Besides types mentioned here, I don't like the thumbnails where there are too many characters crammed into that tiny square.
Or when it's a close-up on someone's butt. xD
I guess it sounds very generic, like the artist thought "oh, this is a romance so the thumbnail should have kissing"
?
with no offense to those who may do so, I don't think it's much of a webcomic at that point. I can understand a photo for a novel cover but not so much a comic.
I agree with the response that said having a bunch of characters crammed into one small thubmnail, it's not the best look and for ideas like that it's best reserved for the banner.
Personally thumbnails with muddled colors or hard to decipher art tend to steer me away. That or if it's just the name in the icon. I'll still take a peek out of curiosity but if it doesn't pop it's easy to just kind of pass over. I will say I actually sometimes prefer black and white icons especially if the character art is really crisp, something about clean lines is just appealing.
This reminds me of a few projects I was getting paid to work on but knew the whole thing was doomed from the start.
Just like a bad thumbnail non of these bad projects helped me in the long run. Now that I'm looking back yes it would have been better to offer some good advice or C & C to turn the project around rather then just taking the money.
Same goes for thumbnails. Got to learn to speak up, that goes double when your young!
I kinda glimpse over thumbnails that have 1-2 characters with the...arms crossed. Especially if it's supposed to be a romance?
Just...I dunno, it gives me that "feel good romance comedy where SHE'S a business executive and HE'S a small town guy. Both have their differences, but this time they'll have to work together! Maybe they'll find love along the way~~"
Veeery cheesy.
Sexual thumbnails...I know I read my fair share of mature works but more often than not do I avoid those that have the characters moaning or have the other one look really submissive OTL jfksjfsk
While not sexual, I'm not most likely to read characters who are blushing too much in the cover...
Any thumbnail that is just two very plain looking pretty boys kissing. Because like, every BL comic has that and it makes them not as memorable. Why can't one of the boys be juggling chainsaws and kissing the other boy while he's wrangling a crocodile? I'd read that.
I see these mostly with novels but the ones that are made by programs / generators.
I don't know what the exact ford word is for it, but it's an ap where you pick a pose, then you pick the hair, then you pick the clothes, then the expression and BOOM, done. You have a thumbnail.
Don't get me wrong, I understand novel writers using it because they can't draw there thumbnails. But I suspect that this program they all like to use only has 1 'yaoi' pose option because I keep seeing variations of this same damn image all over the place.
Edit: For those that don't know what I'm talking about it's this pose (image take from google search, not a comic or novel on tapas cause I don't want to put any specific titles on blast)
but yeah I was really confused at first cause I kept running into novels with various characters BUT ALL DRAW IN THE SAME STYLE AND IN THE SAME POSE. I thought it was people tracing at first but when I looked into it, it was a 'avatar creator'
and now I can't help but focus on them every time they show up, because 'there's that BL chin grabby pose stock image/character creator thing again'
OMG is that what's happening? I've noticed that around and just figured it was a traceover going on. But an avatar maker is...wow why would you do that for a comic?
Same! I thought people were just kinda making the same style based off of everything they saw on Tapas 
Call me a prude but seeing avatars that have a character showing the middle finger (no matter if they have a cheeky smile or look angry/badass) make me not want to read the comic.
Dunno if it just feels offensive to me, but it makes the (assumed) main character appear like a rude person....and I don’t like rude characters....especially in the lead 
team nice guy lol xD
YEAH the middle finger would lead me to believe the character/writing style is in the 'edgy teen' realm and I'm too old for this shizz now. xD
- Where the thumbnail don't actually match the style of the comic at all. i feel cheated!
- Ones with text or the entire title in the tiny thumbnail (bonus if the title is long. more bonus if two or more characters are crammed there too. Believe me, I've seen this!) This actually happens a lot when it's a page format comic with a traditional cover just cropped and put as thumbnail and expect it to look good on mobile B (
- Too dark, too saturated, or lacks contrast.
- Characters are too zoomed out.
- I noticed i really don't like magenta-heavy thumbnails (._.
3 months later
