Judging a series by its ICON (and design tips)

Icons are tricky, but a lot of the readers of my comic3 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.

^^^^^^^ ALSO THIS x10000000000

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.

Sometimes simplicity is the most striking. That's why I used stencils in the icon for my comic1.

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.

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?

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!

B

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

@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.

Feel free to ask for advice here anytime!

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

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.

These are my newest icons for The J-Man1 and The Valve1 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?

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

SOMEONE ! JUDGE MY ICON ! ;0; [Planet Boy]5
I'm tottally lost T_T

My old icon:

My new icon:

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!

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

@NickRowler
I would maybe use a bit less space between the characters, like this, they are very far apart and also don't really intrigue me because their relationship might look interesting. They both look rather unhappy, so something like an embrace might work for mutual comfort (I haven't read the comic so idk if it works for those characters)?

The icon has very little space as it is because 300x300 px isn't big, so make the most of it, especially with such a simple background!

I actually really liked your very first icon where they stand back on back and have this side-glance at each other, through which they kind of interact with each other and create a dynamic, there I just would change the angle a bit to make it look more interesting, like slightly from above. There are so many icons that show us something frontal, so be creative!
And if hugs don't do it right now, moving them closer together and zooming in, or copying the old icon (the one I mentioned) but with their sad expressions, might have a nice twist to it, too.

I hope this helps!

I think I need help... I don't know how to fix these icons:

Is the saturation wrong? Are they too dark or too light? I can tell they aren't quite right, but I can't figure out why...

How to get more views:

The old one

The new one:

Oh thank goodness for this thread!!! I had one of my comics get picked as a staff pick, and of course it WOULD be the new, rough and quick biographical comic where I put hardly any effort into the icon.

I feel like I'm not making best use of the publicity because the icon doesn't show off my artwork very well... but perhaps I shouldn't mess with unexpected success...

I'm trying something meta with my icon, as these two are the poster boys/girls in my series and I'm using them to promote the comic, though that's about as deep as I've gone with it.

@isaacfriedman Honestly, I think they read fine. The last one is the best in my opinion! I would bump up the brightness on that orange background so that the armor contrasts more. Also on the first, it's strange that the hat is low quality while the rest of the image is crisp. Probably not as noticeable when it's shrunk down though.

@Neil_Harrington Haha, honestly, it might give you less views. XD There are quite a number of readers that avoid BL tags like the plague.

@Helengreetham I would maybe pick a good emotion that defines your character and have that be the face of your icon. Right now I guess I would say she's (or you're) pensive? Perhaps confused? I don't have a good read on what the character is like is what I'm saying. XD

--

Uhh, as far as my own. I worry it reads too much like it's a romance. D: Which couldn't be further from the truth. I dunno. Maybe I'm just crazy and it doesn't read that way at all? Advice please? XD

@JessJackdaw - It's difficult because it's a series of short comics that aren't about a character as such - I did the one with the back to the reader because i thought it looked contemplative which would fit the vibe of the comic, but I'm not sure it's great for inviting people to click on it.

I've only just started the comic and wasn't really expecting the thumbnail to be thrust into the spotlight just yet, so I haven't got a lot of ready-made artwork to use.

No the back to the reader is fine! Although honestly I'd consider it without the text. When that icon gets small it gets hard to make out what it even says.

(Honestly, the same thing happened to my comic like a week or so ago. I think that's just how staff picks are. Congrats though! XD)

Congrats to you too! And thanks for the advice!

here's my current icon:

it's actually a placeholder image from a print i made of the main character, it doesn't match the coloring style in my comic since it's painted and mine's cel shaded but i sketched up a new one and i think im liking it?? tell me what you think

it's going to be cel shaded like my comic and it'll have the same color scheme as my current icon

I just did a clip of the title character, giving a thumbs up- with a lightning bolt in the background. It's funny coz when it comes to actual comic drawing I have no issues coming up with stuff- but when I start doing art for poster/prints or some type of thing like an icon or banner, I struggle with trying to make the consummate piece.

I've been wanting to simplify my icon for a while but I'm also extremely indecisive, what do you think?

My friends say i should just leave it as is but i feel like the one with the text is too crowded

This is the icon I've been using for my comic. This is the updated version of the original which I used to use, though I'm still unsure if it stands out enough. Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated! It features one of the more mysterious main characters in the story.

Would this be better?

Oooooh nooooo, it certainly doesn't look like that to me! With the title of your comic I always read it like, "ahhh! It's a pesky monster! This job is too much, I need a raise." I really like this thumb, though, it's one of my favorites that I've seen! The contrasting colors and values are really eye-catching. And it just looks like a fun story.

Anyways, one thing I've noticed (but perhaps underutilized) is that my eyes are always drawn very strongly to a face. If the thumb just has a face in it, I notice it instantly. However, there are SO MANY thumbs with faces that unless it's a very interesting face, I tend to click on something else. (usually thumbs that have two or more characters and thereby imply character relationships)

I also notice thumbs with words on them, but they repel me, haha. Thumbs with only words are especially infuriating to my to my eyes.

Here're my thumbnails, neither of which are particularly strong thumb compositions in my opinion. But they're fun and that's pretty much what matters to me at this point!

Oh gosh thank you! ;u; I was worried that people would infer that two characters in an icon looking at eachother automatically means a couple. XD I'm so glad it comes across right.

I like both your thumbs too! The juxtaposition is just great you've got cats and guns and even blades and cute girls. Awesome characterization with each one! Although, the stupid part about icons is that most of the detail is lost. D: I hope they read well as something tiny, because they're both really good!

I've been wondering about this a lot. I used my series logo for thumbnail, but I came to think that it's pretty boring.
It's this one:

I was thinking about using the thumbnail from some of the pages, what do you think looks better?

I fear that people may think that the series is much more serious that what it actually is.

The Captain in all his glory. While the series has some slapstick moments, this is not the norm and may be too exagerated.

Of course this need reworking, I'd use them only as a base for an actual series icon. What do you guys think it's best?