Hello, here is my incomplete image...i've yet to add a silouette of mummy to depict a family walking along the beach. I'm hoping to create images for microstock agencies and i'm wondering if i'm anywhere near creating anything good enough for initial application.

I'd be grateful for opinions, especially from anyone with experience in micro stock.

This is the first time i've tried to use this dropbox thingy to link my image so hopefully it works :/

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/69129142/application.jpg

I'm not familiar with microstock, so I don't know what kind of quality is required. But I think it's a nice image! My only comment would be about the sailboat. I'm not sure if it's supposed to be a real boat or a toy boat? To me, it looks more like a toy boat. I really like the way you did the shoreline though, where the water meets the sand.

Hi brynn thanks for the comment

yes it was supposed to be a real boat...well a silouette of a boat, i'll make it smaller and see if I get away with it! Ideally I wanted the boat to be travelling toward the sun/away from us but I couldn't make it look right so I opted for a simpler approach......I'll have another crack at it actually and see how I get on.

Thanks again

hi
I'm not entirely sure if there is a difference in 'microstock' verus regular stock/clipart/svg sites, but I do sell on stock sites, and I do think this pic would be accepted.
Just be careful of one thing (that Igot me), once you add regular gradients, blurs and/or filters and effects, that no longer counts as an svg file for these places, you can submit them as a jpeg (or other graphic file), but not an svg. I think that's because you can no longer expand the file without distortion and loss of resolution.
And, it can't hurt to submit it and see what they think, at most sites, you'll need to sumbit about 8 files for review, or have a website for them to lookat, for the application process. They like to see a variety of artwork for the initial review too.
good luck.

Thanks for the comment flamingolady

I'm not quite down with the terminology yet but I think stock and microstock are the same thing. Its great to hear positive comments about my image so thanks...i'm still learning so it takes me a long time to do the simplest task at the moment and after a week or two of looking/working on the same image I find I begin to dislike it and lose all objectivity.

Cheers for the tip about certain effects preventing me from submitting images as .svg....I had been reading that istock cannot handle transparency and i'll certainly be on the look out for other effects to avoid.

I'd best get busy if want to build a varied portfolio bye for now!!

I was thinking that you might use some texture on the water, to help make the boat look real. Like in the style that you made the waves on the shore, you might make a wake for the boat. Or small waves or ripples in the water, where they're larger closer, and smaller towards the horizon. Just a couple of thoughts