Design Spotlight: Sharon Fernleaf
Today’s Design Spotlight falls on Sharon Fearnleaf, a very fine artist with a great sense of humor – her kitties always make us smile!
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I’m a greeting card designer and licensing artist living in Phoenix with my little band of rescue cats, the inspiration for most of my designs. I’ve had a Greeting Card Universe shop for just over 6 years and many of my cards feature cats.
I love animals and when I was younger, thought seriously about going into wildlife biology like Jane Goodall, but working with big cats. Well, I didn’t go into that field, but I do take a lot of notes and make a lot of sketches of the animals I live with! The fact that they’re hilarious one minute and sweet the next works really well for an artist looking for card ideas.
I’m happy to share this card because it’s not only my bestselling design, but one of my favorites. It was a lot of fun pairing cats with this idea because they’re a perfect fit. It’s also a lot of fun to make people laugh or smile. Like other artists have said, knowing there are people all over the world who enjoy my cards and share them with people they care about is the best part of all.
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Design Contest: The Office – RESULT
And the winner is … Cherie, whose additional activities earned her bonus votes to a victory! Congratulations! It was a very close contest.
Cherie, get in touch with me to let me know which prize you prefer: 5 free card credits or $10 Amazon.com gift certificate.
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Tips and Tricks: Star Submitter
You Can Be a Star … Submitter!
Every card submitted at Greeting Card Universe goes through a review process to ensure the design meets GCU’s submission and marketability standards. Of course, this takes time – up to 6-8 weeks sometimes. It’s hard waiting to learn the fate of new designs. Will the be Accepted? Declined? Returned for Edits? Or will the remain Pending a while?
Is there a way to speed up the waiting time? Yes. If you want your cards approved quickly, you should work toward achieving Star Submitter status.
What’s a Star Submitter? An artist who achieves this status may Fast Track all cards, gaining expedited reviews.
Who Chooses Star Submitters? The Review Team nominates artists whom they believe fit the criteria below.
How Do I Become a Star Submitter? An artist must show – consistently – that their card designs meet marketability standards and conform to GCU’s submission guidelines, contain no spelling or grammatical errors and avoid mistakes such as design elements over the margin and trim lines, use correct and relevant keywords and categories, create good titles, and basically do everything right from the get-go. To become a Star Submitter, learn the rules. Study the GCU Wiki. Understand the guidelines and standards. Make certain your images and verse fit the occasion.
What Do I Get As a Star Submitter? Expedited reviews. All cards are Fast Tracked, so you don’t have to wait weeks for your new cards to be approved.
Who Can Become a Star Submitter? Anyone! If you apply yourself – that’s the key. Star Submitter status is a reward for artists who have invested their time into mastering the “art” of GCU.
How Do I know When I’ve Become a Star Submitter? When you’re in the process of uploading your card, you’ll see text already in the Note to Reviewer field that says: “I am a Star Submitter so please expedite the review of this card.” Don’t delete the note!
Star Submitters must still follow all Submission Guidelines. They must also continue to include links to website/TOU of any 3rd party elements in their designs.
So if you want faster review times, reduce the errors in your card designs, don’t make silly spelling mistakes, stay in the margins, and learn (and apply) the Submission Guidelines. And perhaps one day, you can be a Star Submitter too!
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Dash of Inspiration: Oldies But Goodies
A Dash of Inspiration, A Cup of Creativity by Doreen
Oldies But Goodies
Many of us like to work with old vintage images and they’re a great source for greeting card designs, but leaving a vintage photo or image as is and using it with all it’s faults does not usually make for a good greeting card. Cleaning up and improving spots, poor contrast, scratches and in general poor image quality does not mean you are losing the ‘vintage’ feel of the image and really is a must if you want to get your card approved at GCU.
Vintage Photographs: Many of you use these great old vintage photos for their humor value and there is no doubt the market supports this, however image quality at GCU applies to old vintage photos as much as it does any other photos and weeding efforts apply to these cards too. So when using vintage photographs:
- Look for vintage photos that are reasonably sharp in focus with good composition.
- Use your digital darkroom tools to clean up noticeable dust and scratches. Always work with vintage photographs at 100% in your digital darkroom and spend the tedious time it takes to clone out and repair dust from scanning and damage from time.
- Improve the contrast and tonal values so they pop as you would on any photo you are readying for the marketplace.
Vintage Artwork: There is a wonderful resource of vintage art out there worthy of using in your designs. Old illustrations and paintings and inspiring for new creations. Once again however; these works usually have not been restored when posted as digital imagery in the public domain. When using vintage artwork:
- Take the time to restore the image by cleaning up dust, scratches and dots per inch (illustrations).
- Consider how you can make the vintage imagery into something new by pumping up the color and tonal values, using only part of the image in a new work or coloring old advertising illustrations.
- When it comes to vintage paintings, always give credit to the original artist and provide a link in the Note to Reviewer of where you obtained the original work.
Restoring these old images can be done in a variety of ways and using a variety of tools. The key is to explore and find what works best for you. Then create something new and wonderful for others to enjoy!
25 Photoshop Tutorials For Repairing Your Old And Damaged Photos
I have the Topaz Software Suite and used it to help restore the floral vase vintage work above.
Restoring Old Photos with your Topaz Software
Photo Restoration Tutorial – How To Fix Old Cracked Faded Damaged Photos In Photoshop
The methods used to restore old photographs apply to restoring vintage paintings for our card purposes. So here’s hoping you’ve been inspired to create new and fantastic work out of old vintage pieces, and to go improve any vintage photos you have on old cards! Till next week!
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Critique Clinic – March 29-31, 2013
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!
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GCU News: Design of the Month Contest
DESIGN OF THE MONTH CONTEST
Those artists who have won Design of the Day in March should have received an e-mail notifying them of this event.
Greeting Card Universe is hosting a contest on Facebook to find the Design of the Month. All Design of the Day winners are now automatically entered in the contest. Anyone may vote for their favorite card. The artist who receives the most votes by April 7, 2013 will win a fabulous prize – an iPad Mini!
To view entries and vote, you must be a fan of GCU’s Facebook page to see the entries and vote. To become a fan, “Like” their FB page. \it’s that simple.
Check out the details of the contest.
Vote for your favorite card on the Voting Page.
Share this information with your FB friends, family, and supporters – get links by clicking on your card on the Voting Page. Share with Twitter followers and e-mail, too. Every vote counts, and if you want to win an iPad Mini, you should get out there and start spreading the word with enthusiasm.
GCU will be promoting the contest to their FB fan base and their customers. If there’s lots of activity and the contest is popular, we’ll likely see a repeat every month. So get promoting!
And even artists who aren’t nominated now should promote the contest to their fans and followers, too – next month, it could be you who needs the help. I also encourage all artists, whether they have a “horse” in this race or not, to vote. Let’s show GCU how much we want the opportunity to win a grand prize every month!
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Design Contest: The Office
It’s time to open the voting! Below, you’ll find the submitted Administrative Professionals Day cards. Voting will close on April 2, and I’ll announce the winner on April 3. Be sure to vote for your favorite! Artists, promote your card on Facebook, Twitter, and other social media sites – every vote counts!
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1. 
2. 
3. 
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Dash of Inspiration: Photo Critique
A Dash of Inspiration, A Cup of Creativity by Doreen
Photo Critique
I know this will sound like those commercials with the teenage kids telling the younger ones that ‘they’ve got it made’ being able to move the television anywhere through wireless feed, but it applies this week …
Amateur photographers today have it made. In the early 90’s, when I studied photography the internet was not ‘in every home’. Getting my photographs critiqued was something done through classes and through mailing prints made in my own darkroom to professionals in various groups run by the Photographic Society of America. Today, photographers can get great critiques online.
The amateur photographer absolutely must have constant critique of their work in order to grow. It’s simply impossible to see what areas you need to improve unless you have a trained eye. Any photographer that isn’t taking advantage of critique by professional photographers is effectively stunting their growth. With the internet today, there is a wealth of sites where the photographer can get critique online by a panel of professionals.
For any of you at GCU who are worried about your photographs meeting the submission guidelines, then you should be seeking critique somewhere by professional photographers. GCU offers the most variety of help and training I’ve ever seen and not only for utilizing their site, but professionals offer “how to” tips for improving card designs, marketing, and taking better photographs; including the Critique Clinic … ALL for FREE … yet sadly the Critique Clinic goes week after week with no entries.
Any photographer who can’t take constructive criticism about their photographs as a way to learn and improve their craft should choose a different field. “If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen.” Blunt? Yes. Joining a group somewhere that is filled with photographers that tell you what you want to hear; “Oh it’s beautiful”, “Great shot”, therefore offering no constructive improvements is a waste of your time.
Find a site (or take advantage of the Critique Clinic here) that will offer honest opinions and specific ways to improve the photograph so you can learn something. If you never get criticized, just complemented then you aren’t learning. If you want to improve, you need to take a little beating. Did you know that in Photography classes they often teach that if you get ONE salable photograph out of every 36, then you’ve had a great photo shoot?
The idea of good critique is to help the photographer create better photographic images. Amateurs need to learn how to “think” about their photography in a whole new light and how to notice potential problems before taking the shot.
When it comes to photography, you can not get away with saying “art is in the eye of the beholder”. Photography has some very basic technical areas which must be present to consider the piece worthy of submission (to any site). The one exception to some of these areas is Editorial Photography where content rates higher than quality for obvious reasons, which is why you see technically imperfect photos on and in the news. All other fields of photography have professionals trained to capture the subject by applying high-quality photographic standards. Equipment is not an excuse for photographs with poor technical aspects.
Of course the best critique will always come from someone whose skills you trust, such as; camera club members, photography teacher, or a professional photographer in your life who can become a mentor, but when none of these options are available seek online professional input. Here are some places to check out in addition to GCU’s Critique Clinic (which is for all types of art and card design).
GuruShots is the premier site for professional quality Photo Critique. 130+ professional photographers provide amateurs with feedback.
1x.com offers honest critique which is harsh, informed, and deep. As a community, they strive very hard to give very in depth reviews and suggestions.
Digital Photography School – Photography Forums
So here’s hoping you’ve been inspired to use the Critique Clinic or find a way to get your photographs critiqued! Till next week!
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Critique Clinic – March 22-24, 2013
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!
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Font Frenzy: Only You on Sale!
It’s time for the trendy Only You, a font family featuring the thin, decorative lettering that’s become quite popular, even on wedding related cards. You can see a sample below. The font comes in light, light italic, bold, and bold italic, and also in two other display variations PLUS four more fonts including some very cute frames and ornaments.
Right now, you can purchase Only You for $4.90 per font OR $9.90 for all 10 fonts! It makes a great addition to your collection and I foresee many uses a clever designer can make. Have fun!
GCU Community 