by Gossamer on April 14th, 2012, 5:40 pm
Let me clarify this because chat had a question. We had a series of banners that looked horrible for a while because people were taking small images and then stretching them size wise to make them fit our dimensions. When you do this the image gets distorted, isn't crisp, looks grainy (like it was taken by a camera in the 70's), and overall just has really bad quality. So when you make banners, make them the right size, but please start with larger images that are crystal clear and high resolution. They look tons better that way. And of course, make sure you have permission to use the image from the artist or that its freeware or stock art. Some of my favorite banners on here are all from deviantart stock just photo manipulated (like the witch with the glowing ball kneeling in the forest). She doesn't look anything like the original stock art I made her from, but the artist had given full permission for people to use her stuff.