Refined cover art

So, yeah, I tweaked the cover icons for my stories and the Twin Canterlots group. It was kind of a weird process. I started with the inspiration “hey, I should redesign the icons based on the print cover designs I ginned up!” That . . . didn’t go well. And I should have known better from the start given how elegant—but spindly—Academy Engraved LET is. (That’s the typeface I used on the front covers and spines.) What I didn’t anticipate was how the color backgrounds completely overwhelmed the type and ornaments, turning them to mud in any of the smaller sizes. Live and learn.
   Eventually the evolutionary process ended up more or less in the same neighborhood it began, but with differences. When I created the previous set, I was charmed by the alpha transparency offered by PNG, which led me into two choices I now have moved away from: running the design clear out to the edges of the image and allowing the backdrop to show around the type. I’ve thought better of that, and the new set uses bold black pinstriping around the outer border, framing black type on a simple white background, with the artwork in the remaining space.
   The other changes were to the work flow, not visible on the outside. Previously I used Adobe Illustrator; now I am using Adobe InDesign. Illustrator is optimized to deal with art, and its handling of type is annoyingly primitive. InDesign is infinitely better with type, but it’s okay at simple graphic elements, which overall makes it easier to work with for this sort of project. The other change was going from a six-inch square to a nine-inch square, then reducing image size in Photoshop.

To anyone considering story art I offer these thoughts.

• Before finalizing your art, be sure to check how it looks in the various icon sizes used by Fimfiction (or whatever site you’re dealing with). After a little reverse engineering, I’ve determined size small is 128 pixels, size medium is 256 pixels, and size full is the original pixel count.

  • Small is shown on list or card views, such as the front page or a user’s “Stories” page.
  • Medium is shown on an individual story or, on a “Stories” page, in full view—and yes, the two different uses of “full” is confusing.
  • Full size is shown only when one clicks on a small or medium icon to bring out the pop-up view.
• Each of those pixels counts, by the way, is for the long dimension! That means if you make your artwork long (or tall) and skinny, it will be tiny in the small size. For example, if your artwork is 300 by 600 pixels, when it’s reduced to size small it will be 64 by 128 pixels. The art will lose pretty much all its detail, turning into a smear of color. This is why I favor—and strongly recommend—a square shape for each icon, because it offers the largest possible image area at any given pixel size.
• If you include title or byline on the art, for the love of Celestia make it big and bold and put it on a simple background—ideally, black on white. Otherwise, the text will vanish at the reduced sizes.
• In line with that, use simple and bold artwork that is at least vaguely readable at the smaller sizes. Again, the artwork may be utterly beautiful, but if it is at all intricate, those lovely little details will disappear, leaving behind a blur nobody can make out. And you might be surprised how many people won’t bother to make even the slight effort necessary to click and look at it full-size.
• Monochrome pencil sketches also disappear completely unless they are boldly shaded, as Baron Engel’s artwork is in the story art for “Courtesy Call”.