Critique Clinic – January 17-19, 2014
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 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 intended for sale at Greeting Card Universe.
- 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 before submission. Give us the link where we can see the card, such as your private gallery, Flickr, Tinypic, etc. If you do give a private gallery link, be sure your private module gallery is ON. Please do not post links to your Manage Cards section – do you really want strangers tinkering with your cards? And please don’t ask us to critique a card that’s pending review – we can’t see it until it’s approved.
- 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 
http://www.greetingcarduniverse.com/greeting-card-1217082/?aid=253730
I have been struggling with this image because I think it’s worthwhile, but maybe, as I’ve said to my reviewer, I’m beating a dead horse. But for one last chance, I have decided to try out this clinic. Thanks for any advice you can give me.
Just for some background, I’ve tried it with borders and framing of different colours and sizes, as well as different styles and colours of overlays that contained the message. I’m at a loss as to what else I can try, and being very new at this, I don’t have a lot of experience to fall back on. So here I am looking for help — I am open and willing to learn from you.
Thanks,
Welcome to GCU Audrey, I visited your new store and like your cards. We share an affinity for ‘marrying’ words and imagery for a powerful message.
As a professional photographer I can not only understand your frustration, but had the same struggle when I started turning my photographs/images into greeting cards. For some reason I was constantly tempted to add boarders on my photographs using some rich color found in the image rather than choosing a very light neutral tone or black. Reason being is that photographs are notorious for ‘picking up’ the color cast and tonal values of that which surrounds them. It took me a long time to learn what a poor choice that is. So, you are already ahead of my learning curve by giving up the borders/framing … LOL!
I think you are on the right track with this image. I would suggest you see if you can sharpen it a bit, the tree and background are a little soft. For full card front photos, I often add ‘pizazz’ by making interesting typography choices. Other times I decide that the best way to work with the image is to make the photo an element in the overall card design, rather than the card itself. So, I’m going to put some links here for some of my solutions and see if anything sparks your imagination with your card.
Here is a card where I simply could not make the photograph work full size, nothing seemed right. It has turned out to be one of my best long-time sellers:
http://www.greetingcarduniverse.com/sympathy-cards/loss-of-pet/dog/pet-sympathy-loss-of-a-417935?gcu=43045123714
Here are a couple more examples which works well with some photographs:
http://www.greetingcarduniverse.com/good-luck-cards/general/good-luck-and-best-wishes-432304?gcu=43045123714
http://www.greetingcarduniverse.com/congratulations-cards/becoming-great-grandparents/becoming-a-great-grandma-grandmother/congratulations-on-becoming-a-great-428088?gcu=43045123714
The key to using photographs on greeting cards is to remember that the typography which helps to get the message across is just as important as the image itself and should not ever look as though it’s been added as an ‘after thought’.
So, experiment a bit by putting on a greeting card designer hat rather than a photographer’s hat and see if you can step outside your comfort zone and create something truly amazing with your photograph.
Hope this is helpful.
Doreen
http://www.SalonOfArt.com
http://www.facebook.com/salonofart
http://www.greetingcarduniverse.com/SalonOfArt
Thanks, Doreen. These suggestions will certainly help me rethink what I’m doing wrong, or at least, not doing right.
I appreciate your help.
Now, where did I leave that hat?