I didn't really know where to put this question, but this seemed like a safe spot. How do people make all those pretty banners? do you draw them? make them on the computer? Because I do not know how to do any of that and wanted to know so that when I get enough posts I too could play the claim game. any help would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Shurei-chan

Um, some people draw their own, some do create them on their computer and some ask their favorite site artists to create something for them.

You could also try some bannering sites... don't really have one in mind right now but Usually, you can achieve some great banner with them once you play around bit.

but what about copyright laws. If I want to use a pic how do I go about it?

That's why it's usually safer to use your own drawing. If not then the best you can do a) ask the artist and/or b) (if it's a mass copyright thing) acknowledge that in a little subtext on the banner. Some companies just don't allow it - like recently the mangazine that hosted Inuyasha the manga released an announcement that it didn't want people using their official images, so dokuga and dokuga_contest has been pulling banners with them

Banners, Dokuga's policy with banners is that if you have them use your own work or stock IY images, nothing Manga (according to Shogakukan's new thing), and if it happens to belong to someone else, the work your using, please ASK and GAIN PERMISSION FIRST BEFORE using it.

If that image is a stock image from another anime/manga (please keep in mind Shogakukan's rules) then at least make note of it somewhere on the banner that it belongs to that entity.

as for making them, you can use anything between jsut making it with traditional means, to using MSPaint, GIMP, Paint Tool SAI, PhotoShop, or any other program. It's up to you, though we do ask that you not put Large banners in your forum tag, even though some people do, and we ask that your banners be realatively PG13. No pics of babies that you know IRL or anything like that.

Your banner needs to comply with Dokuga art/icon rules. other wise have fun with it! and when it comes time, there are many people who are okay and willing to help make banners. ^_^

My advice would be to stick to your own artwork to make banners, or to kindly ask other artists if you can use their works, but be respectful if the artists say no, since is their work and not your own. If the answer is yes that it's okay, than you need to be transparent about how the artwork will be used, i.e. as a banner and not as a reproduction of their work.

I'd avoid using professional images or artwork as these are likely protected by trademark or copyright. Things can get sticky if you breach copyright. You could be liable legally too, so it's safer to steer clear of them.

If you have permission to use another artist's image or images to make a banner than acknowledge the source by pinning their name on the banner for example like 'Art by - <insert artist's name>'. You could also post a link to their gallery, or rec them somewhere, I have seen this done quite a few times too.

Best of all say a great big thank you to the artist, or artists if there's more than one that you used images (with permission) from since they're being very kind to allow you to make banners from their works. Also when you're done making the banner or banners the original artists might be interested in seeing them, so be kind and show them the fruits of theirs and your labours.

Also when you post banners my advice is to resize them down to a certain size in kilobytes so that they don't take up a huge amount of hard drive space when you upload them online. Try to keep them under a reasonable size it'll make for faster loading in a browser window to view them online.

You need to be mindful of the rules of the websites where you'll use and upload the banners too, since every website and online community with have their own guidelines for stuff like this.

~ Pyre