Doin' It for the 'Gram (Behind-the-Scenes) (Patreon)

Every week we create preview images for social media sites that need to not only catch the attention of existing and (hopefully!) new readers, but turn a tall page of creatively laid out visual storytelling into the rigidly restricted dimensions mandated by each individual platform. 

It's actually kind of a fun puzzle reducing these full pages into tiny bites. 

So! Join me as I walk you through our process of making an Instagram-sized preview, using this week's Cocky Concoctions by Nousanti as the example....

First, you gotta read through the comic, looking for the panels that will introduce the story in the way that will best compel the casually scrolling browser to stop and read the rest. 

Fortunately, this first page provides an intro that will stand on its own, so I won't have to Frankenstein together an out of order intro out of different panels. I'll make sure to show you guys an example of that in another post! 

Instagram primarily features square images, so now you gotta chop up each panel to fit that shape. Oh-ho, but you can't just crop the art- you gotta reposition the word balloons to fit into their new parameters! And you can't just move the word balloons and have them look right, you gotta completely re-do the word balloon tails! Both by reconfiguring the existing tail (moving the attachment point from the left side to the bottom) and by copy-pasting a tail from a completely different balloon.

Spot how many word balloons and tails I completely moved around to squish them into their perfectly square boundaries:

Like I said, a fun challenge! 

The final picture in the Instagram teaser needs to call the reader to action by directing them back to our site so they can finish reading the comic. You need a finisher that encapsulates the whole vibe of the comic, showcasing the main characters and elements. Sometimes there isn't a comic panel that perfectly serves that purpose, in which case you need to pick out several different pages that each have a little something that fits the bill.

Please note that Instagram does not allow depictions of genitalia or sexual activity, so the giant bull dick ejaculating onto our witch's face was photoshopped out and her face/hair lines drawn back in to create this SFW promotional image. We also have to obscure the word "Sex" in our images, hence the hearts over our URL! If I could go back in time ten years, I would warn Little Erika and Matt from including the word "SEX" in their title because it just... really doesn't make things easy anywhere else on the internet. Or real life. FOLKS, DO NOT INCLUDE THE WORD "SEX" IN YOUR TITLES OR BUSINESS NAMES. You think it is cheeky and cute (and it is) but the world just isn't ready U_U

Ok! Thanks for readin' this behind-the-scenes post! Hope you're groovy! 

-Erika