Critique Clinic – August 5-7, 2011
How does it work? For three days a week (Friday-Sunday midnight), I will open the clinic to any artist who wants an honest peer review and critique of a card which gets plenty of clicks but no sales, so something’s probably not quite right, or you’ve got a new design you want to test drive, or you’re unsure about the marketability of a card. Or perhaps you’re a newbie who isn’t sure if a recently submitted card is up to a marketable standard. Anyone is welcome to participate. In fact, I encourage everyone to at least look at the cards in question and read the critique comments – you may learn something. The purpose of the clinic is to help artists improve the commercial appeal and marketability of their cards.
THE RULES
- ONE card per artist only.
- Card must be for sale at Greeting Card Universe.
- We will take an unlimited number of artists, including those who have submitted recently, HOWEVER I reserve the right to close a clinic for the day if the submissions become overwhelming. If the clinic has been closed, and you submit a card, your comment will be deleted.
- To submit a card for critique, post a link to the card’s details page at GCU in the comments section of this clinic post.
- Any artist is free to comment and/or give a critique of a submitted card. HOWEVER, post-and-run comments like “great card” or “you suck” will not be tolerated, nor will abuse. Criticism should be constructive, not destructive. Play nice or you will be banned.
- I also won’t tolerate temper tantrums if you decide your “artistic integrity” is being stepped on because you asked for a critique, and someone told you the photo you’re using isn’t in focus. If you can’t take honest criticism, don’t submit. Once gets you a warning; twice and you’re banned from submitting in the future.
- Artists who critique may do so by giving their opinion, posting an example of another card, or pointing the submitter to a video, on-line article, or other helpful suggestion.
- Don’t forget that artists who are giving you tips and helpful advice are volunteering their time and trouble. Be nice. A link back to their store on your website or blog is appreciated (but not mandatory).
- You are free not to take any advice offered. There’s no guarantee any card will be a bestseller, so don’t come into the clinic with unrealistic expectations.
- Rules may change as we go along and we see how things turn out, okay?
So without any further ado, I declare this week’s Critique Clinic open!
GCU Community 
Here’s a card that gets a lot of views but only 2 sales. I think it lacks that “WOW” factor Doreen writes about, but it has some potential, perhaps. Sock it to me, fellow artists!
Thanks for your time:>)
http://www.greetingcarduniverse.com/-Hydrangea+Having+a+Baby-greeting+card-404780?aid=136775
Carol
Nature’s Wonders Photo Cards
Well, Carol… what can I say? It’s a snapshot of a hydrangea that looks too dark to me. With so many flower photograph-based cards on GCU, your photo has to really stand out from the crowd if you want to make a splash. Have you read Doreen’s Squidoo lens about photographing flowers? Look at her examples and you’ll see what she means by “wow.” I’m not sure this photo has the potential to be a mass seller.
http://www.squidoo.com/beautiful-examples-of-floral-photography
Corrie
Thank you, Corrie. I read Doreen’s lens and see exactly what you’re talking about.
Your verse is wonderful (you have a gift with that, which I don’t possess!). But the image doesn’t tie into the verse for me. And your title would make me click, expecting something humerous (a hydrangea having a baby? what?). I’m with Corrie, the floral image in and of itself just doesn’t jump out (do check her link to Doreen’s article, tho – that is a great resource!). I’d keep the verse and find a new image for it, myself …
Yup – that’s what I’m thinking now as I read through the suggestions. Thanks for the kind words on the verse, and special thanks for the critique on the image.
Hi Carol, sorry I’m late to the party. No ‘wow’ factor for sure. DOF (depth of field) is critical in floral shots. Where the focus falls off has to pleasing and in this case it falls off in the forefront which equals not appealing. The lack of contrast and vibrancy doesn’t make it stand out and to be perfectly honest, it’s a snap shot as Corrie mentioned and snapshots in general don’t make good greeting cards.
I would agree with Peggy, keep your great verse and go shoot something that fits that verse for a real winning card.
Your lens is wonderful – very informative – and everyone is in agreement about the photo. I know I have “miles to go before I sleep” when it comes to designing cards. This forum is an invaluable resource. It takes courage to be honest (some forget this), and you guys helped me a lot with this card by being clear-eyed. The card is toast. :>)
Toast, but after the Clinic closes.
H Carol, I like the soft colors of the flowers. How fitting that there are both pink ones and blue ones for a neutral gender card. But when I look at it, my eyes can’t seem to focus on anything. The two lines texts seem too far apart from each other. Since the flowers are slightly blurry in the forefront, I was wondering if you lowered the opacity of the whole photograph (like you see on flowery stationary sometimes: example: http://printstationary.net/stationaryletterhead/images/bgf8.jpg ) And Peggy is right. I giggled when I saw your card title. I was expecting a cartoon hydrangea holding her baby flower! Perhaps reword it to something like: “Having a baby – Hydrangea” 🙂
I appreciate the sincere critique, Tracie. I like the visual you described with the Mommy hydrangea holding the baby flower – very clever idea. It’s beyond my ability to use the idea well but maybe someone else can.
Since we have this wonderful new photo-frame feature available to us (I know, it was available before, but I didn’t get around to learning it then – I have now, though), I thought I’d post one of my very first creations with it. 🙂 I figure I might as well get my criticism now before I get carried away with making new designs that might not be appealing to customers. lol.
http://www.greetingcarduniverse.com/-Nice+Colorful+Photo+Frame+Card-greeting+card-848949?aid=152495
Plus, I have a question. It seems like it would look more finished if I make a thin border around the photo-transparency area (like a black line with six – ten pixels of width on each side) before I send it up to GCU. Is that something most of you would do? Also, do you recommend staying away from a patterned design (like this one) and maybe go with some focal point in one or two of the corners? I’m loving this new feature, but I could sure use several examples of good cards for reference. 🙂
Thanks!!
Cindy
Yes, I think it needs a border. It seems a bit incomplete without one . . .
An edge around the frame would make it seem more complete. However, if I were you, I’d try to design photo cards with a purpose rather than general cards.
Corrie
I’m with the others, a bit of a frame would do nicely to set the photo. I agree with Corrie – custom photos with an occasion might see more action. For the title and artist notes – scrap the word “nice”. It’s blasé and makes me feel like you are trying to toot your own horn, but arn’t exactly confident enough to firmly recommend your image to me.
LOL, Peggy! The part about tooting my own horn but not being confident enough… is pretty much exactly how I felt about it! LOL! I’ve got to quit being such an open book. Thanks for all the advice. I’ll add a border and do more specific photo-frame cards in the future. As a matter of fact, I just completed one (with a border)… and I’m not allowed to ask for a second critique (though I certainly wouldn’t ignore it if it were given freely to me – lol) … but I’m just letting you all know that I’m following your valued advice and working on creating them for specific occasions. 🙂
http://www.greetingcarduniverse.com/shopping/viewdetails.asp?pid=849062&aid=152495
Thanks!!
Cindy
I agree with the others, including not spending your time making ‘general’ photo cards…think about that. Have you ever received a photo card from someone for no reason at all? Just food for thought.
I do like your second card to welcome baby, much better to have an occasion 🙂
I really like the birth announcement one, Cindy. I can’t wait to try my hand at a photo card…just as soon as my ‘creativity’ comes back to me…my mind has been in melt-down mode today 🙂
A while back ago I saw it mentioned in the critique clinic that the oval design had gone out of style. I had fun making this card, but now that I look at it, it seems rather boring. How do I fix it? borthhttp://www.greetingcarduniverse.com/-My+Friend+-+Friendship+-+Yellow+Daffodils-greeting+card-833836?aid=152843
Oops. Messed up on the link: http://www.greetingcarduniverse.com/-My+Friend+-+Friendship+-+Yellow+Daffodils-greeting+card-833836?aid=152843
Hi Tracie – your card has a nice vintage feel to me! I’d center the front text more – it feels “off” to me. Maybe make the first letters of each word a one or two size larger font? Inside text is nice – the last paragraph I’d scrap the comma after “agree” and “friend”. And the final sentence I’d take out of parenthesis – using that makes it sound like an afterthought to me, rather than the reason for the card. Title: a bit redundant -maybe just Friendship with Daffodils? Keywords: add vintage. Artist’s Notes: I’d change that up “wrong” feels wrong there : )- Again, like you are making apologies for your work, and not what I know you mean. Also – instead of telling them to contact you, how about letting them know they can easily add their own verse at checkout? in this “I want it NOW” age, it might be less off-putting.
Hi Tracie…I’m actually not a fan of the flowers or maybe its how the flowers are arranged…it may be that visually a good rule of thumb is to stick with odd numbers in designs like this. One flower, three flowers…that type of thing, for better balance. This design seems incomplete to me, but that may be the oval which I’m generally not a fan of unless the subject and background are distinctly vintage and I don’t feel that to be the case here. Though Peggy does, so it may be a personal preference and nothing for you to worry about…LOL!
Thank you for the helpful suggestions, Donna and Doreen. Doreen, that’s exactly how I’ve been feeling about this card. It seems incomplete. It just looks like the flowers, the oval and the background are just sitting on top of each other . . . And Donna, thank you for noticing the ‘wrong image’ words in my artists notes. I thought I had gotten rid of all those since I’ve been learning at the critique clinic how important the artist’s notes are (esp. from you, Peggy :))…now to go find a way to make this card gel 🙂
I know I’m a day late, but I finished editing my card. I was wondering if if this gels a bit better:
http://www.greetingcarduniverse.com/-My+Friend+-+Friendship+-+Yellow+Daffodils-greeting+card-833836?aid=152843&f=1
http://artist.greetingcarduniverse.com/-Snow+family+with+scarves,hats+and+holly-greeting+card-836858
Here is a Holiday Card. I think the Merry Christmas is to big or should I put “Let it Snow , Let it Snow”.
I think the image is fine, Donna, but you’re right…you might have better luck with “Let it Snow.”
Corrie
Thanks Corrie, I’ll work on changing it.
Nice image! I like the size of the text, but I agree with you and Corrie – go with a single “Let it Snow” And inside, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. Title: sounds like sentence of keywords. How about Snow Family Holiday Greetings (that also gets “holiday” on the search words). Keywords: snow family, christmas, holiday, scarves, holly, carrot nose, let it snow (if you change the front). Artists notes: NICE NICE NICE!!!!
Not sure I like the copy layout I did on the front of this one. Would it be better with no copy on the front at all?
http://www.greetingcarduniverse.com/-Catch+the+Christmas+Spirit-greeting+card-474408?aid=138159
Thanks, John
I think you’re right – the text is too warped and distorted. I don’t think the front needs text as long as you have a nice verse on the inside.
Corrie
http://www.greetingcarduniverse.com/-Invitation+to+A+Princess+Party-greeting+card-692647?aid=139596 heres one with lots of clicks but no sale ..
Suzan, this is the same card you submitted and got comments on in last week’s Critique Clinic. Would you like to submit a different card?
Corrie
I was afraid to post but here goes – hope I did this right – since the card was declined, I loaded it to Webshots – there are two versions – the declined card and an “after” work in progress where I am starting to adjust based on Reviewer’s feedback…
http://outdoors.webshots.com/album/580679390sZqEek
Reasons left by the reviewer: “Your image is too dark and muddy, very little contrast which will not print well. You may be able to correct the tonal values and make it acceptable. Additionally the font is awkwardly placed looking like a work around and the border/frame seems oddly uneven (thin on sides, wide on bottom) most of which but not all will get cropped/trimmed off unevenly after print.”
I’ve started increasing brightness, contrast, saturation, levels, using the burn tool around the turkeys to darken the background, cloned out some distracting fallen leaves from the foreground, tried to fix the plant blocking the baby turkey’s tail, and changed the placement and type of font.
Am I on the right track or should I try to get another image all together? Is this too much a “snap shot”?
I think the turkeys show MUCH better in the new version, and the text placement is better, too. You’re definitely on the right track. I’ll let the photographers give you more comments re: the photo itself.
Corrie
thank you, Corrie. I hope I can transition this into a better version. It might be kind of like a snap shot and I don’t know if I can avoid that. The other thing I had in mind was to try something like the tutorial on floral photography – forgive me that I can’t remember which artist posted it I’ve been spending hours reading everyone’s helpful tips and tricks – but she removed the entire background from her flower and put it on a new one. I’m undecided how to accomplish that although I know I can. Just need to decide how best to crop out the turkeys and what kind or color of backdrop to use.
Donna – MUCH BETTER! All your efforts on this image are well done and you are indeed learning from this experience. Do you now see the significant increase in appeal and marketability by making these changes? If you step into the shoes of a consumer and saw these cards side by side in the greeting card isle, which would you choose?
Here are my thoughts to your last response. Wild animal photographs should usually be in their natural habitat. Replacing the background behind these turkeys would most likely be a step backward for you with this image because it would look unnatural and accomplishing this background replacement with animal photographs takes a fair amount of experience to be able to do it well. Nature photos are just that and they are enjoyed for being just that. The key is to choose or correct photographs that have sharp subjects, good lighting and no distracting elements. So I say, no don’t try to remove the bg on this one.
I think this one is worth creating a new card with or resubmitting, whatever your option might have been. Don’t over correct and over analyze. Learn when good is good 🙂
Thank you, Doreen. I think my confusion is when is it too much editing. I can see the improvements and appreciated the Reviewer’s words of advice and this one will go back – but when I look at the image, part of me feels it’s a bit “well-done” so to speak – a bit too much especially with the increase in brightness. I had the same problem with a whale image – the Reviewers just sent it back for edits to level the horizon and up the contrast – when I finished with the contrast adjustments, I had to back off a bit because details were being lost. I’m awaiting re-review on that one and a bit worried I might have gone too far or not enough. This is where what I feel is right might conflict with what they feel is wrong and I don’t wish to change the image any further. In that case, what to do?
Learn from it Donna. We have all gone through this learning curve. It’s part of developing the instincts to know when something you’ve created is good enough, to know when you take a photograph if its a winner or if you need to re-shoot and to know when/what to adjust on any given creation to make it perfect.
No one can make this happen for you, it comes with experience and learning from mistakes; as well as learning to get the most out of your tools of trade. Increasing contrast and saturation has a limit which is based on the tools you use and the quality of the photograph to begin with. You can’t pull detail out of highlights and shadows if the camera didn’t capture them in the first place.
If the reviewers say too much or not enough correction and you can’t make further adjustments without degrading the image, then cut your losses and pull the image. We can’t always fix every photograph we like to make it a winner. Some just go in a folder to use as an element in a new image some day.
Hi Donna;
I’m a newbie here and this is my first critique, so I hope it doesn’t sound harsh.
When I looked at the image, my first impression was that the turkeys appeared to be cowering together, which seems at odds with “Happy Thanksgiving.” As you know, turkeys are a prime target at Thanksgiving. My second thought was, maybe they were running away and going into the turkey protection program?
Violet
Violet, you got me thinking – perhaps I could make a humor version:
“Quick! Run for cover! It’s that Thanksgiving holiday again!”
“Don’t over correct and over analyze. Learn when good is good :-)” Best piece of advice yet. Thank you, Doreen!
Boy, did I need to hear that! I don’t know how many good things I’ve ruined because of trying to ‘just fix this one little thing.’
Hello out there, I created this card http://www.greetingcarduniverse.com/-Paragliding+Baby+Boy-greeting+card-640383 quite a while ago. (I guess I like flying characters ;-), ) It’s a reproduction of a watercolor. I get a lot of clicks but no sales,..I’m thinking of using capitals for Heaven, but I assume there got to be something else wrong with the design. Maybe the baby is simply not as cute as I think it is or people just don’t like the style. Any advise, please? Thanks again for everyones help and donating time & thoughts! Gerda
Hi Gerda…Corrie and some of the others may offer better suggestions for you, but all I can suggest is that perhaps you swap the inside and outside text. I think the baby IS as cute as you think it is and your choice of font and color works for me, so maybe the CONGRATULATIONS It’s a BOY needs to be on the front and Heaven Sent on the inside? Just my thoughts. I don’t see anything else that would stop this card from selling, its adorable!
Doreen Erhardt
http://www.facebook.com/SalonOfArt
Agree with Doreen. I’d put the Congratulations on the front, try to work Heaven Sent into the inside verse.
Corrie
Hi Doreen and Corrie, thank you for your suggestions. I can see, that those might make a big difference. I guess I’ll work on that Design and won’t give it up, yet. Thanks so much for your time and thoughts. This critique clinic is very helpful. Gerda
I’m still in the process of figuring out how to navigate through setting up my shop. This card has had 5 views but no sales so any comments or advice would be appreciated. Thank you.
http://www.greetingcarduniverse.com/-Congratulations+on+your+Wedding+Day,+two+red+hearts-greeting+card-669212?aid=142762
Hi Violet…wow, you need more cards in your store girlfriend…hahaha! I think the text on the front of this card needs to be more legible. I actually have the same Two Hearts One Love on a design of mine and its sold very, very well for a couple years so your idea is good. The bevel around the border is also not appealing. Try improving your font and create a better looking background or border.
I agree with Doreen. Professional printed card design never includes 3D elements like beveling. Also, I find the phrase “Congratulations on Your Wedding Day” somewhat odd. If I were making the card, I’d use something more like Congratulations on Your Wedding.
Corrie
Thank you so much, Doreen and Corrie, for taking the time to respond. I learned a lot from your replies.
Violet