Need banner help?

[Thorn Wilde]

@Myr added some image tools to the Writer's Resources page back in April, in order to encourage writers to add banners to their stories, and there are lots of great tools and suggestions there, but learning how to use a photo editing programme isn't necessarily the easiest thing and some may not have the time either.

As such, I thought I'd offer my services. I'm pretty handy with GIMP (which is my image editing software of choice; it's open source and free, btw), and flatter myself that I make some pretty decent banners as I've been playing with photo editing for going on fifteen years now. So, if you'd like some assistance, feel free to contact me. I'd be more than happy to help. 

By way of credentials, here are some banners I've made, for myself, and for others.

Spoiler

 

EDIT: I can help make profile banners too. I made one for @Wayne Gray a little while back.

Edited December 8, 2019 by Thorn Wilde
Further information.

[CassieQ]

Those are lovely!

[Headstall]

Those are outstanding, Thorn! You are very kind to offer your services.  

[Timothy M.]

Apart from Anthology banners (including the awesome Valdemar banner which for some unknown reason only displays on the second of my fan fic stories  ) I only have the banner Litlover very kindly designed for my Clueless Camping story - which seems to have disappeared  

So, yeah, I'd love to get some help designing a couple of banners. What can we do for you in return ?

[Thorn Wilde]

50 minutes ago, Timothy M. said:

Apart from Anthology banners (including the awesome Valdemar banner which for some unknown reason only displays on the second of my fan fic stories  ) I only have the banner Litlover very kindly designed for my Clueless Camping story - which seems to have disappeared  

So, yeah, I'd love to get some help designing a couple of banners. What can we do for you in return ?

I don't know, I hadn't really thought about that. I'd just say pay it forward. But maybe you could beta something for me at some point?  

Weird that the Clueless Camping banner disappeared. Perhaps you could try to re-upload it, or make a topic in the Help section to see if it could be a fixable bug?

Anyway, if you want me to make something, just PM me and we can brainstorm about what you might like.

[Thorn Wilde]

1 hour ago, CassieQ said:

Those are lovely!

 

1 hour ago, Headstall said:

Those are outstanding, Thorn! You are very kind to offer your services.  

Thank you both! ❤️ 

[northie]

One of the main things I've enjoyed about my promotion to Promising, is the ability to make story banners. Maybe not as good as yours, Thorn, but they still give me great pleasure in their creation. I've never tried GIMP. As I use non-royalty stock photos as the basis of mine, I get away with using paint.net.

[Timothy M.]

@Thorn Wilde I'm not very good at beta reading, but in any case it's a moot point. Only promoted authors can add story banners, not ordinary authors.  

[Thorn Wilde]

17 minutes ago, northie said:

One of the main things I've enjoyed about my promotion to Promising, is the ability to make story banners. Maybe not as good as yours, Thorn, but they still give me great pleasure in their creation. I've never tried GIMP. As I use non-royalty stock photos as the basis of mine, I get away with using paint.net.

You've got some nice banners, I think.  I use stock photos as well. I make use of Pexels and Pixabay, mostly, and occasionally Unsplash. GIMP has a lot of good filters and other fun tools, and a massive bank of fonts. It can be a bit hard to get used to, however. I still don't know my way around all the functions, and I've been using it for going on six or seven years, I think. lol

[Thorn Wilde]

Just now, Timothy M. said:

@Thorn Wilde I'm not very good at beta reading, but in any case it's a moot point. Only promoted authors can add story banners, not ordinary authors.  

Damn, I didn't realise that... You could have one in your signature, though, if you wanted. Or I can make you a profile banner.  

[Timothy M.]

36 minutes ago, Thorn Wilde said:

Damn, I didn't realise that... You could have one in your signature, though, if you wanted. Or I can make you a profile banner.  

Yeah, thanks, that's true. But I think I'll use the banner LitLover made for me for my profile banner, since I can't have it on my story.  

But at least I can have it as a story cover below the list of chapters.  

Edited December 8, 2019 by Timothy M.
addition about story cover photo

[northie]

49 minutes ago, Thorn Wilde said:

and a massive bank of fonts.

That's one thing paint.net isn't great at - their selection is fairly ordinary. I'm not very good at finding my way around image editing programs. Maybe I'll stick to what I (sort of) know.   

[Thorn Wilde]

12 minutes ago, northie said:

That's one thing paint.net isn't great at - their selection is fairly ordinary. I'm not very good at finding my way around image editing programs. Maybe I'll stick to what I (sort of) know.   

This may be wise. Lol

[rickproehl]

Hey there are a few great iOS programs i use i have done a few graphics. The best advice is fine the right graphic and the banner will make itself.

 

Edited December 9, 2019 by rickproehl

[quokka]

Yes please, I would like a profile banner, if you can spare the time.

Q

[Thorn Wilde]

1 hour ago, quokka said:

Yes please, I would like a profile banner, if you can spare the time.

Q

Sure! PM me and we can talk about what it is you want.