The topic covered today is really something that will boil down to common sense and personal preference. Unfortunately, sometimes “common” sense isn’t really too common.  Banners are small, your art is [usually] large. Fitting large art on small banners is difficult because you have 2 options: show a small piece of the large art, or shrink your large art to fit on the small banner.

Option 1 is usually better. Interested visitors see a higher quality image, and even though there is LESS to see, it is tantalizing in its…lack…of the entire image.  It’s saying “see more! Click here!” without actually saying it.  If you do it right, that is.

Option 2 is what most people seem to go with. What happens though is that the art loses quality, looks squashed, gets blurry and becomes…unattractive.  The only time I’ve seen this done right is on LARGE banners, like 160×600 towers or 728×90 leaderboards. If you have enough room, you can fit more. But if you don’t have enough room, don’t try to fit the 14 co-eds into the telephone booth.

How about some examples? I’m going to go with a middle-size, popular-size banner for linking (200×40px) and a random panel from a recent Not Alone page of mine (last panel).  I need more banners for that comic anyways.

First, I’m going to draw upon my 8 elements of a banner discussed in the first article about this. I’m going to choose a “facial feature” and use my personal logo.  I’m not going to include my URL because Not Alone doesn’t have its own site. I will include a border, action/movement is part of the panel, I’ll be using a monochromatic color scheme, and since this is a panel straight from my comic, the advertising is truthful. If there is room for a tag-line, I will include it.
Option 1, small piece of larger art done wrong, then right:

Why is the first one wrong and the second one right? The first has art that is TOO large on a canvas that is TOO small. It should only take one short glance to discern what is being shown to you.  You shouldn’t have to pause and ask, “what is that supposed to be?”  The second one is “right” because you can easily tell what it is, yet it’s still large enough that it’s only a PIECE of the entire image.

Option 2, “zoom out” done wrong and then done better:

Again, what makes the first wrong and the second right? In the first, the image is so SMALL it is you can’t tell what it is without squinting, the same kind of problem that the bad option 1 banner had, but in the opposite way. The second version of this type of banner is better because you can still see what it is without compromised quality. I don’t call this one “right” because to do a far-zoomed-out banner, you need to choose the right dimensions for the job. This image could not be placed in a way that satisfied me. It is only better, not “right.”

Some other things:

When the image that you choose is facing a certain way (for example, the character on the banner faces to the right), it should face your logo on the other side. The two should face each other, drawing attention INWARD. If the elements faced opposite directions, attention would be focused OUTWARD. Draw the person in. People will look where the character in the banner is looking. So, focus that attention on you, not away from you.

Second, another common mistake I see with small banners is people not wanting to include text at all. It is amazing how small text can be and still be readable. You need at least your comic’s title or logo on every banner advertising your comic. If you can fit a tag line it, do so. The phrase, “fate is a choice” on these banners is set at only 10px high. It was still readable at 8px high, but there was no reason to make it that small.

Making Banners: Animations to come after the holidays are over.