What makes a good banner and series thumbnail?

[aqua03]

Hey guys, I've been working on updating my banner for my webcomic (Edible Green Tea)/trying to design a new banner for my WIP comic DRGN. However, every time i sit down to draw either, nothing comes to me. Any ideas?

Also, does anyone have tips on what makes a good series thumbnail as well? I've been trying to make for DRGN for a while now and all my attempts aren't quite clicking with me yet either.

Thanks!

[VibrantFox]

I've shared this a number of times so I'll add it here too

Judging A Series By Its Thumbnail – Tapas App – Medium

One thing that it emphasizes is that your thumbnail is the first thing a potential reader sees so it's got to be eye catching. Usually it has the main characters or something that gives strong representation of what your series is about . As for a banner it'll have similar elements but again is a good place to let someone see what your series is about in a single image (there's also the bonus of plugging patreon/ko-fi or other little things) it's just a matter of what you hope to achieve

[aqua03]

Neat. Thanks for the advice, I'll check your thing out to see what it says.

[inkythoughts]

as @VibrantFox already mentioned, your comic's theme/mood should be reflected in the icon/thumbnail (the linked thread is really good practice imo), and I think this also applies to the comic's banner. I think it's important to have a good balance between the banner being too empty/not expressive at all and it being to crowded with too much information at once. It also should work together with the thumbnail. Maybe look at comics you like and how they handle their banners, which elements from the story did they use, how did they code them, do they give away the mood of the comic?
The banner is basically like your visual summary of the comic, while your thumbnail draws people in, your banner makes them stay to read the first episode.

I hope this helped?

[aqua03]

Yeah, it really did. Thanks for the help!

[afisa.wavinflier]

You need to think about the contrast a lot too. I remeber that I used a very darker background on my first thumbnail, when the image was bigger on screen it looked very good, but when it was smaller the characters disappeared in the background.

[aqua03]

Huh, that's something I haven't thought about. Thanks!