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The essence of a good comment and O.A.R.(S).
13 years ago
General
It's pretty obvious that nowadays people don't have the time to leave meaningful comments about the artwork they see on sites like FA and similar services, a bit too much +Fav and run. Even artists who claim they don't mind getting no comments on their work want to at least know what's on their watcher's minds when they click +fav, anyone who truly doesn't care at all would be at most a Lurker, we are on the internet after all!
The Essence of a good commenter is Validating the Artist's artwork, specifically point out and discuss what you can see, what's going on in a picture, something to let the artist know you actually stopped one damn second to look at something they might have spent hours to achieve. If anything this proves that you not only liked their artwork but noticed it too.
OAR(S) is an acronym I thought up that describes the most basic structure of a validating-comment for a piece of artwork. Opinion, Aspect, Reason, (Suggestion), Suggestion in parenthesis only applys when making a critique. You don't have to write paragraphs to show you've noticed and explained your enjoyment or concerns for a piece, though an interested artist would love you took the time. So using OAR(S) can allow you a meaningful comment in as short as a sentence. For example;
OAR
"I really loved how you drew that giant looming above him the perspective and the casting shadow really made it look intimidating!"
In just one sentence you've let the artist know that you liked it, told them what you liked about it and why you liked it or it was likable. One-liners usually only constitute just O, slightly more descriptive comments offer OA but using the whole OAR just wraps the whole thing up nicely. If you're making a critique you can use Suggestion at the end of it.
OARS
"Something looks off with that arm over there it looks like it's bending the wrong way, maybe if you drew a line this way instead of that way it will look like the forearm is coming towards us instead of the other way."
More often than not you'll be writing O and A the other way around in a real critique but here you can see that you've managed to explain that something is wrong, what went wrong, how it's wrong and then offered a suggestion on how they can improve it or avoid the mistake next time. It's not too hard if you think about it for a minute.
If anything at all, make your comment meaningful! If you can't think of any critique or an analysis, just mention things you see in the page. The characters, the environment, the colours, what seems to be happening in the still-frame. I do not believe any of you are so dense you can't even point out the species of an anthro, or whether they're in a city or countryside. So why not speak up and talk about the picture for a bit? Add a bit of your personal experience and let the artist know what it made you think about.
People on art sites barely get any recognition at all aside from a few favorites, why not validate their talent with your insight and make it memorable. I know if you want people looking at your own work you need to start giving a damn about other people.
If you don't really care about anybody other than yourself and your words hollow, at least know that when you make a comment on someone else's work that makes them happy, you're giving them a free link to your gallery. But chances are if this is the only reason you'd start commenting now, you're the kind of person I very much avoid. :s
Sorry for the length, but if you read this all, good for you! If you actually want to do some of the things mentioned in the journal, even better!
The Essence of a good commenter is Validating the Artist's artwork, specifically point out and discuss what you can see, what's going on in a picture, something to let the artist know you actually stopped one damn second to look at something they might have spent hours to achieve. If anything this proves that you not only liked their artwork but noticed it too.
OAR(S) is an acronym I thought up that describes the most basic structure of a validating-comment for a piece of artwork. Opinion, Aspect, Reason, (Suggestion), Suggestion in parenthesis only applys when making a critique. You don't have to write paragraphs to show you've noticed and explained your enjoyment or concerns for a piece, though an interested artist would love you took the time. So using OAR(S) can allow you a meaningful comment in as short as a sentence. For example;
OAR
"I really loved how you drew that giant looming above him the perspective and the casting shadow really made it look intimidating!"
In just one sentence you've let the artist know that you liked it, told them what you liked about it and why you liked it or it was likable. One-liners usually only constitute just O, slightly more descriptive comments offer OA but using the whole OAR just wraps the whole thing up nicely. If you're making a critique you can use Suggestion at the end of it.
OARS
"Something looks off with that arm over there it looks like it's bending the wrong way, maybe if you drew a line this way instead of that way it will look like the forearm is coming towards us instead of the other way."
More often than not you'll be writing O and A the other way around in a real critique but here you can see that you've managed to explain that something is wrong, what went wrong, how it's wrong and then offered a suggestion on how they can improve it or avoid the mistake next time. It's not too hard if you think about it for a minute.
If anything at all, make your comment meaningful! If you can't think of any critique or an analysis, just mention things you see in the page. The characters, the environment, the colours, what seems to be happening in the still-frame. I do not believe any of you are so dense you can't even point out the species of an anthro, or whether they're in a city or countryside. So why not speak up and talk about the picture for a bit? Add a bit of your personal experience and let the artist know what it made you think about.
People on art sites barely get any recognition at all aside from a few favorites, why not validate their talent with your insight and make it memorable. I know if you want people looking at your own work you need to start giving a damn about other people.
If you don't really care about anybody other than yourself and your words hollow, at least know that when you make a comment on someone else's work that makes them happy, you're giving them a free link to your gallery. But chances are if this is the only reason you'd start commenting now, you're the kind of person I very much avoid. :s
Sorry for the length, but if you read this all, good for you! If you actually want to do some of the things mentioned in the journal, even better!
