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Apr 2020

Hey ya'll! Since Tapas rolled out the new cover feature for everyone, I wanted to hear some of your ideas and also get a solid list of tips & tricks for making a successful, appealing comic book cover. So please leave your thoughts below! Here are some tips I've come up with to start:

  1. ALWAYS look at published comics and graphic novels for inspiration. Go to the book store, pick out some covers you like and also some comics that are similar to yours in genre, art style, and tone. Another thing you can do is find some successful published comic artists that you really admire; they usually have a tab for cover art on their portfolio website! Just surround yourself with inspiration and really study how these artists craft a comic book cover.

  2. Try to do a full color cover, even if your comic is in b&w or monochrome, unless monochrome better suits the tone of your story (dark, drama, or horror genres come to mind). Color is just more appealing to potential readers, especially if your comic is slice of life, teen comedy, romance, etc.

  3. This is something I've picked up on by looking at COPIOUS comic covers both on Tapas and in the published world... you should show at least two characters on your cover! If there is a key relationship at the heart of your story, whether it be two best friends, a father/daughter, romantic pair, or found family trio, you need to show that relationship on the cover! It gives your potential readers an idea of these characters and their dynamic right from the get-go. People like stories about character relationships. Of course, there are exceptions, like if your story is mainly a character study of your main character and doesn't have an integral relationship. Or, if your main character feels isolated, you will want to show that on the cover.

That's all from me! Also, feel free to drop your cover or comic if you want some specific advice or critique on your book cover. I'd be happy to help. :smiley: Edit: If you're going to critique the work of others, please follow good crit etiquette. DO NOT insult the artist or the work. Say something positive, and keep your suggestions constructive.

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    Apr '20
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    Jun '21
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Here's mine. I think I have the color thing covered, and I have my two central characters featured.
I suppose it is a little static, but I was trying to emphasize the detective part of the stories, as well as them being friends. Action and humor are important elements as well, but the mystery is the main focus, so I hope that's what this image conveys.

Lemme know if you think it works and if anything needs tweaking. :slight_smile: And thank you !

One thing a lot of people seem to be forgetting from the icon days is contrast. Just because you have a full cover, doesn't mean it still can't get lost, especially now that it's so colorful all around it. There's more freedom to choose a very wide palette, but when it comes to background or nonimportant areas (and especially on what the logo will cover up), it's good to think of places where it's going to be nearly monochrome.

If you can't go for big almost surreal contrast, I second going for storytelling. Immediately show someone what the main character relates to, and the comic's mood, through objects, the aftermath of an event as the background, or good ol' symbolism.

(keep in mind, do as I say don't do as I do, because I'm still using single character with nothing going on; but I've got a new cover in the oven following the new options we have!)

I love the cover art for this! It's very well done, and you did not skimp out on any details which is always good. I think you should keep this cover for a long time, especially since it seems you've put a lot of work into it, but I will give you some tips for the future.

So, a mystery genre comic or novel usually focuses on the mystery when it comes to the cover design. This piece I notice focuses more on the downtime in between where the characters are doing research and trying to solve the mystery, which is good if that is the main focus of the story. But, you may want to consider creating an alternate cover that shows an actual mystery or danger, like some creepy eyes lurking in a dark forest, or your characters hiding in an alleyway from an unseen danger, or your characters analyzing a crime scene or body of evidence that's relevant to your plot.

Otherwise, the main thing that stands out to me is the logo design (my degree is in graphic design so I'm like pretty vigilante about logos :sweat_smile:). I don't know if the silhouette thing is helping you here, or just making the cover look too busy. I know that is an iconic mystery kid genre trope, but its a little too much for the eye in my opinion, as well as a bit cliche. I think sticking to a simpler typography-based logo would work better for you, especially when your art is already so colorful and full of detail. That is it! Thanks for sharing your comic by the way, I'm checking it out now. :smile:

Thanks for the great tips! Yeah, it's also important to consider how tiny these covers are when people view them on desktop and mobile, so you have to make sure your main subject(s) stand out and the cover isn't TOO busy.

LOL same! Part of why I made this thread is because I really fudged my first cover attempt and now I want to make sure others don't repeat my mistakes! I have a new cover in the works too :joy:

One thing I should add in terms of tips is to make sure your comic title in the book cover is large enough and (most importantly) legible. When browsing comics, Tapas does not display any titles below the book covers it so it's all up to the cover to present the title of your comic. And with the Tapas website showing multiple comics when browsing, the size of the covers get pretty small. (I don't know how the covers look in the mobile app because I've run out of space to download it, but I would imagine they get even smaller.)

I kinda pick comics based on the image) not sure if i know nor do I remember thair titles. I mean you can check it later in your library

Thanks for the detailed and useful critique. :slight_smile:
We actually have a few cover images more in line with what you suggest, but there was the whole thing about the logo needing to be 1/3 of the image, and this one was the only pic that had that kind of room.
And yeah, the logo is a bit flashy. We have an alternative one, but that one's cliché too, lol.

And oh hey, thanks so much for reading ! :smiley:

Here is my cover - it conveys some of the ideas of the first series thumbnail to be more recognizeable:
My key characters - romantic boy's couple which leads you to the genre.
Guitar and mice - which leads to one of main themes, music
Mostly dark figures on bright background for betetr readability, though silouettes might be more clear, I'm still learning you know...
Yellowish orange color is somewhat popular color for indie comedy movies , and my comic is trying to be fun =)
Logo is hand made by my sister to resemble some bar/spirit signboards and black&red is my fav colors lol

I went black and white, single character for the Tapas cover.

The internal cover is much weirder:

I just wanted something that ultimately reflected the mood of the comic. I think horror is pretty niche on these sites so I don't feel that much pressure to have to pull people in since the audience is already tiny.

Personally I love evocative covers. Stark and ambiguous images always get me intrigued.

I really like the top one! the second is awesome but a bit creepy for someone who might see it by chance

Thanks for sharing! Yeah, I think you've really hit all the important beats with this cover. I love the little detail of using yellowish-orange since that is a dominant color in indie comedies (in color psychology, yellow signals happiness, excitement, friendliness and optimism). I also love the logo! So I'm noticing that the boy on the right (blue hair) is taking a dominant position here. He takes up most of the space, is leaning toward the other boy and looking down on him. If this is intentional, that's great. If not, you can do something to the composition to make them seem more equal (use symmetry to create balance).

It's a great cover, but if you really want to elevate it, think of ways to make your figures consume the space more. This basically means: how can you use pose, expression, action, composition, and depth to make your figures take up more space on the cover? This is important for covers that have a simple background and rely on positive space, and it does a lot of good things: (1) It cuts down on negative space, making your main subjects stand out more, (2) it makes the overall composition more visually interesting and (3) It also makes your figures feel grounded. "Grounding a figure" means to make your figure seem like they're taking up actual three-dimensional space, and is not just a flat drawing. For instance, if you showed the characters legs extending off of the canvas, I think that alone would improve the composition. Right now, they are floating in space. While this technique can work in some designs, I think in your case, you should draw their bodies extending off of the cover.

Also, it would be a great idea to add a little perspective! Perhaps we should be looking up at the figures, since their poses/actions imply that they are performing on stage. That would add a lot of visual interest.

Lastly, I Googled "Jem and the Holograms comics" as a point of reference for this critique. You should check them out, they're really well done, great examples of figures consuming a space with a very simple, yet appealing background.

These are both gorgeous covers, and superb examples of covers that rely on bnw and negative space! What I love about them is that they are visually AND emotionally interesting. They grip you in a way that a horror genre comic cover should. Thank you for sharing these!

Wow thanx! i Agree to most of your comments but I am probably to lazy to fix it)) I guess i will make a new cover for the future update when my skills improve. A I definetly need to check out Jem!
And you guess their roles hehe =) I was aiming for a symmetry though that guitar is hard to handle but I really wanted to keep it to have clear music reference,
their legs actually were present - I mean I have full body drawing but it kinda meregs with the logo and makes it less clear. perhaps i cat cut it with the solid background to get rid of that flaoting effect


I tried to show case what I though where the most important aspects being the most important characters, the Villain/Antagonist and I tried my best to show the type of art style I will try to go with the story going foward

also tried my best to make it look good both in color and purely black and white

would love too hear some second opinions =)

Edit: it's a work in progress and might start publishing next year so I still have time

This is some great advice! So I have a cover for the first volume of my series which is this one


I plan to make more in the future for other volumes. Do you have any specific critiques that could help better those covers. I'm kind of just making them as I go, though I have already sketched some ideas. Any critique is welcome!

Wow I really like the BW version - the colored seems less contrast propably due to dark grey background. And the title is a bit hard to read - that pattern inside letters is dissolving them and 'deaths' color merges into background entirely

Thanks for sharing! Your art is really on point here, but I have some suggestions for the composition.

So, with these ensemble adventure fantasy type covers, you usually see a very centralized, almost symmetrical composition. Here, I am observing that your figures extend to the horizontal edges of the canvas, leaving a lot of empty space in between. I think you should push all of your figures together, creating a composition similar to Lord of the Rings movie posters and the like. You could achieve this if your two large figures were back to back, moving the right-side figure down a bit to make room for the silhouette in the background. Keep the small figure in the foreground where they are, and push the shadowy figure in the background UP a tiny bit so that it is menacingly looming over everyone. That would be really nice, in my opinion.

My final artistic note is to make the light source a little more clear. The left figure is being lit from the right while the right figure is being lit from the left. Choose a light source and make it consistent. If the figures are being lit from the front head on, they wouldn't have such harsh and dark shadows.

As for your logotype, I think you can use one unified font or typographic style for the title. Keeping it simple is the best option most of the time! I actually think the Papyrus font looks great here and suits the genre and tone of the cover! However, it looks much better without the outline. You should never outline thin, wispy text like Papyrus. Your title would stand out a lot more if you used a unified white or light-colored background like with the BnW version. Make sure to look at your cover at like a tiny 100x100 pixel size to see if you would still be able to read it. :relaxed: But don't stress about it too much, a reader will click on your webcomic for the art even if they can't read the title. It's just a good thing to keep in mind.

First things first, Papyrus font. I KNOW it's effective and works, but there is no faster way to get someone to dismiss your comic than a cliche font, more for the memes than any real reason. It's better to handwrite that or use a less known "ancient" looking font. Blambot has a bunch that are free to use in indie comics.4

Second, the contrast. While the main colored characters all look nice (the character with the helmet might be too smushed on one side though, try to avoid the borders unless everyone is in them), the top area makes the text disappear and appear smaller than it actually is, and the shadowed figure creates this huge black area on only one side that imbalances the whole thing. I recommend a different color entirely on the red area, and the shadowed figure might look better in a different silhouette that either goes through both sides (like looking directly at the viewer) or is in a darker background to look less distinct. Black is a very hard color to compete with, which is why your BW version is so effective, so only another dark color can make it weaker.