Judging a series by its ICON (and design tips)

[Kamikaze]

Icons are tricky, but a lot of the readers of my comic say they thought the icon was cool and clicked on it. I'm not entirely sure what my team and I did right by it but here you have it:

The thought process in designing our icon:
- We featured the main character, and the duality of her roles.
- We wanted to show a little bit of the world
- We wanted it to show off the art style of our comic
- We decided it was kind of redundant to put the title in the thumbnail image because it's so small and the title's already below the comic in the line up anyway.

Actually: Okay here's a pet peeve of mine. I'm not a fan when icons have a crap load of words in them, or really "whimsical" font types for the logo they throw in. The size of the icon is so small, why waste that space on text when all the important information is already presented for you else where? Also comic icons where you can see the text bubbles. Every now and then for my comic I'll make an episode icon where the text is seen, and it's like...eye twitchingly frustrating for me. No one can read it. No one can see it. While it might have an interesting point or tagline being said, it doesn't matter if it's there if no one can read it.

I do think it's really important for the icon to be representative of the art, though.

^^^^^^^ ALSO THIS x10000000000

[NickRowler]

OK, I feel like I am dreadful at icons, cover pages, banners, etc.

This is my current one and well I don't think people find it very appealing but I don't really know what to do to change that.

This was my original icon but I didn't like it because the style didn't 100% match the art style in the comic.

[Jewe11s]

In the photoshopped screenshot, I noticed the on in the middle right first. (Your first icon in your post.) It caught my eye.
I liked the bottom one more than the top (Although the high contrast definitely caught my attention) and I didn't notice the middle left was even there for a few moments (which is strange - it's rather striking as well.)
The middle right one feels more approachable, fun/mischievous (a bit of a smirk on your character's face), and like it could involve something magical or mystical?
The top one seems a more dramatic, intense, and (with the stern look your character is giving and the red) possibly even violent?
I think the bottom one is a good blend of the two - approachable and dramatic. Mischievous and intense.

[Cherry_sama]

Sometimes simplicity is the most striking. That's why I used stencils in the icon for my comic.

[jayorten]

I agree. Simplicity, in my opinion, adds a flair of mystery to the icon, and sparks curiosity in the viewer. For example, I've seen quite a few different icons with simple objects or images that leaves a lot to the imagination. This leads readers to think "Huh, based on this image, I wonder what this comic could possibly be about?", which in turn leads them to click on the icon.

It's also effective if you have colors that catches the eye and seems appealing. That's why I decided to use bright hues in my icon so that it stands out the most.

[punkarsenic]

ugh, im the worst at icons. i tend to go for smth abstract wth the logo to play it safe.

Anyone got any advice for this icon for my comic?

[El_Psy_Congroo]

Dude your art is fracking gorgeous. Give the forums a shoutout when you publish, because I will be there.
(Its funny too - I was just going to say most of the comics I follow on Tapastic are the ones made by or suggested by forum peeps. Although I will say if I'm at the front end of Tapastic I go by A - icons sell it for me.)

Maybe I went a little far by doing this, but what minimal training in graphic design I had was itching at me.

No worries, I get just as if not more crazy when it comes to variations in my artwork. I had my own comic vetted by the tapastic community here and they gave great advice (And I gave them like a bajillion variations to look at, so seriously, thanks guys!). I love all of your versions as illustrations, so definitely hold on to them for promotional material or for your blog.

I will say the bottom most probably works best as an icon, and maybe the top most also - if you make the background completely white (its like a very light grey). The reason is, the white blends into the white background, so yours stands out as an interesting shape while everyone else just has these colorful squares. The way even the skin is kind of white and blends into the negative space looks really cool.

Here was my first thumbnail - before my characters got introduced - for my webcomic Knights.

For my current one, I pulled out art from a panel I really thought I'd done well and made some variations, eventually settling on this:

[AliceHoffmannArt]

So far I have two series and thus icons. At they are fairly different in tone and what I'd like to communicate, the icons have distinct styles. In general, I avoid using text in icons.

My ongoing main series Stuff That Totally Happened is a slice of life/ comedy, so it wanted it to be simple and just have a "loud" yellow bg:

Shocked!
A short project I did for fun with two more detailed characters that should speak to shoujo fans:

If you have input on what to look out for in future icons, that's much appreciated!

[Inspector_Spinda]

B

and I like icon 1 and 3
the color in 2 is too much

[Reit]

@Jewe11s and @El_Psy_Congroo (ps i see that reference in your username )

Thank you guys so much for your input! It seems like there's a mutual agreement on which icon works the best, so I'll go with that one. And yes, I will try to be more active on the forums once it's published this has so far been a great place for advice.

[El_Psy_Congroo]

Feel free to ask for advice here anytime!

Just watch out for the Organization - they've got eyes everywhere... ┬┴┬┴┤_ʘ)├┬┴┬┴

[storytimebiondi]

I feel like this could also be a discussion of cover composition. Really, the icons on this website are the front cover of the comic that you would normally see in a comic shop. As with anything, I feel that strong composition techniques always win the day, even if the art isn't top-notch. I think that would include things like rule of thirds, and colour contrasts.

[Nyamesis]

I would personally go for the yellowy one in the center row on the right
I guess the values from that one are most pleasing, and I just feel like the colours fit the style of the painting better. But then again I don't know what the comic is about (yet) so maybe it doesn't fit the mood yeah ^^

But it looks really nice, would definitely click that!

[aspiderjonny]

These are my newest icons for The J-Man and The Valve that I introduced about a week or so ago. I was trying to go simple and mostly show of their symbols. What do you guys think? Is there anything I should change?

[storytimebiondi]

I actually really like the composition here, as well as the choice of colour and action.

[KazumiTakashi]

SOMEONE ! JUDGE MY ICON ! ;0; [Planet Boy]
I'm tottally lost T_T

My old icon:

My new icon:

[inkythoughts]

I'm seriously worrying about my icon for a few months now (basically since I saw this topic here), and changed it a bit since then, but I'm still not sure about it. Here is the comic btw

First attempt (with title D:)

Second attempt (without title but lots of SPACE)

Current icon (zoomed in as the scale looks nicer/more interesting imo)

I have the feeling it's still rather dark, and since it's VERY paint-y, it doesn't exactly reflect the actual comic style, but even though I'm currently on a hiatus, it seems to attract some readers?

huh-uh yeah I'm curious about your opinions!

[inkythoughts]

I personally actually like the old one a bit better, it's less crowded and has a really simple colour scheme, and through the 3D red/cyan it still is very catchy and vibrant
In the first one, the planet boy also has more "other-worldly" look to him than in the second, Carina looks more space-y and also takes all the attention, even though the series is called "Planet Boy"

[KSlinger]

I really love it! The new one would definitely draw me to your comic if I saw it on the main site. Zooming in was a good idea and dropping the title was also wise, it gives you more room and it's right under the icon anyway. You've done a great job, and as for it being it being in a different style I don't think it's so different that I'd feel cheated if I read the actual comic, but that's just me.

[inkythoughts]

I decided to try out the photoshop test as well and also lightened it a bit - which one works best?