Me again, taibhrigh, Sylum’s Resident Artist. Today I’m here to talk about those pretty images known as banners that each story in the NEW archive should have.
Like with the New Wiki Character Images, there’s a spreadsheet for this so the General knows the status on the banners. This is especially important during special events like Seven Days of Summer and Advent.
Banner images run the gamut from easy to hard. Which in turns controls the turn around time from the start of the process through the drafts to the final version you see in the archive.
The highest count on drafts it took before an author was happy with a banner, at least so far, has been 8.
Banners are 500 pixels by 208 pixels. That, overall, is not a lot of space. You want the banner to convey something of the story. This could be a single character, place, or moment in the story. This can sometimes be expressed in the main image or even with a particular font.
Here’s the number one rule for banners: Simple is Better.
One quick thing, I do not get to read all the stories in advance.
Let me repeat that, I do not get to read all the stories in advance. This is not like doing art for a Big Bang. Sometimes an author will send me a story or passages they think are important but that’s rare.
I get to work with what the author provides me. The only three required elements are title, author name; and I ask for a moment, or character, etc. that the author thinks is important. After all, I have to have somewhere to start.
The shortest time I’ve ever done a banner (this is from request to draft to approval) was about 30 minutes… the longest, ha! Remember that 8 drafts, that was about two weeks.
And all of this, explains the deadlines the General has in place during those special events 🙂
Questions? Leave them below.
You do FANTASTIC work and we do not thank you enough for all of the effort you put into all of the artwork you produce for Sylum. So here’s a big THANK YOU! 🙂
Thank you!!!