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blahsum · Joined: 18 Sep 2011 Posts: 52 Location: South Africa

Hi

What is meant by 'rough edges'? Initially I uploaded the ten images - all but one were approved. Alas, they were layered TIFFs and couldn't be used. I resubmitted these, plus line versions (I'm a cartoonist) as well as additional pieces.

ALL of them were rejected on the basis of 'Rough edges' (note that at this stage I am approved as a contributor). What does this mean? My art works in hard lines, so there is no anti-aliasing. I wouldn't do this anyway - it diffuses the style I use and makes it that much more work for a designer to isolate a piece.

Is there somewhere I can read up about what exactly the problem is and whether it can be fixed? I also don't get it - there are images of doodle pages on Shutterstock, for goodness sake!

Also, how can the same images that got me approved then be rejected? Isn't that a case of separate standards?

Attached is one of the rejected pictures.

thanks,
James

daemys · Posted: Fri Sep 30, 2011 12:25 am

The acceptance criteria are not formally specified. The only one is reviewer's subjective opinion. Someone might understand your style and technique, another might not.

alexronay · Posted: Fri Sep 30, 2011 12:30 am

This is what they mean:

Are you scanning your drawings? if so, you need to go over the lines on your computer to make them smooth.

also there is some noise around your lines you need to get rid of.

this is what the noise does when I try to just fill in your drawing with color:

with smooth edges you would be able to fill it in with no problem, and that's what customers need. You can still have a stylized cartoon, just make sure the edges are smooth.

as stated above, some reviewers will pass one thing and others will reject the same picture. For illustrations rough edges is just about the only reason aside from low commercial value that something would get rejected here.

apotterdd · Posted: Fri Sep 30, 2011 12:44 am

What exactly are you using to draw your lines with? Is it a brush pattern? Some of those can cause rough edges.

I've gotten that rejection too so you'll definitely need to smooth your lines Alex stated.

It's a really cute illustration otherwise just needs smoother edges.

blahsum · Joined: 18 Sep 2011 Posts: 52 Location: South Africa

Thank you for the reply :)

The uploaded image has noise because I had to reduce it to fit the upload space. The original is uncompressed and there is no noise. You can fill it without a problem.

Also, this is the line version. There is a color version - which was also rejected. All my art is scanned clean and then processed through both Photoshop and Manga Studio.

I have uploaded a crop of the color version with no compression. As you can see, problems resulting from color-filling, noise and anti-aliased lines do not exist.

Also, as mentioned, some of these images were approved before, but the files did not fall within the SS requirements.

blahsum · Joined: 18 Sep 2011 Posts: 52 Location: South Africa

alexronay · Posted: Fri Sep 30, 2011 1:01 am

apotterdd · Posted: Fri Sep 30, 2011 1:02 am

Oh okay I wasn't realizing that it was scanned artwork. Are you reworking the lines in Photoshop or leaving as is?

I do this but in Illustrator. I scan my artwork and place it then lock the layer and make a new layer. That's where I'll go and do my outlining. Ya got the software might as well use it to your advantage.

Yeah it is a matter of style but stock agencies hate rough edges if they didn't we'd never see those types of rejections.

And yer welcome ;)

alexronay · Posted: Fri Sep 30, 2011 1:05 am

blahsum · Joined: 18 Sep 2011 Posts: 52 Location: South Africa

Fine, I'll smooth the edges.

But it still doesn't make sense to me because my images - including this one - were approved in the initial batch of 10.

One thing I can do is to scan the art at 300 percent, color it, then reduce it, thus eliminating the line problem since the lines will all be anti-aliased. Alas, I can already hear the moans of a thousand designers reaching for the pen tool...

alexronay · Posted: Fri Sep 30, 2011 1:20 am

blahsum · Joined: 18 Sep 2011 Posts: 52 Location: South Africa

alexronay · Posted: Fri Sep 30, 2011 1:29 am

blahsum · Joined: 18 Sep 2011 Posts: 52 Location: South Africa

apotterdd · Posted: Fri Sep 30, 2011 1:48 am

Most of us use Photoshop, Illustrator and Ink Scape. Most submit either eps files or large jpgs or both.

SS doesn't accept tiffs because they use a program to convert them into tiffs from the jpgs that are accepted. I'm sure a lot would love to have the option of layerd PSD files and I'm sure there might be a market for it. Not sure if anyone accepts psd files.

Whatever you decide to do it's ultimately your decision. No one's telling you that your style won't work just the edges of that artwork need to be smoother.