@KennethLopezJr921 Honestly, the only change I'd really make here is to nudge the logo down so it's not blocking the moon. It's a pretty solid banner that really shows how simple can be effective because it so efficiently gets across: "It's about a cute dog guy who is a strong, gutsy fighter", and sometimes, that's all you need!
I have heard some people who draw anthro saying Tapas isn't keen on it, so unfortunately it could be the case that the series being very clearly about an anthro character might have been a factor.

@dan_thepainter I think as a design this is fine, and the only change I'd make to the composition is to lower that horison to maybe around halfway down the arms so that it feels more like we're looking up at the tree; it'd make the perspective a little less confusing and add more of a gap between the grass and the foliage for visual clarity.

The main thing on this one is less the concept, which is pretty good, and more that the execution could use a little polish. Spending some time practising with line weight and line smoothing settings for some crisper and more expressive lines and getting used to watching for areas where your line has overshot and getting in the habit of cleaning that up would definitely help. Doing some study on how to do shadows based on a consistent light direction would also be a good move. Maybe have a look at some other comics to do studies of the colours they use, and how they use more muted colours on background from characters too. You have good ideas and instincts, you just need to practice to get your inking control and understanding of colour up to the level your imagination is at through building a base of knowledge and experience.

ARARAHU 2023-01-26 12:37:43 UTC #25

Oh, thank you so much for the answer!!!!

Yes, you're 100% right, I wanted to depict the night landscape. I really should have added colors to the artwork and more details, but I was confused by the phrase about the draft... тт тт I thought it was something like an intermediate stage where moderators would select authors based on their potential or something like that haha
I wanted to portray a lost protagonist who is not safe even in a crowded place. He feels someone else's gaze on him, wherever he is (so that woman is not a giant - this is a metaphor ^ ^''). But I probably portrayed him as too calm...
That is, if I take into account all the mistakes and finish this art, can I try to send it to the contest again in the future? It's not forbidden, is it?

Vikar 2023-01-26 12:51:58 UTC #26

I left the 'custom ad banner column' empty. I'm not much an artist and honestly didn't understand it's importance.

Can you please tell me , how it'll help me?

darthmongoose 2023-01-26 12:59:36 UTC #27

I don't know when they'll do another one of these, but I doubt if they did another, given how many submissions they got, that if you send in an improved version of the same concept their response will be "Oi, that's the same design as last time! Disqualified!" You should be fine. With any luck, based on how pro your art is, you won't need to wait for a competition because maybe Tapas will start giving your comic features and then email asking for a banner!

This thread isn't actually about those, it's about the banners used to feature comics and novels on the front page and community tab.

But to answer your question, your banner on your page makes it look more professional and nicely presented when viewed in a browser, and will also be the thumbnail for your series when you link it on social media, discord and the forums, so it's fairly important. If you can use part of your cover for it, or make it feel consistent in colours and style with your cover, that's probably best.

Vikar 2023-01-26 13:03:01 UTC #28

D*** it, I was doing it all wrong.

Thankyou for kind explaination

ARARAHU 2023-01-26 13:15:06 UTC #30

I doubt it very much ( ,_,)
Thanks again for the answer!! I wish you good luck in everything <3

darthmongoose 2023-01-26 13:20:06 UTC #31

That's not the type of banner we're talking about here, sorry. I'm here to critique banners like the square ones from the recent Tapas event specifically, or the ones you see at the top of the page on the front page and community page of the app. Like the one in my opening post.

VersusVII 2023-01-26 13:41:50 UTC #32

Thank you for the advice! You're right, I tried to put a lot of infos in a single picture without thinking "maybe it's too much at the same time for someone who doesn't know the story yet". I wanted to give some "mystery vibes" with the glowing paper and make clear what are the relation between the characters. Maybe I will focus more on this aspect and give the mystery/Thriller vibes through the background

dan_thepainter 2023-01-26 16:18:38 UTC #33

Thanks a lot for the feedback! Really appreciate the advice

Jwebtoons 2023-01-26 19:14:23 UTC #34

Oh. My mistake. Sorry about that.

theyrebothakilogram 2023-01-26 21:15:04 UTC #35

Thank you so much! The font was one of my main issues and I was at a block for how to fix it, so this helps a lot! Also you were dead on about the border lol

KennethLopezJr921 2023-01-27 00:14:43 UTC #36

Thankss!! Going to your comic about tapas having a bias towards anthro comics, I thought that the reason my banner wasn't chosen was because of the miniscule number of episodes I have out when compared to my peers but you saying that has made me wonder if the choices weren't as random as I thought. Not complaining though!

Also if I had shrunken the logo a little more fit between Scamp's ear and hand, would that have been okay. Again, really wish I had made room for my logo when drawing it

feuersichel 2023-01-27 07:43:41 UTC #37

I think my main Problem was: I sent in a WIP :,D (although they specifficly stated, that was okay). I'm thankfull for any tipps though my plan was to draw everything in my watercolor/marker -style once I got the ok. Might still finish this and use it for my 2. Chapter Title^^

darthmongoose 2023-01-27 10:51:31 UTC #38

Ahh I see what you mean. This one is at an awkward level of finished-ness, where it's not just a sketch, but it's not got the full shading, so instead of not seeing the values, we're kind of seeing misleading values that don't necessarily reflect the visual impact or how light and colour will actually look in the final piece....which might be worse than just not seeing the values. Let's call that one a "known issue" I think your instincts that it was probably a mark against you are right.

Another area where I feel like the time was maybe causing a bit of a pinch is that the character on the right looks rushed compared to the character on the left. The anatomy, proportions, line quality and perspective on the character look a bit sloppier. I'm not going to go into a detailed critique of that, because I feel pretty sure that was due to rushing; your anatomy and the general precision of your drawing is usually really good from what I've seen, so again, this is a case of "could have used more time." Your precise style is one of your strengths, so basically... yeah, give yourself the time to execute it to the best of your ability.

So... the style and fashion is something I have to talk about, but that I'm really torn on. Because you're not doing anything wrong and your work isn't bad, but it is unfashionable in current webcomics.To me, having been born in the 80s, this really evokes like... comics from when I was growing up. Both the ones from the continent, like Tintin and Asterix, but also classic British stuff like Fungus the Bogeyman or Sonic the Comic (we had our own Sonic comics in the UK. They were great and inspired a whole generation of comic artists!).
It's a similar issue to Kenneth, just earlier in the thread: It's excellent execution of something Tapas probably doesn't feel "fits" their platform. In the case of Crescent Blue, it's a very well drawn anthro comic, and in this case this is a perfect execution of a comic that has the vibe of something from thirty years ago... on a platform that tends to focus on an audience of mostly twenty year olds. I don't like to bring up fashion around styles too much when discussing comics, because people tend to get a bit too wound up in "stuff can only succeed on Tapas if it's manga-style!" which isn't true, but once in a while you get something like this; it's well-made, but it's in a place that probably doesn't feel it'll sell. I feel like this comic would perform pretty well in print; I honestly think if you put together a portfolio to pitch to the comic imprints of places like Scholastic, Harper Collins etc. you'd have a really good shot at an original graphic novel for a YA or especially Middle Grade graphic novel.

So... I'm in an awkward position, where my advice has to be: IF you wanted to have more readers on Tapas, and to be featured by Tapas specifically, you should probably change your style to be sleeker and switch to a clean and shiny digitally inked and coloured look, and do a crisp, shiny logo using vectors and fonts rather than a lovingly hand-drawn one. BUT I think your style is well-executed, unique and charming, so I don't want to tell you that's the only way to get ahead, because other platforms and publishers exist out there, who might really love what you're doing here. Like Rebecca Burgess' work (Pauper's Prince) isn't huge on Tapas, but they successfully pitched and published the great graphic novel "Speak Up!" in a similar style and it's performed well! There's always the option of doing different comics with a different vibe for different platforms and publishers too.

In summary, your style may have been a factor here, but it's not a bad or unappealing style, or poor execution, it's just one that modern publishers would likely associate with children's and print comics rather than sexy webcomics for twenty-somethings.

VersusVII 2023-01-28 10:42:55 UTC #39

I found time to work again on the banner and I implemented the background following diagonals. I made all the characters look at the paper sheet this time, changing the head pose of the girl.

darthmongoose 2023-01-28 10:45:43 UTC #40

Yeah, that's more visually impactful now, and the darker background also really helps those figures pop! Good work!

bulgariansumo 2023-01-31 21:11:00 UTC #41

I didn't want to add on to the stack while this was still busy, since I made a banner after the contest was already over, but I wanted to get an opinion on this just in case there's another one later down the line. Composition in particular is what I'm really wracking my brain over.