Editor Question on Art

[Varianor Abroad]

What size art pieces do you prefer in text? Given that full page is easy to place, I'm only talking about half page or quarter page art pieces. Within that subset there's half page long and half page wide. Then there's some art that's not going to fit handily into a square. So, what works, what doesn't and why please?

 

[Mark Plemmons]

What size art pieces do you prefer in text? Given that full page is easy to place, I'm only talking about half page or quarter page art pieces. Within that subset there's half page long and half page wide. Then there's some art that's not going to fit handily into a square. So, what works, what doesn't and why please?

Well, this question is more properly targeted towards a graphic designer or whatever member of a production team actually lays out the book, but here's how I do it.

When I assign art I use three different sizes. Basically, they are: full page (8x10), 1/2 page (8x5), or 1/4 page (4x5).

Mostly, I just use 1/4 page, and reserve 1/2 pages for illustrations that deserve more of a landscape feel - such as landscapes. I'll occasionally assign a full page or two so my layout guy will have something to fill in any blank pages. For examples, we like chapters to start on the right-hand page, and if the previous chapter doesn't run quite right to that, we can use one of the full pagers to fill the black space.

However, a talented GD can make any size of art fit.

 

[Axegrrl]

Long, half-page format is sometimes quite useful for character illustrations -- but not often useful for much else.

 

[V_Shane]

And just from an artists production point of view. last year I did over 300 1/4 page b/w illustrations (not including my Arcane art), about 17 full page b/w. Only 3 half pages, and like 10 two by threes. That just shows some stats about what the majority asks for.