View Single Post in: Sims 2 Scrapbooking Contest
#412
14th Jul 2012 at 8:44 PM
14th Jul 2012 at 8:44 PM
omg, porky. I can't believe I did that, and I included something else stupid instead. I'll fix that asap.
Here are your scores from the School/Birthday Round!
Congratulations to Selly, our Round Winner! Also congrats to Croutonian who had the next highest score!
Here are your scores from the School/Birthday Round!
leah10006 13 (39/60)
(-3) High quality photo (not blurry or crunchy)
A: This is still very crunchy. You photos come out crisp so it must be that you are starting with low quality elements on your page and then making them larger. This is a big no-no. B; Pics are quite crunchy and blurry. C: You still need to work on your image compression. Your images are way below the maximum filesize, so you can afford to turn the compression down/quality up a long way.
(-1) Believable Camera Angle
C: Most of the camera angles are great. However, the pic of Ronan and his Mum on the bouncy castle is taken from very high up - if they were bouncing when the photo was taken, which it looks like they were, then the cameraman would be looking up at them from the ground.
(-4) Interesting Photos
A: These are pretty typical photos, nothing unexpected or that interesting. None of the photos draw me in and honestly, four of them seem to be redundant with each other. B: The photos aren't doing a lot for me. The two present-giving shots and the two cake shots are pretty repetitive, and I have no clue what's going on in the other one. C: The bouncy castle and and the cake are both great photos; but two pics of Ronan being given presents is a bit repetitive - it would have been nice to see some more party games, or him opening presents, etc.
(-1) Good Photo Cropping
A: A few of the photos have had their aspect ratio changed. They are squished or stretched. This is very bad to do.
(-1) Believable Layering/Dimension of Elements
C: The layering is mostly good, however there are a couple of elements which don't quite make sense - the blue on the top journaling card on p2 looks out of place, and I'm not sure what the white thing behind the party hat on p1 is.
(-3) Includes Book Binding / Page Shadows Down the Inside Edges Throughout
A: You binding shadow is once again not on the attached single pages. Those are the ones we grade! We’ve told you this before. PLEASE fix it for your final round. The binding shadow you put on your inlines is not good either. It needs to be a full length even tone shadow. What it looks like you have is four or five places where you clicked with a fuzzy brush. Try clicking and holding the brush down, then press shift and drag your mouse down. That should give you a straight even line. B: No binding or shadows on the attached images. C: Shadow missing.
(-1) Nice Fonts (not Comic Sans or Papyrus)
B: That hand-writing font is really not very good.
(-3) Good Use of Text
A: It would have been nice to see more text, you had a lot of empty space at the top of the second page for it. I have no idea how ‘The rain was terrible’ has anything to do with the birthday. The only photo that might have rain in it, everyone is still having a good time anyway. It just doesn’t make any sense to me. B: There's not much text, and the "The rain was terrible" tag is really, really tiny. C: The journaling cards are nice; however, they could have been improved with a little more detail, and better grammar. It'd also be nice if the text on the top card on p1 was angled to fit the card. The Happy Birthday title, and the numbers on the background page, are lovely.
(-1) Good Mix/Balance of Images and Other Elements
A: You didn’t really have much besides photos and a few bits of words. This is a ‘scrap’ book, please try to add in bit and pieces and ‘scraps’ from the event.
(-2) Fits and Portrays each Life Event well
C: All the photos are certainly birthdayish photos, but they don't really give a birthday party vibe - I think probably in part because there are so few sims involved, and because there aren't many "party activities" shown. The bouncy castle pic is also not all that realistic - if it started to rain during the party, the bouncy castle would probably have to be closed for fear of kids slipping and injuring themselves!
(-1) Draws Viewer In / Is Visually Interesting / Judge Likes It
A: It’s not that visually interesting. There is nothing that keeps me looking at the pictures or pages.
General Comments:
A: I like all the different wrapping paper you had in the background, I just wish everything wasn’t so blurry or crunchy. Please look again for something called ‘Save for Web’ or similar so you don’t lose quality when you save. These would look so much nicer if they just were crisper. B: Once again, love your colours! Very cheerful and bold, perfect for a birthday party. C: I really like this layout - it's clean and uncluttered without being boring, the colours are well co-ordinated and make sense for a kid's party, and the backgrounds are well-chosen. Ronan's sunburn is also very cute, even if the rain does belie it a little. :P
+1 Friday Submission (-3) High quality photo (not blurry or crunchy)
A: This is still very crunchy. You photos come out crisp so it must be that you are starting with low quality elements on your page and then making them larger. This is a big no-no. B; Pics are quite crunchy and blurry. C: You still need to work on your image compression. Your images are way below the maximum filesize, so you can afford to turn the compression down/quality up a long way.
(-1) Believable Camera Angle
C: Most of the camera angles are great. However, the pic of Ronan and his Mum on the bouncy castle is taken from very high up - if they were bouncing when the photo was taken, which it looks like they were, then the cameraman would be looking up at them from the ground.
(-4) Interesting Photos
A: These are pretty typical photos, nothing unexpected or that interesting. None of the photos draw me in and honestly, four of them seem to be redundant with each other. B: The photos aren't doing a lot for me. The two present-giving shots and the two cake shots are pretty repetitive, and I have no clue what's going on in the other one. C: The bouncy castle and and the cake are both great photos; but two pics of Ronan being given presents is a bit repetitive - it would have been nice to see some more party games, or him opening presents, etc.
(-1) Good Photo Cropping
A: A few of the photos have had their aspect ratio changed. They are squished or stretched. This is very bad to do.
(-1) Believable Layering/Dimension of Elements
C: The layering is mostly good, however there are a couple of elements which don't quite make sense - the blue on the top journaling card on p2 looks out of place, and I'm not sure what the white thing behind the party hat on p1 is.
(-3) Includes Book Binding / Page Shadows Down the Inside Edges Throughout
A: You binding shadow is once again not on the attached single pages. Those are the ones we grade! We’ve told you this before. PLEASE fix it for your final round. The binding shadow you put on your inlines is not good either. It needs to be a full length even tone shadow. What it looks like you have is four or five places where you clicked with a fuzzy brush. Try clicking and holding the brush down, then press shift and drag your mouse down. That should give you a straight even line. B: No binding or shadows on the attached images. C: Shadow missing.
(-1) Nice Fonts (not Comic Sans or Papyrus)
B: That hand-writing font is really not very good.
(-3) Good Use of Text
A: It would have been nice to see more text, you had a lot of empty space at the top of the second page for it. I have no idea how ‘The rain was terrible’ has anything to do with the birthday. The only photo that might have rain in it, everyone is still having a good time anyway. It just doesn’t make any sense to me. B: There's not much text, and the "The rain was terrible" tag is really, really tiny. C: The journaling cards are nice; however, they could have been improved with a little more detail, and better grammar. It'd also be nice if the text on the top card on p1 was angled to fit the card. The Happy Birthday title, and the numbers on the background page, are lovely.
(-1) Good Mix/Balance of Images and Other Elements
A: You didn’t really have much besides photos and a few bits of words. This is a ‘scrap’ book, please try to add in bit and pieces and ‘scraps’ from the event.
(-2) Fits and Portrays each Life Event well
C: All the photos are certainly birthdayish photos, but they don't really give a birthday party vibe - I think probably in part because there are so few sims involved, and because there aren't many "party activities" shown. The bouncy castle pic is also not all that realistic - if it started to rain during the party, the bouncy castle would probably have to be closed for fear of kids slipping and injuring themselves!
(-1) Draws Viewer In / Is Visually Interesting / Judge Likes It
A: It’s not that visually interesting. There is nothing that keeps me looking at the pictures or pages.
General Comments:
A: I like all the different wrapping paper you had in the background, I just wish everything wasn’t so blurry or crunchy. Please look again for something called ‘Save for Web’ or similar so you don’t lose quality when you save. These would look so much nicer if they just were crisper.
B: Once again, love your colours! Very cheerful and bold, perfect for a birthday party. C: I really like this layout - it's clean and uncluttered without being boring, the colours are well co-ordinated and make sense for a kid's party, and the backgrounds are well-chosen. Ronan's sunburn is also very cute, even if the rain does belie it a little. :P
Selly_2009 19 (56/60)
(-1) Good Photo Cropping
C: This is a sort of "general cropping issue", rather than photo cropping, but several of the crayons on the first page have leftover bits of background around them that were presumably missed by the magic wand tool. There are a few corners of photo visible poking out the side of the crayon frame, too - I suppose this is sort of realistic, but the design would look better if those bits had been cut out. There are also a couple of instances of the opposite - of the photo being too small, in places, for the frame.
(-2) Believable Layering/Dimension of Elements
A: The crayons and 2+3 = apple thing are giving me a hard time. They don’t look like stickers and they don’t look like cutouts. They are too crisp (I know they are clip art, but how would you really put them in a physical book) They just don’t seem real. C: The dimensions are believable - but untidy. Although overhanging elements (off the edge of the page) are fine, I'm not convinced that makes sense for the crayon frame - the way it's arranged, it looks like the top of the frame didn't quite fit on the page, rather than looking like it was intended to overhang for an aesthetic reason.
(-1) Draws Viewer In / Is Visually Interesting / Judge Likes It
I really love the design of these pages, but a few small imperfections hold it back a little. The blackboard on p1 is recognisable as a blackboard, but mostly because of the text; a little wooden frame, or similar, would make it look a bit more blackboardy and less like a simple piece of black paper. The crayon frame - I know, I've complained about it so much! I actually really like it, it's a great idea for a frame, but there are just a few details - explained above - which result in it looking slightly unfinished. The binding shadows are also quite dark and heavy - in my opinion, the binding shadow on your Birthday spread is ideal; and finally, though this didn't really lead to me to deduct any points, a slight papery texture on the orange background would have been nice.
General Comments:
A: It was a good call for you to pick your school pages over your birthday spread. These are much better than the other one. I didn’t see your note at the bottom right away and judged your other one, and this is a much better score than the other one was going to get. Great job with the color scheme and especially the little note papers. So cute! B: Very nicely done! I really like the photos you chose, they're very engaging. C: This is a great spread. The subject matter and composition of the photos is excellent, and really works well for this round. The decorations are very well-chosen. The little vertical strip on p2 works well to balance the page. That said, 2+3 does not equal apple - see me after class. 
(-1) Good Photo Cropping
C: This is a sort of "general cropping issue", rather than photo cropping, but several of the crayons on the first page have leftover bits of background around them that were presumably missed by the magic wand tool. There are a few corners of photo visible poking out the side of the crayon frame, too - I suppose this is sort of realistic, but the design would look better if those bits had been cut out.
There are also a couple of instances of the opposite - of the photo being too small, in places, for the frame.(-2) Believable Layering/Dimension of Elements
A: The crayons and 2+3 = apple thing are giving me a hard time. They don’t look like stickers and they don’t look like cutouts. They are too crisp (I know they are clip art, but how would you really put them in a physical book) They just don’t seem real. C: The dimensions are believable - but untidy. Although overhanging elements (off the edge of the page) are fine, I'm not convinced that makes sense for the crayon frame - the way it's arranged, it looks like the top of the frame didn't quite fit on the page, rather than looking like it was intended to overhang for an aesthetic reason.
(-1) Draws Viewer In / Is Visually Interesting / Judge Likes It
I really love the design of these pages, but a few small imperfections hold it back a little. The blackboard on p1 is recognisable as a blackboard, but mostly because of the text; a little wooden frame, or similar, would make it look a bit more blackboardy and less like a simple piece of black paper. The crayon frame - I know, I've complained about it so much! I actually really like it, it's a great idea for a frame, but there are just a few details - explained above - which result in it looking slightly unfinished. The binding shadows are also quite dark and heavy - in my opinion, the binding shadow on your Birthday spread is ideal; and finally, though this didn't really lead to me to deduct any points, a slight papery texture on the orange background would have been nice.
General Comments:
A: It was a good call for you to pick your school pages over your birthday spread. These are much better than the other one. I didn’t see your note at the bottom right away and judged your other one, and this is a much better score than the other one was going to get. Great job with the color scheme and especially the little note papers. So cute! B: Very nicely done! I really like the photos you chose, they're very engaging. C: This is a great spread.
The subject matter and composition of the photos is excellent, and really works well for this round. The decorations are very well-chosen. The little vertical strip on p2 works well to balance the page. That said, 2+3 does not equal apple - see me after class. 
porkypine 14 (42/60)
(-2) High quality photo (not blurry or crunchy)
A: The photos on the first page seem a little crunchy to me; I’m not understanding the details in the background. C: It's not too dramatic, but you can see a bit of crunchiness around the edges of the text and of the children.
(-3) Interesting Photos
A: Mostly these are just photos of kids standing around. There isn’t much happening that I don’t pick up from just a sideways glance. Good photos tell stories. All of them are from roughly the same distance too, no close ups. Variety would help to pull your viewer in. B: All of the photos just kind of blur together. They're all group photos with lots of backs turned towards the camera, there's no variety in photo style, no connection with any of the subjects. I can't even tell who the birthday kids are without reading the tags.
(-1) Realistic Drop Shadows / Consistent Light Source
A: The drop shadows on the 3D elements need more work, everything looks like it is a flat photos of the thing it’s representing. If they were actually 3D, their shadows would be taller and fuzzier.
(-2) Believable Layering/Dimension of Elements
A: You have a lot of ribbons and bows and little hearts spread across the pages, but none of them really read as 3D. They need more contrast in their lighting to really read. C: There are a few anomalies regarding this aspect. There's some "background" text which overlaps elements which should be in front of it - in some cases, like the "BIRTHDAY" overlapping the photo, and the "TIME FOR FUN" overlapping the journaling card, it could be done like that realistically, but it just looks a little odd. In other cases, like the bit of "BIRTHDAY" that overlaps a ribbon, it doesn't really make sense at all. The scale of the ribbons is also somewhat off - none of them are unrealistically scaled, but there is a bit of inconsistency between the different ribbons, especially with, e.g., the pink ribbon, which is duplicated in sizes so different that at least one of them ends up looking out of place as regards the other.
(-2) Nice Fonts (not Comic Sans or Papyrus)
A: This is still a terrible font. It’s overused and doesn’t actually look like handwriting. (You don’t lose points for switching fonts between themes!) B: Lucida Handwriting is just not a good handwriting font. It is very hard to read the tags because the font is too fancy.
(-2) Cohesive Color Palette for each Life Event
A: There are just far too many colors happening in this spread. I understand it’s a birthday party, and you’ve got a good set of subtle oranges and pinks, but it’s hard to focus on anything because there is just too many colors. C: The color palette is a little overwhelming in its variety. It's hard to explain, especially since I'm not terribly good at color theory. But, essentially, I agree with your decision to use a multitude of color, given the event. If you want to use contrasting colors, though (like green and pink), it's usually a good idea to stick to a few quite similar shades of each color - so you end up with several unified "bands" of color - green, pink, orange, and so on. On this spread, though, I think there's too much variation within those color "bands" - for example, the lime green on the ribbons is sufficiently different from the sort of (darkish) grassy green on the background paper, that they come across as two separate colors rather than versions of the same color. The same is true of the turquoise text and medium blue text, pink background bits/pink ribbon one/pink ribbon two/purple ribbon, and so on. The end result is that I see loads and loads of separate colors vying for attention, rather than there being a few strong central colors (or color bands, to use my own horrendously misappropriated term) holding everything together. I hope this little novella made some kind of useful sense...
(-2) Good Mix/Balance of Images and Other Elements
A: The little heart things everywhere are weirding me out. They seem to be stickers that you’ve placed on top of your kids in the photos, which makes me think this is a Valentine’s Day spread. You’ve also placed them next to names in your text – oh! Are those to point out which kids are yours? Still don’t like them. That could have been achieved better by having a close up of all three of them next to the cake or something. C: With such a busy background, I think you could have done with a few less decorations.
(-4) Draws Viewer In / Is Visually Interesting / Judge Likes It
Too many colors, too much going on, everything is busy, even the photos. I don’t like it, there is no place for my eye to rest and nothing that directs my eye around the page. It’s all just in my face. B: I find the whole thing a bit busy. There's lots of little ribbon embellishments, but the background pattern (though quite cute) is really strong too, they kind of clash. C: Overall, I like the spread. I really don't think there's any need for me to ramble on more about colors and business. >.< It would be nice to see more variety in terms of decorations, rather than sticking primarily to ribbons. It also took me a little while to figure out the rationale behind the placement of the hearts - I'm not sure I have a better solution for pointing out the birthday kids, except maybe hats or something, but in any case, the choice of hearts seems slightly random - it's not really a symbol I'd associate with a kids' birthday party, especially when it's not a very girly party.
General Comments:
A: Your school spread was lovely! I wish you had submitted that one for judging instead. It has good balance. Try to use that one as an example for the last round, not the birthday spread. B: I do really like the pretty pink colors, and the background pattern is quite pretty too. C: This is vibrant! I know I've criticized the colors above, but while there are a lot of them, they are all nice colors, bright and happy without being too saturated. Similarly, although I've criticized the technical execution of the layering, the actual design in terms of layering is fantastic - elements overlap enough to keep things interesting and looking home-made and scrapbooky, but never in such a way that they obstruct other elements or trip over one another; and the text, especially on the backgrounds, is lovely - I love the printed (as in, potato-printed) look of it, not to mention the positioning and choice of words.
+2 Saturday Submission(-2) High quality photo (not blurry or crunchy)
A: The photos on the first page seem a little crunchy to me; I’m not understanding the details in the background. C: It's not too dramatic, but you can see a bit of crunchiness around the edges of the text and of the children.
(-3) Interesting Photos
A: Mostly these are just photos of kids standing around. There isn’t much happening that I don’t pick up from just a sideways glance. Good photos tell stories. All of them are from roughly the same distance too, no close ups. Variety would help to pull your viewer in. B: All of the photos just kind of blur together. They're all group photos with lots of backs turned towards the camera, there's no variety in photo style, no connection with any of the subjects. I can't even tell who the birthday kids are without reading the tags.
(-1) Realistic Drop Shadows / Consistent Light Source
A: The drop shadows on the 3D elements need more work, everything looks like it is a flat photos of the thing it’s representing. If they were actually 3D, their shadows would be taller and fuzzier.
(-2) Believable Layering/Dimension of Elements
A: You have a lot of ribbons and bows and little hearts spread across the pages, but none of them really read as 3D. They need more contrast in their lighting to really read. C: There are a few anomalies regarding this aspect. There's some "background" text which overlaps elements which should be in front of it - in some cases, like the "BIRTHDAY" overlapping the photo, and the "TIME FOR FUN" overlapping the journaling card, it could be done like that realistically, but it just looks a little odd. In other cases, like the bit of "BIRTHDAY" that overlaps a ribbon, it doesn't really make sense at all. The scale of the ribbons is also somewhat off - none of them are unrealistically scaled, but there is a bit of inconsistency between the different ribbons, especially with, e.g., the pink ribbon, which is duplicated in sizes so different that at least one of them ends up looking out of place as regards the other.
(-2) Nice Fonts (not Comic Sans or Papyrus)
A: This is still a terrible font. It’s overused and doesn’t actually look like handwriting. (You don’t lose points for switching fonts between themes!) B: Lucida Handwriting is just not a good handwriting font. It is very hard to read the tags because the font is too fancy.
(-2) Cohesive Color Palette for each Life Event
A: There are just far too many colors happening in this spread. I understand it’s a birthday party, and you’ve got a good set of subtle oranges and pinks, but it’s hard to focus on anything because there is just too many colors. C: The color palette is a little overwhelming in its variety. It's hard to explain, especially since I'm not terribly good at color theory.
But, essentially, I agree with your decision to use a multitude of color, given the event. If you want to use contrasting colors, though (like green and pink), it's usually a good idea to stick to a few quite similar shades of each color - so you end up with several unified "bands" of color - green, pink, orange, and so on. On this spread, though, I think there's too much variation within those color "bands" - for example, the lime green on the ribbons is sufficiently different from the sort of (darkish) grassy green on the background paper, that they come across as two separate colors rather than versions of the same color. The same is true of the turquoise text and medium blue text, pink background bits/pink ribbon one/pink ribbon two/purple ribbon, and so on. The end result is that I see loads and loads of separate colors vying for attention, rather than there being a few strong central colors (or color bands, to use my own horrendously misappropriated term) holding everything together. I hope this little novella made some kind of useful sense...(-2) Good Mix/Balance of Images and Other Elements
A: The little heart things everywhere are weirding me out. They seem to be stickers that you’ve placed on top of your kids in the photos, which makes me think this is a Valentine’s Day spread. You’ve also placed them next to names in your text – oh! Are those to point out which kids are yours? Still don’t like them. That could have been achieved better by having a close up of all three of them next to the cake or something. C: With such a busy background, I think you could have done with a few less decorations.
(-4) Draws Viewer In / Is Visually Interesting / Judge Likes It
Too many colors, too much going on, everything is busy, even the photos. I don’t like it, there is no place for my eye to rest and nothing that directs my eye around the page. It’s all just in my face. B: I find the whole thing a bit busy. There's lots of little ribbon embellishments, but the background pattern (though quite cute) is really strong too, they kind of clash. C: Overall, I like the spread. I really don't think there's any need for me to ramble on more about colors and business. >.< It would be nice to see more variety in terms of decorations, rather than sticking primarily to ribbons. It also took me a little while to figure out the rationale behind the placement of the hearts - I'm not sure I have a better solution for pointing out the birthday kids, except maybe hats or something, but in any case, the choice of hearts seems slightly random - it's not really a symbol I'd associate with a kids' birthday party, especially when it's not a very girly party.
General Comments:
A: Your school spread was lovely! I wish you had submitted that one for judging instead. It has good balance. Try to use that one as an example for the last round, not the birthday spread. B: I do really like the pretty pink colors, and the background pattern is quite pretty too. C: This is vibrant! I know I've criticized the colors above, but while there are a lot of them, they are all nice colors, bright and happy without being too saturated. Similarly, although I've criticized the technical execution of the layering, the actual design in terms of layering is fantastic - elements overlap enough to keep things interesting and looking home-made and scrapbooky, but never in such a way that they obstruct other elements or trip over one another; and the text, especially on the backgrounds, is lovely - I love the printed (as in, potato-printed) look of it, not to mention the positioning and choice of words.
InesMarie 17 (51/60)
(-2) Interesting Photos
A: All of your photos are taken from very far away. It took me a few minutes to figure out which child was yours. Good albums include photos from farther away and close ups. B: It would be nice to have one close-up of the birthday girl. I've been staring at the photos for a few minutes and still can't tell whose birthday it is!
(-1) Good Photo Cropping
C: A couple of the photos could do with being cropped a bit closer, in order to focus more on the subjects - particularly the one of the kids playing basketball (for this one, the cropping would be fine if the photo was bigger; but the combination of wide cropping and a small photo is making the kids very tiny), and the last pic in which one of the kids is actually ageing up.
(-1) Realistic Drop Shadows / Consistent Light Source
C: Most of the shadows you've done are great; the one criticism I have of them is that a few more 3D elements, especially the rose, should have bigger shadows than the flat elements like the text and photos. Several of the flowers, however, have a light source which doesn't match that of the scrapbook as a whole - it's difficult to get the shadows to match exactly when you're using photos, since they'll probably always be too long or too short, but you can rotate the flower to get the direction to match up.
(-1) Believable Layering/Dimension of Elements
A: Your flowers could use better shadows, right now they all look pretty flat because their shadows are short and close to the flower. 3D things have taller/longer and fuzzier shadows to show height.
(-1) Good Use of Text
B: It would be nice to have a little more.
(-1) Good Mix/Balance of Images and Other Elements
B: The combination of the really bold striped background and all of the flower ornaments is quite busy, particularly since there's so much purple.
(-2) Fits and Portrays each Life Event well
A: With so many flowers on the page, you don’t automatically assume it’s a birthday spread. At first glance it seems more like springtime. Including elements a little closer tied to birthdays and parties would have been better. C: The photos work well for a kids' birthday party; but while I like the layout, colors, decorations and so on, they don't really give an immediate impression of a birthday. The layout isn't inappropriate for a birthday, it's just that it could equally well be for a wedding, or a day out, or something else like that.
General Comments:
The color palette and flowers are very pretty, it just doesn’t say birthday as much as it should. I really like the purple paper and the glitter purple title letters. Those letters are extremely well done. Where did you find them/how did you make them? I really like the color purple. B: I like how you've arranged the photos on the pages, good composition! C: This is a very well-balanced spread: the photos are the centre of attention, but they don't dominate the pages. The colors you've chosen are very nice, attractive, and they work well together. I especially love the background - I am kind of a sucker for both stripes and purple , but it's also just the right level of busy, and very elegant.
+1 Sunday Submission(-2) Interesting Photos
A: All of your photos are taken from very far away. It took me a few minutes to figure out which child was yours. Good albums include photos from farther away and close ups. B: It would be nice to have one close-up of the birthday girl. I've been staring at the photos for a few minutes and still can't tell whose birthday it is!
(-1) Good Photo Cropping
C: A couple of the photos could do with being cropped a bit closer, in order to focus more on the subjects - particularly the one of the kids playing basketball (for this one, the cropping would be fine if the photo was bigger; but the combination of wide cropping and a small photo is making the kids very tiny), and the last pic in which one of the kids is actually ageing up.
(-1) Realistic Drop Shadows / Consistent Light Source
C: Most of the shadows you've done are great; the one criticism I have of them is that a few more 3D elements, especially the rose, should have bigger shadows than the flat elements like the text and photos. Several of the flowers, however, have a light source which doesn't match that of the scrapbook as a whole - it's difficult to get the shadows to match exactly when you're using photos, since they'll probably always be too long or too short, but you can rotate the flower to get the direction to match up.
(-1) Believable Layering/Dimension of Elements
A: Your flowers could use better shadows, right now they all look pretty flat because their shadows are short and close to the flower. 3D things have taller/longer and fuzzier shadows to show height.
(-1) Good Use of Text
B: It would be nice to have a little more.
(-1) Good Mix/Balance of Images and Other Elements
B: The combination of the really bold striped background and all of the flower ornaments is quite busy, particularly since there's so much purple.
(-2) Fits and Portrays each Life Event well
A: With so many flowers on the page, you don’t automatically assume it’s a birthday spread. At first glance it seems more like springtime. Including elements a little closer tied to birthdays and parties would have been better. C: The photos work well for a kids' birthday party; but while I like the layout, colors, decorations and so on, they don't really give an immediate impression of a birthday. The layout isn't inappropriate for a birthday, it's just that it could equally well be for a wedding, or a day out, or something else like that.
General Comments:
The color palette and flowers are very pretty, it just doesn’t say birthday as much as it should. I really like the purple paper and the glitter purple title letters. Those letters are extremely well done. Where did you find them/how did you make them? I really like the color purple.
B: I like how you've arranged the photos on the pages, good composition! C: This is a very well-balanced spread: the photos are the centre of attention, but they don't dominate the pages. The colors you've chosen are very nice, attractive, and they work well together. I especially love the background - I am kind of a sucker for both stripes and purple , but it's also just the right level of busy, and very elegant.
Croutonian 18 (55/60)
(-1) High quality photo (not blurry or crunchy)
B: I know you said you're having trouble compressing the size, but I do have to penalize for the crunchiness.
(-1) Realistic Drop Shadows / Consistent Light Source
A: Your lighting changes directions on a couple of your elements. The buttons are lit differently, and the flower is lit from a very high top left. That bubble sticker heart at the top of the second page is lit from the bottom left, while the bubble sticker stars are lit from the top left.
(-1) Good Mix/Balance of Images and Other Elements
C: The first page seems a little bit too crowded - not by much, I think just making the two presents in the middle smaller/removing them would have sorted it. The number of different elements and colors and so on sort of obscures the images, especially since the photos are also quite busy.
(-1) Draws Viewer In / Is Visually Interesting / Judge Likes It
A: OMG, your color scheme is blinding. It’s cohesive, so I didn’t take points for that, but it’s really bright and that makes it hard to focus on anything. The second page isn’t nearly as busy as the first, so it’s a bit jarring between the pages as well.
(-1) Fits with the Style of the Previous Pages.
A: All of your other pages have had nice pretty subtle colors, this was the first that was overly saturated.
General Comments:
A: While it’s busier than heck, I absolutely love all the little elements you’ve added to your spread. I didn’t notice the tiny little bow box cut outs at first and they are adorable! The longer I look at it, the more I see, it’s great! (cept, plz tone down the colors next time ) B: I love your attention to detail, particularly with little things like using a different font for dad's handwriting! C: This is a fabulous spread. You have a great sense for layering and balance, and the color scheme is perfect - contrasting without being overwhelming, and suitably kid-friendly.
-1 Day Late(-1) High quality photo (not blurry or crunchy)
B: I know you said you're having trouble compressing the size, but I do have to penalize for the crunchiness.
(-1) Realistic Drop Shadows / Consistent Light Source
A: Your lighting changes directions on a couple of your elements. The buttons are lit differently, and the flower is lit from a very high top left. That bubble sticker heart at the top of the second page is lit from the bottom left, while the bubble sticker stars are lit from the top left.
(-1) Good Mix/Balance of Images and Other Elements
C: The first page seems a little bit too crowded - not by much, I think just making the two presents in the middle smaller/removing them would have sorted it. The number of different elements and colors and so on sort of obscures the images, especially since the photos are also quite busy.
(-1) Draws Viewer In / Is Visually Interesting / Judge Likes It
A: OMG, your color scheme is blinding. It’s cohesive, so I didn’t take points for that, but it’s really bright and that makes it hard to focus on anything. The second page isn’t nearly as busy as the first, so it’s a bit jarring between the pages as well.
(-1) Fits with the Style of the Previous Pages.
A: All of your other pages have had nice pretty subtle colors, this was the first that was overly saturated.
General Comments:
A: While it’s busier than heck, I absolutely love all the little elements you’ve added to your spread. I didn’t notice the tiny little bow box cut outs at first and they are adorable! The longer I look at it, the more I see, it’s great! (cept, plz tone down the colors next time
) B: I love your attention to detail, particularly with little things like using a different font for dad's handwriting! C: This is a fabulous spread. You have a great sense for layering and balance, and the color scheme is perfect - contrasting without being overwhelming, and suitably kid-friendly.
jones7659 15 (45/60)
(-1) High quality photo (not blurry or crunchy)
B: The photos themselves aren't really blurry, but some of the elements - like the party hat ornament - are. C: No over-compression problems, you've escaped that plague! A few of your decorations are quite blurry, though - especially on the first page, I think probably as a result of just being enlarged too much.
(-2) Good Photo Cropping
A: Your photos are so small this round! What happened? This would be such a cute page if the photos were bigger. C: Mostly the cropping is good, however the piñata pic and the dog pic could do with being cropped more widely: the piñata photo has a few kids with the tops of their heads chopped off; and it took me a minute to work out who Max was, since the dog is mostly cropped out and, at a glance, looked like a design on Connor's shirt.
(-1) Believable Layering/Dimension of Elements
A: Are the photos inside a shadow box? It looks really flat and odd. They don’t look like they should be that flat.
(-1) Includes Book Binding / Page Shadows Down the Inside Edges Throughout
B: There are page shadows, but they're huge, unrealistically large.
(-5) Good Mix/Balance of Images and Other Elements
A: Is that confetti, cake crumbs, or fish tank rocks on your pages? I can’t really tell. B: Both pages just seem a bit empty. The photos are tiny on the page, and some of the ornaments are quite large. C: It would have been nice to have more of the space dedicated to photos. I know you like to do small photos, which is fair enough - but it just seems like these pages have a lot of unused space, especially around the edges.
(-1) Fits and Portrays each Life Event well
A: The color scheme calms the page down, which is the opposite of what a birthday party should be. Without the text on the page, I would not know this is for a birthday party.
(-3) Draws Viewer In / Is Visually Interesting / Judge Likes It
A: There is a lot of blank space left on the page, it would have been nicer if the photos were larger. With the first page, that box makes everything balanced and it doesn’t draw my eye around the page. B: It feels a bit sterile, or something. Just not appealing to my tastes. C: This is an attractive design, but it's not necessarily a memorable one - it seems a bit *too* clean and neat, almost to the point of being a bit sterile.
General Comments:
A: Seems like you had trouble getting this page done, it’s not as good as some of your other ones. I really liked the idea of a puppy for a present, no one else did that! B: Very cute photos, they really tell a good story and keep the focus on the birthday boy. C: I think my favorite part of this spread might be the text. The happy birthday looks a bit awkward - exactly how I remember words cut out of card or craft paper looking when I was about 11. The little written notes are well-placed, and (yeah I'm gonna go into literary wtf mode here), very expressive of the heart and soul of a kid's birthday (see?). The decorations are cute, and the blues work well with each other and are appropriate for the event. Nice job.
(-1) High quality photo (not blurry or crunchy)
B: The photos themselves aren't really blurry, but some of the elements - like the party hat ornament - are. C: No over-compression problems, you've escaped that plague! A few of your decorations are quite blurry, though - especially on the first page, I think probably as a result of just being enlarged too much.
(-2) Good Photo Cropping
A: Your photos are so small this round! What happened? This would be such a cute page if the photos were bigger. C: Mostly the cropping is good, however the piñata pic and the dog pic could do with being cropped more widely: the piñata photo has a few kids with the tops of their heads chopped off; and it took me a minute to work out who Max was, since the dog is mostly cropped out and, at a glance, looked like a design on Connor's shirt.
(-1) Believable Layering/Dimension of Elements
A: Are the photos inside a shadow box? It looks really flat and odd. They don’t look like they should be that flat.
(-1) Includes Book Binding / Page Shadows Down the Inside Edges Throughout
B: There are page shadows, but they're huge, unrealistically large.
(-5) Good Mix/Balance of Images and Other Elements
A: Is that confetti, cake crumbs, or fish tank rocks on your pages? I can’t really tell. B: Both pages just seem a bit empty. The photos are tiny on the page, and some of the ornaments are quite large. C: It would have been nice to have more of the space dedicated to photos. I know you like to do small photos, which is fair enough - but it just seems like these pages have a lot of unused space, especially around the edges.
(-1) Fits and Portrays each Life Event well
A: The color scheme calms the page down, which is the opposite of what a birthday party should be. Without the text on the page, I would not know this is for a birthday party.
(-3) Draws Viewer In / Is Visually Interesting / Judge Likes It
A: There is a lot of blank space left on the page, it would have been nicer if the photos were larger. With the first page, that box makes everything balanced and it doesn’t draw my eye around the page. B: It feels a bit sterile, or something. Just not appealing to my tastes. C: This is an attractive design, but it's not necessarily a memorable one - it seems a bit *too* clean and neat, almost to the point of being a bit sterile.
General Comments:
A: Seems like you had trouble getting this page done, it’s not as good as some of your other ones. I really liked the idea of a puppy for a present, no one else did that! B: Very cute photos, they really tell a good story and keep the focus on the birthday boy. C: I think my favorite part of this spread might be the text. The happy birthday looks a bit awkward - exactly how I remember words cut out of card or craft paper looking when I was about 11. The little written notes are well-placed, and (yeah I'm gonna go into literary wtf mode here), very expressive of the heart and soul of a kid's birthday (see?). The decorations are cute, and the blues work well with each other and are appropriate for the event. Nice job.
Congratulations to Selly, our Round Winner! Also congrats to Croutonian who had the next highest score!