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Trainer Card Template Request

I'm probably only speaking for my own personal tastes here, but I have a request for the people who make trainer card templates...

Please stop using artwork that covers the entire area of the card. I know it looks pretty, but no one's going to see it behind a team of six Pokemon. Whatever art you post, make sure the part you most want people to see is visible, perhaps centered on the trainer's side of the card. Of course, you have to make sure that the trainer isn't covering too much of that part of the image, either.

It just seems to me like it's pointless to have beautiful artwork on a card if its going to be obscured by the card's content. I'm sure it would be awesome to have Goku unleash his Kamehameha across your card, but if you don't position the art correctly it's not going to have the proper effect. Let's look at an example.

DarkraiTheme.png

Incarnate009's Darkrai-themed card would be a good example of what I'm looking for, except I'm pretty sure the trainer would cover up Darkrai's head. Thus, the effect is lost. Cover up the boxes with your hands. All that's left is the head. Now remove your hands and put a finger over the middle of the the trainer's area. Even my pinky completely obscures Darkrai's head. While this image may look good bare, it just doesn't make a good background. With such little space to work with, backgrounds should be chosen to accentuate the foreground, not because it looks good on its own.

akabanecard.png

With all due respect to Mikuba Sen, she provides plenty of example of what not to do with her Getbackers cards. Look at Aakabane here. Since the character is to one side, you'd think this'd be a good example. But look what happens when Mikuba suggests object placement.

akabanecardinuse.png

Where'd he go? I thought this was a Getbackers card! What is that back there? A flower? As you can see, the Pokemon almost completely obscure Akabane, while Lan is in the empty space. Even assuming the Trainer Card Maker has to put that stuff there, Mikuba could've flipped the background so that Akabane is on the right, and then repositioned him to be visible behind Lan.

harukicard.png

Haruki here looks nice. He's on the right, so he should be visible even with all the foreground objects, right?

harukicardinuse.png

Ouch! A Sableye right in the face! Had the background been slid a little bit to the right, then Haruki wouldn't've gotten his face cut off and Lan wouldn't be standing over his weapon. Given the choice between Haruki's face and his shoulders, I'd chose to see his face.

TerrierMon.png

There are a number of things wrong with lipokemon1's Terriermon card, but I'll focus on the background. Rapidmon's head is already cut off by the banner. As you can tell by the boxes, the only things that'll be visible once the Pokemon are in are Terriermon's ear and Galgomon's pants. This particular background was probably a bad choice, too. With proper placement, you'd probably be able to see Terriermon, Galgomon, or Rapidmon, but not all three at once.

But enough "Don't's." Let's see a couple "Do's."


PokeCharmsCardPrototype.jpg

This, Xtract's Sinnoh Map, is a example of proper placement. The art is beautiful, and the more interesting part is off to one side. Also, this is good art to have as a background, since it's a landscape and doesn't distract from the foreground. Look what happened when he marked where the Pokemon go. Almost nothing is lost, because the part he wanted you to see goes where there is the most empty space, behind the trainer.

loztrainercardtz4.png

Here's another good example, Awenth's Link Riding Epona. Although most of Epona is obscured, space has been made so you can see the horse's head and Link quite clearly. The trainer goes in front of the Master Sword, and it would probably still look just as good.

I'm not trying to dis anyone. I'm merely expression my opinion on their use of art. I'm not telling them they're bad artists, but pointing out where they could stand to improve their techniques so they can become even better artists. This was also to educate other prospective Trainer Card template makers on the do's and don't's of templating.

So, in conclusion, please pay attention to what you're doing. When using art, make sure to arrange it so that the focus of the image is visible after the Pokemon and the trainer are in. If it can't be done, use a different image. If we can't see the background, it's not a good background.
 
If I could add something here.

Pay attention to what things from the TC Maker look like.

Here's an example.

DailgiaandPalkia.png


Now, these cards a nice, and the layout is fairly standard.

But the problem is with the Pokemon boxes.

The boxes are too big for the Maker. The Pokemon in the Maker are 50 x 30, the spaces on the card are too tall. A simple edit can fix this.

Also, the space for trainer is a little cramped, but not badly. But there isn't space for the friend code.

Here is a template I made by modifying the ones above, I've used it for my cards and I am making it public access. Corrected the Pokemon boxes and made the card a little bigger overall.

TemplateCard2.png


Also, with a picture, don't be afraid to mess with the format a little. Pokemon can be placed on the card 3x2 as easily as 2x3, and if done right it gives more room to show off the background.

ShiversCard.png

For example purposes here is one card where the picture I wanted wouldn't have fit with the template above. A few edits to the design made all the differance in the world.
 
It's true, a lot of trainer cards being posted in that thread are near unuseable. Hopefully people interested in making templates will take a look at this thread.
 
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