Fic Banner

[Laterna]

Hey guys ^.^

Hope I've done this correctly, new to this part of forum XD

Anyways, I just wanted to display three banners that I had/have created for my Pokémon fic Rocket Frontier. Basically, when it started, I made my own banner for it and then updated it several chapters later as the story progress, and as such the banner required updating. However, the fic then flopped and, almost a year later, I've decided to reboot it and have created a brand new banner for the series. Here, I would like to display all three of them in order and get some feedback on how each looks, how they've imrpoved from one to another, and maybe what hasn't improved, and how I could progress from the latest one I have done.

Each character is supposed to be between the ages of 17 and 20, they are all experienced trainers and co-ordinators and have a full compliment of 6 Pokémon.

Alright, here goes:

The girl on the left is Mimi Mair, she focuses on Contests. In the middle is Kimi Mair, who is collecting Frontier Symbols. At the end is Will DeAmbos, a breeder with a mixed intrest in Contests and trainer battles.
What I've done here is re-coloured the Pokémon myself using my own palette of colours to make them my own in a sense. The characters have been based on the standard trainer sprites from D/P, which were selected and re-coloured to match that characters personality and style.

After several chapters had been completed, I decided to update the banner and modify it with new Pokémon and text:

In this banner, I decided to utilise the Unown more due to their prominant role in the story and moved the text up to the top because it would be better to not have it as obscured as it was in the first banner. I also took the opportunity to reposition the characters and display some of their other Pokémon (including some that were yet to be showcased in the story) as well as using the Unown to show who each character was. As well with this banner, I felt it was better to leave the Pokémon as they were, however I did have to re-colour Tangrowth and Aipom myself as I could not find a sprite that worked.
This was the final banner that I did for the fic befoe it's popularity significantly declined, causing me to stop writing.

Lately, I've been working on revamping the series and, with the availability of Platinum sprites, I decided that it would be best to create a new banner to place in my signature as a place-holder and advertisement for the rebooted series while I worked on the remaining chapters:

This banner features total redesigns for the characters, utilising the new Platinum sprites to better display their age and maturity as well as selecting poses and appearances that are better sutied to their overall personalities. The Dahlia sprite for Mimi allowed me to show-off her style and grace as she strikes a pose with her Pachirisu and Roserade. Argenta is used for Kimi to show that she is cool, yet mature and a strong and skilled battler. Will is based off Lucian for the simple reason that Lucian's sprite, the pose and hair, looked most like who the character is based on, but I did chance to change his outfit to match what he wore in the original banners and left them in their regular colours. The background was simply created using three colours sprayed across the white and then inverted to become cylindrical and to create a black halo around Kimi, signifying a crucial part of her character's abilities and nature.

Phew... sorry I wrote so much, I just wanted to detail my thought processes and techniques for each banner to give you all a thorough breakdown before you assess my work.

All I'm really looking for is to be told how I've improved over the three, or how I have not improved, and what I could do to make them better, how can I progress from that last one and make an even better banner for when the fic actually hits the forums?

Also, a quick question, I've put the prefic to [Discussion] because I want this to be a discussion obviously, but would I am I allowed to post (or amend this post) other things in this thread and receive more feedback on other ideas, or would I have to create a new thread for that? I know it's probably a stupid question, but it doesn't hurt to ask and be sure ^.^

Thank you for your time x

*cookies*

 

[ArtekOublier]

I went "advanced" on my post as you usually do when replying. It's nice to be finally back here.

Now Laterna, lol, your 1st banner is simple yet effective, having the total black background makes the characters stand out which is obviously what you wanted but it is, as well as the text is, slightly obscured by the swirls. It's probably a function of the lovely MGI Photosuite you're prone to using ^^ Sometimes with applications like that there's a specific radius you have to stick to, might have been better to reduce that. This banner might have been ore effective than the others as it only shows one of their Pokémon and not spoil what may be to come.

Your second banner has sorted to text problem and is welcomed by the addition of those very timely/untimely Unown which is think is particularly effective as you said they have a slight prominent role in your fic. However, the Unown depicting the name is maybe all very well and good if you've red a chapter or so and know who the people are in your fic, for people that don't know it might intrigue them to understand what they mean in association with the characters, or perhaps not. It's up to the individual then I suppose. Showing more of their Pokémon may be a little spoiler, but that's up to you and how you want the fic to be seen through these banners. As you said yourself these are well accomplished trainers already so it may stand to reason to have more than one there. Still the characters just themselves may have been even more poignant.

I know why you changed some of the Pokémon in the last banner, just for a change you say; perhaps favourites come into play here, lol. Um, it's my favourite banner out of the three. The swirling background gives the illusion of perhaps blurry Unown in some energy while they are still present in the text. I like how you have changed them to a form of back sprite. I've seen you do sprites so I know that you work hard on all you do, especially the writing and the sprites/banners for things like this. The redesigns of the characters based on the Pt sprites are immensely effective, showing off each of their personalities well. Well done!

All in all you have progressed in stages and have outdone yourself twice, and refined your design to what you needed. I think you, it needs no change. Just let the fic start.

*accepts a cookie and some tea*

 

[Loki]

Err....

I think you're the first person whose ever tried something like this during the time I've been here at PC. xD; So I don't really know what to tell you other than, I don't really mind you having this here.

However, as for posting other things, as long as they're related to this fic, you may post them here.
Anything unrelated, you'll need to make a new thread, with the prefix "Gallery" and then, you'll have to have four examples, as described in the rules.

I'll let your lack of four examples slide here, since you're not really... doing a gallery.

 

[Laterna]

Funny thing there Loki... there actually is a fourth banner, but for some reason, every time I tried it and checked it out in the preview post, it came up with a photobucket error image saying that the file no longer existed, even though the image was still on my photobucket account. However, when I went back on to photobucket, it stopped working, my computer died and I had to restart my comp. Once rebooted, I downloaded Firefox and started fresh, but the other banner was no longer on my photobucket account. I had such problems getting even those three images up - for some reason, I couldn't gopy and paste the code from photobucket, it wouldn't let me, and I had to keep refreshing the preview post page for the images to show up... I wonder if photobucket was just having a hard day.

As some may have noticed, there is quite a jump between banners 2 and 3, there was one supposed to be in-between them, that was essentially a better version of banner 2 on a different background with imrpoved colouring for the characters.

I didn't have time last night and I don't have time this morning as I'm about to head out to work, but I will check this afternoon and see if I do still have that other banner and hopefully try to re-upload it and amend my first post. Would that be acceptable?

I find it weird that no-one's ever done this before... would it have been better for me if I had put it to [gallery] rather than [discussion]? All I'm looking for is feedback really, how I've progressed from one banner to the next, what people think has improved and not improved and how I can make it better from that last one. When I went to intially post, I figured, well, [discussion] would be the best thing because that's what I was looking for, a discussion ^.^

Also, Artek, thank you for your comment - unfortunately, I don't really have time to read it right now, as I said, I'm just about to head to work, but I will get to it this afternoon. Thank you for your comments, it is much appreciated ^.^

*cookies*