1 seems the best to me.

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"Learning without thought is labor lost. Thought without learning is perilous."
--Confucius

From first glance they look more like an advertisement then a business card...
Maybe thats what your going for...
I do like the portrait instead of landscape.. its original... if you want a little more originality you could do one curved corner as well...
I also feel the text describing what you do is too small. Your name should be big, what you do should be big.. the contact details are the secondary focus (not including graphics) They want your name, and what you do.. if they like what you do, the contact details will be handy - Otherwise they are unimportant...

For the best advertisement I feel a one colour design would look great. Like the bottom three.. but you have only tried those three colours.. Orange/yellow with a dark charcoal grey is a really cool, modern look. See if you like that. I feel the green is too bright (I know I said yellow... but) is the wrong colour... considering the background is a little oriental (as is the katana).
The red look better then the blue. But thats probably personal choice.

If You are going for a business card look I think a few things would have to be changed. But Its a nice design.

Bank Gothic, is like my fav font ever... I use it all the time at work, even on the business cards.

Hopefully I have helped... Sounds like alot of criticism (sorry).. If you want more help from me - probably not after that - hopefully the internet works for me tomorrow.. Im going home now..

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Help Wanted

I know my comments are brief, but Im not a critic, I just want to express my complete admiration of your work...

I like the top right and bottom left. I kinda like the one in red cause it stands out a little more so it attracts attention, but I suppose the other sepia one looks a little more proffessional? I dunno which I'd pick between those two but that's what I would narrow t down to anyway.

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"There is no real me. I guess
that's it. I only exist inside those people aware of my existence." -Lain
Serial Experiments: Lain

I like 1,2,3 and a bit of 4

But as a business card... maybe 2...

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Eye have an I fetish.

Creativity wanted $5000.00 Reward [link]

I personally like the black and white one the best. >_><3

_{Definitely,The Top-Left.
It's Brilliant.}

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<sub>My Life - Requiem For A Dream

Innocence Is What Life Is : "Life & Death Come And Go,Like Marionettes Dancing On A Table - When The Strings Are Cut,They Easily Crumble."

I'm A Member Of rawem0tion</sub>

Thanks for your great insights. (they don't sound like criticisms at all!) I want the best results possible and there's no better way to achieve that than getting great feedback like this.

I agree that it looks more like an advertisement than a business card, but that's kind of what I was going for -- since I am "selling" myself. The best way to sell/advertise myself is through actual artwork, but I wanted the card to carry a little visual reminder of what I do. Do you think that is a bad approach?

I think the sepia tone one (top right) is a bit like the orange/charcoal scheme you mention. Printed out, it's the one that looks the best.

I am also very curious what the "few things" are that need changing to achieve a "business card look." What would you change? I would really love to get your help!

And thanks for the tip on changing the emphasis on "what I do" versus the contact info. Bank Gothic is definitely one of the all time best royalty-free fonts! It's crisp, very legible and stylish too! I like using it a lot too.

thanks for your input! I like 1 too, but once I printed it out, the look changes entirely -- the full colour is almost too distracting. I'm leaning heavily toward 3 now, which looks best on paper out of the 6.

Thanks for your opinion!! I agree with your assessment. As it turns out, the sepia seems to look the best when printed. The red, although I love the eye catching colour, doesn't have the same "glow" on paper as it does on screen. And I forgot to mention that the cards I'm getting won't have a glossy finish -- so that'll make the red even less "glowy".

Thanks for the input! I think if I'm going to choose 2/black&white, I'm gonna have to revert back to the original pencils graphic (and not the "desaturated" version of the coloured image) -- basically to highlight my penciling skills. I think I'll fix that and repost.