Critique Clinic – September 7-9, 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, Tinypic, 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 
Declined card: http://i146.photobucket.com/albums/r250/Seelie_Fey/Card%20Design/SekhmetHappyBirthday.jpg Any help appreciated 🙂
I’ll leave the more detailed critiques on the photo itself to the photographers here. However, I can speak to the background. Unfortunately, this kind of digital effect has an unprofessional look. If you were making it for a friend or family member, it would be fine. As a design you want to sell to shoppers, it doesn’t have that kind of appeal. I think you probably need to go back to the drawing board.
Corrie
Hi Diana,
I agree with Corrie on the background. It also fights for attention with the dog. As far as the photography goes, the background is distracting with the sheet and noticible creases and light bars on it and the placement of the dog within the framing is not the best.
I think if you could crop the dog really close so you had the head and hat, then clean up behind and around the dog so it’s not a distraction, then add a card background that makes the dog pop off the card rather than fights for attention, you may have winner.
Lots of work to do, but I think it worth doing.
Doreen
Thank you for your comments. It’s helping me get a different perspective on it, which I appreciate. The reviewer said it was unprofessional, and I was just trying to get an idea of what they meant by vague word unprofessional – creases in the backdrop and the vivid colors drawing too much attention I understand better. It gives me something to work on.
So, I redid it and added that to the same photobucket location. Is that a better version that addresses the issues? I am trying to decide if it has life or to kick it to the curb.
Hi Diana, could you please provide a fresh link,. It seems to be taking us to the same card. Thanks!
oops! Here is the redone version: http://i146.photobucket.com/albums/r250/Seelie_Fey/Card%20Design/SekhmetHappyBirthday2.png Thanks 🙂
The background behind the dog and the card background, are both much, much better! Well done. Now, the dog . . . What needs to happen from a compositional standpoint is your dog’s head needs to pretty much fill the frame to not only capture attention, but due to the position of the dog. However, I can’t tell where your focus on the face drops off. I can see that the nose is certainly sharp, but if the eyes are not equally sharp, then you may be out of luck getting this particular image approved. Play with it and see. I think at this point that will be your decision maker. It’s a very cute photo of a very cute dog, it just isn’t great composition, so if you can correct that with some severe cropping and your depth of field is deep enough, you’ve got a potential winner!
Thank you. I did some more editing and cropping: http://i146.photobucket.com/albums/r250/Seelie_Fey/Card%20Design/SekhmetHappyBirthday3.png and I will submit it and see what happens. Either way, I feel like I have a much better understanding of the issues with the first version. Thank you all so much for taking the time to look and comment.
Now you’re getting there Diana! Before you submit it, I suggest you do a bit more cleanup/blending around the neck of the dog. If you are using Photoshop . . . try this: Use the Smugde Tool, choose a tiny brush (between 3 & 7 points), set the strength to about 50% and use it to pull (thus create) fine hairs (more dog like) down around neck where you’ve blended. Don’t overdo, this technique adds a bit of realism and makes the blending less distracting. See these examples of where I’ve used this technique:
http://www.greetingcarduniverse.com/sympathy-cards/loss-of-pet/dog/custom-pet-sympathy-loss-of-957013?aid=137017
and
http://www.greetingcarduniverse.com/955193
Good luck and well done!
Doreen
I don’t have Photoshop, unfortunately, but I think I know what you are trying to describe and I will do it.
Hi again. Just wanted to follow through. It was declined due to unprofessional composition. I do appreciate all of your suggestions and input. So frustrating, though, when they just say “unprofessional” because that is a big catchword. I would really like more specific information on what the issue is.