I usually click on banners that have.
1. Nice/unique art. I'm always looking to look at things I've never seen before.
2. Interesting titles. I guess I'm just attracted to creative names.

This is kind of making me want to change my banner. :D

This is a good discussion question where I'm concerned junoblairb because for some reason I've never seen fit to have any sort of forum signature. I've always recognized it as a good advertisement investment as far as time and effort go, but for some reason I've always found something better to do with my free time, such as stare vacantly at the far wall for hours while thinking about nothing much at all . . . .

This time, however, I'm going to do things a little differently and produce everything I should have before I launch my strip; but not because I'll be fishing for vast numbers of readers but because for once I'd just like to do things the right way.

I agree that the signature should reflect something of the strip's art style but let's not forget that the fundamental rules of good advertising also apply. All this stuff has been worked out decades ago after having taken into account the fundamental psychology of humanity itself. Thus we know that a good signature needs a bit of mystery in it, a smattering of smart style, and if you color your work then the coloring should be treated as an entirely separate issue, one that functions almost as a wholly independent advertising or communications element in and of itself.

What bothers me about forum signatures though, is the false advertisement aspect when you click on the darn thing and are led to a strip or a book that doesn't remotely jibe with the sig's art style or inherent promises. Time and again I find that to be the case in two instances; manga and sprite works.

Now when manga is done correctly it's awesome. But all too often the artist's sig is artistic perfection itself while the reality of the comic frequently looks like some no talent hack has been given unsupervised time with a pad of paper and a scanner. The art quality of the signature and the reality of the comic should at least come close to matching. With sprite work my lament is for a different reason. I've sometimes clicked on a sig that promises some form of standard cartooning art and then you get led to a sprite work instead. If you have your mouth salivating for the one type and get directed to something entirely different then that amounts to false advertising with a vengence.

I don't know why - and maybe it's just my own experiences - but I have seldom run into similar problems with non-manga and non-sprite stuff. Usually there the sig style more or less agrees in nature with the artwork and art type that it leads to.

As you can tell I tend to overwork these things. The reality being that when the time comes I'll probably just slap something together that pleases me and still conveys the essence of my style. In other words, I'll probably depend on gut feeling as my guide rather than careful research and nit-picking effort. On the other hand, at least the end result will pretty much match the type and style of art work that I usually produce.

huh!?

CharleyHorse
Very long rant not saying much except 'hack manga/sprites suck.'

What the? Does my clone have a DD account?

Hey you should be drawing the comics!

But all too often the artist's sig is artistic perfection itself while the reality of the comic frequently looks like some no talent hack has been given unsupervised time with a pad of paper and a scanner.

As someone with a style that was derived from manga...

I'd say that what draws people to manga in the first place is the way those eyes are drawn.

Noobs like to keep drawing anime eyes... and when they get better, they tend to start drawing the eyes first instead of the stick figure outline.

And for signatures dealing with manga comics... I noticed that most of the time its an eye shot or a profile or a face shot. Because thats what manga artists (or artists who learned how to draw looking at manga) LIKE TO DRAW the best. They spend too much time on that for some reason... while ignoring stuff like human figure, perspective, backgrounds, etc.

Just my 2 cents...

kyupol
Just my 2 cents...

Day-Um that was really insightful. I never thought about it that much. I just always felt "You slacker hacks! Why do your banners look so good and your actual manga look so bad?! WHY??!!" I thought it was intentional.

kyupol
I'd say that what draws people to manga in the first place is the way those eyes are drawn

your right about the whole "some people only draw heads/eyes good" but that the eyes is what draws people to manga? do you mean like that people are going to DRAW manga becouse of the eyes? becouse i am a GAINT manga addict but the eyes has got to be the LEAST important of what draws me to manga. what i love about the manga art style (and now im JUST talking about the art style) is the amount of detail, the way action poses and attacks are drawn (REALY explosive and such) and the whole additude of the characters (and yes this does include the eyes but also all of the face and body)and not to forget how many different manga styles there are.

that eyes are not what manga is about is proven by the pro's of the buisness, there its all about the story becouse there all good artist anyway (yes even for the extreme of the extreme shonen manga, its still the exicution of the story that sells it) i might have misread what you meant but its a bit silly to think that people like manga just becouse of the way the eyes are drawn XD

Ah, kyupol, that explains the frequent disparity between the signature art and the reality of the comic itself. Thanks!

Otamie
i might have misread what you meant but its a bit silly to think that people like manga just becouse of the way the eyes are drawn XD

You have misread. We're talkinga 'bout the glut of poorly-drawn online manga, not professional manga.

mlai

Otamie
i might have misread what you meant but its a bit silly to think that people like manga just becouse of the way the eyes are drawn XD

You have misread. We're talkinga 'bout the glut of poorly-drawn online manga, not professional manga.

well it sounded like he was talking about manga all around, but your right, sorry!

I click on something with good art. Also if I see zombies I'll click that because I love zombies.

I don't see many (any) sigs for sprite comics. This is understandable. And the 'good art' thing doesn't work with sprites. Usually if they can post something that will convince me it isn't following the normal cliche's, then I'll click it out of a sense of duty. You know, supporting ailing comrades, etc.

I myself have gone with a totally minimalistic approach, only posting single sprites of the villains involved from each comic, not showing any information or even names. I also use my avatar to show that I'm really about sprites. Now I didn't MAKE this exclusively. I found a 343 Guilty Spark sprite online that looked way too small and scrunched up. After some pretty heavy editing, I got this. Whipped up a background and an animation, and viola. Hopefully for those who know that it's mostly a made-from-scratch animation, it'll show that I don't suck. So yeah, they are both carefully crafted to send a specific image. Not really sure if it WORKS though.

Now when I see someone doing something similar to this though, it works on me. Just proof that they have something to offer, whether it be visual quality or an interesting character/story. But again, they're not using sprites, and that might really be contributing to it.

I like dramatic stories so sigs that show lots of emotion such as anger, pain, or fear attract me. I prefer realistic manga styled comics over marval/dc american and cute manga style. Oh and good art helps too.

The whole eye close up picture in the sig is over used.

nothing. i dont buy into banners.