Creating and using fan art... (1 Viewer)

[nhoffman82]

Ok, I'm starting to learn and collect different fanart, but I have a few questions.
1) There are basically two skin "formats" for fanart, one for the xface/chrome skins that show all episode information on the right side, and one for spinsafe (among others) that display episode information on bottom as well... is this correct?
2) The XFace and chrome skins will overlay the episode list on top of the fanart, so having the right side black (or white) isn't as important as it is with spinsafe (episodes would be hard to read if fanart is too noisy)
3) Are chrome skins preferred usually because they don't have to have the text boxes (which don't always line up right)?
4) When making my own fanart, should I make it for both formats? Should I include the transparent text boxes? What would be suggested with this... http://www.thetvdb.com/banners/fanart/original/81640-1.jpg?

I'm trying to get a feel for where fanart will be going in the near future as well (that's why I want to know what format to focus on). It seems like some of the newer fan art is trying to fit both formats, which I think is pretty cool...like http://jossan.visse.nu/~spuck/FanArtVote/thumbs/76156_dark_scrubs_4.png.
I just want to make sure if I spend time making my own fanart, it's not going to be incompatible or obsolete next month.

Is it generally a good idea to have the series name on the fanart? For example, here'a series taboo that I created: Taboo: Series Info. For the fanart, it's a generic picture I pulled off the web but I thought it looked appropriate for the series. Not sure if I should put the series logo on it or not.

Does full screen fan art ever look better than when light/dark gradients are applied (to make episode list and description easier to read)? Or if I see a full fanart that I like, should I immediately photoshop it and apply gradients for whatever skin I'm using?

While on the topic, what do you folks suggest as the best skin to use with TV series fan art? Where do you see the future of fanart in the next few years? (more towards xface format, spinsafe format, or something completely different?

THanks for all the help, it's much appreciated.

 

[ScoopD]

I think you may be confusing what is referred to as fan art. There are basically four different pieces of art that are used.
Banner art - this is seen in a graphic list of series and when in the series may be placed at the side of the season or episode listings. (Automatically downloaded by tvseries plugin)

Season art - there are pictures that people have created for a season of a show which may appear beside the list of episodes in a season. (Automatically downloaded by tvseries plugin)

Episode thumbs - there are generally a still image from an episode that is displayed when an episode is highlighted. (Automatically downloaded by tvseries plugin)

Fan art - Fan art is an image that basically fills most of the screen with text such as seasons and episodes overlayed. There are hundreds of them at MediaPortal TVSeries Fan Art System but you can make them yourself pretty easily. If you like one but it is the wrong way around for your skin you could flip it (if there is no text) or manipulate it to move the picture to the other side. By the way, these are not downloaded by tvseries plugin and are not required, they just make it pretty.

Sorry - Ignore that. Inker knows what he's talking about

 

[Inker]

Fanart will most likely completly go the way as defined by the online db. For more info, see here:
Fan Art - TvDBwiki
Online TV Database :: View topic - Fan Art

as well as some other threads in thetvdb.com forums.

 

[Odoyle]

I think you may be confusing what is referred to as fan art. There are basically four different pieces of art that are used.

Season art - there are pictures that people have created for a season of a show which may appear beside the list of episodes in a season. (Automatically downloaded by tvseries plugin)

There's really only one thing that I really can't stand about the TVDB content and that's the Season Art. With my Monochrome skin setup there's a little thumbnail in the upper left that shows the season art and every instance of it is utter crap. I can't find the source image anywhere either on my HDD or on thetvdb.com, therefore I can't change it! Any ideas?