5 Banners That Knocked My Socks Off
Jan. 11th, 2009 12:18 pm![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
clawofcat.livejournal.com posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
buffyversetop5I know I always am full of squee when I see a banner accompany a story, act as a beautiful header, or exist purely for our viewing pleasure. It's also safe to say that not everyone is interested in manipping and banner making is definately a graphic outlet that allows for a fair amount of flexibility. Really great at working with screencaps? Then banner making might be the righth choice for you. Here are a few beautiful contributions that really took my breath away this year. These are also all worksafe.
1. Frozen Memories by![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
alwaysjbj [Giles/Jenny]
There's not a lot of art dedicated to Giles & Jenny, and why not? This is a beautiful piece with some dramatic textures. The haunted look on Giles' face in contrast to the placid serenity of Jenny's reminds us of how gutting her death was.
2. Blood on Your Hands bymarvelgirl_art [Faith]
Wow. The splash of red on this black and white image makes the pic look like a massacre, which is pretty appropriate considering Faith's mental state by the time she gets to LA. We're brought into her guilt and confusion, but we also feel pity for poor Faith. She's so vulnerable here.
3. The Willfull Slaughter of Hope & Bang bysevendeadlyfun [Willow/Tara]
These two companion pieces really illustrate how powerful text can be on a banner or any piece of graphic art. The words tell the story and the images illustrate them with wonderful clarity. Not only are these two pieces powerful and full of such base human emotion, but Seven very cleverly places the text in such a way that draws our eyes around the banner, highlighting each image in turn.
4. "Age of Unreason," Gunn bysueworld2003 [Gunn]
What struck me about this particular mock cover image fromshapinglight's epic fic is the amazing texture that Sue is able to create here. It's gritty. Gunn's skin looks dirty, stinky, filthy, sweaty. It brings you in visually, but speaks to all your senses. It also makes you want to know why. Has he been working? Running? Abused? Of course, we won't know unless we check out the fic.
5. Passion byframedinlove [Spuffy, Faith/Angel]
Contrasts in art are always very visually interesting, and framedinlove is able to highlight that here by drawing attention to the divergent and parallel emotional dynamic between these two couples. The header has movement and a really incredible sense of atmosphere, while also saying something about these two couples and who they are to each other.
1. Frozen Memories by
alwaysjbj [Giles/Jenny]There's not a lot of art dedicated to Giles & Jenny, and why not? This is a beautiful piece with some dramatic textures. The haunted look on Giles' face in contrast to the placid serenity of Jenny's reminds us of how gutting her death was.
2. Blood on Your Hands by
marvelgirl_art [Faith]Wow. The splash of red on this black and white image makes the pic look like a massacre, which is pretty appropriate considering Faith's mental state by the time she gets to LA. We're brought into her guilt and confusion, but we also feel pity for poor Faith. She's so vulnerable here.
3. The Willfull Slaughter of Hope & Bang by
sevendeadlyfun [Willow/Tara]These two companion pieces really illustrate how powerful text can be on a banner or any piece of graphic art. The words tell the story and the images illustrate them with wonderful clarity. Not only are these two pieces powerful and full of such base human emotion, but Seven very cleverly places the text in such a way that draws our eyes around the banner, highlighting each image in turn.
4. "Age of Unreason," Gunn by
sueworld2003 [Gunn]What struck me about this particular mock cover image from
shapinglight's epic fic is the amazing texture that Sue is able to create here. It's gritty. Gunn's skin looks dirty, stinky, filthy, sweaty. It brings you in visually, but speaks to all your senses. It also makes you want to know why. Has he been working? Running? Abused? Of course, we won't know unless we check out the fic. 5. Passion by
framedinlove [Spuffy, Faith/Angel]Contrasts in art are always very visually interesting, and framedinlove is able to highlight that here by drawing attention to the divergent and parallel emotional dynamic between these two couples. The header has movement and a really incredible sense of atmosphere, while also saying something about these two couples and who they are to each other.
