Critique Clinic – March 23-25, 2012
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 at GCU in the comments section of this clinic post. Allowances will be made if you’ve had a card declined, or made a new design you’d like advice on. Give us the link where we can see the card, such as your private gallery, Flickr, etc.
- 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 one that took me a long time to make, but it was a special request from my niece so it was worth the effort. And since it took so long, I’d like to (hopefully) sell it it others as well.
http://artist.greetingcarduniverse.com/greeting-card-915713/?aid=152495
My niece loves it and has already purchased it on this iPod cover. 🙂
http://www.zazzle.com/picturesque_and_colorful_i_heart_florida_cover_case-179003097998171232
But since I want to sell it as a greeting card at GCU, I’d still love input from anyone here who has any suggestions. 🙂
Thanks!
Cindy
It’s interesting, Cindy. I’m just not sure there’s enough contrast between the dark water and the letters spelling Florida.
Corrie
The only thing I could think of the enhance the contrast was to put a light-yellowish-colored oval behind the “I Heart Florida” (25% opacity and blurred), and added a black outline on all the letters and the heart. Not sure how much difference it makes, but you can see it here.
Thanks,
Cindy
The overall design and concept is nice and I can see why your niece loved it. The lack of sharpness with all the photographs may be an issue for you at GCU in the review process. There is a severe lack of DOF for the background which is a big technical flaw for a landscape photograph and much of the of the imagery used in the lettering is soft.
You can try to sharpening these elements a bit, but I caution you to use a light touch in that area. It can become excessively sharpened and obviously corrected very easily . . . LOL!
Composition, colors, layout and idea are all great so I wish you luck!
Thanks Doreen. I tried sharpening the flamingos before I got the image to this point. It didn’t work very well. 😦 Yet one more reason that I’m not going to do a whole lot with photography, in general. Lol. Too much work for me.
After searching what Depth of Field means, I don’t have a clue what it indicates as being wrong with the background (again, no photography knowledge on my end – lol). Thanks for you suggestions, though. 🙂 I’ll certainly take the wishes for good luck! 🙂
Cindy
Depth of field refers to a front to back zone within which objects appear to be sharp. 3 factors work together to affect depth of field: the lens aperture, distance from camera to subject, and lens focal length.
The one most often used in landscapes is the aperture setting (F-stop). In a nutshell set the aperture to a high number. The most famous setting for landscapes is 64. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Group_f/64
You’ll need a manual camera – not a point and shoot one.
… sneaking in, hoping you are not getting tired of me on my third week in a row of picking your brains!
Thoughts on this one? This is a scan of part of a painting I did that is approximately 2′ x 3′, so I can only scan the corners with my inexpensive little scanner. Three of my cards in my store are three of the corners of this painting! 🙂
Here it is, and thanks for your feedback:
http://www.greetingcarduniverse.com/collections/flowers-and-garden/greeting-card-910867?aid=189194
I don’t see anything wrong with your painting, Sharon. What you may want to consider is using this card for a holiday like Mother’s Day by adding a good Mother’s Day verse to the inside. That way you give your card more chances to make a sale.
Corrie