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On Critique and Improvement
16 years ago
You know, I was thinking recently about critique in general. I like to critique artwork for the betterment of the artists, but I've been slacking off lately. Partially due to a general slackerism about me, but also partially due to... well, a little bit of trepidation.
Anyone who's taken the time and effort to critique artwork and been rebuffed knows that there's at least a little feeling of "well, I just wasted my time with you!" Occasionally even a "who do you think you are?" Replies to the refuting of critique tend to span anything from "well I'm basically going to disregard that for arbitrary reasons" to "I don't take critiques" to "I knew that." And they're discouraging! No matter how good of a sport you want to be about it, you'll always feel just a little bit irritated- especially if they go and make another picture with the same mistake!
But I've been considering something lately. What if critique isn't instantly useful? Sure, you might tell someone what's wrong with that leg, and you might explain the hell out of it! You might even have a diagram showing how to draw it! But what I'm suggesting is that this may not be useful.
At least, not then. Not yet. I remember a little while back when I was drawing torsos that were just too damnably long, and everyone else could see it... except me. I just honestly could not wrap my mind around why they looked right to everyone else and wrong to me. Eventually I worked it out, and now I can completely see in comparison to my newer drawings, why that looked so terribly wrong.
What was the deal? Why couldn't I see it, even after studying charts and diagrams and people themselves? I think that there's such a thing as an "artist's eye," a slowly changing perception of how spatial relations work in our minds that improves as we incrementally observe things about the world around us- and the things we create. It seems to be like a muscle that we have to continually work- hard, AND smart- in order to develop it. The more you use it, the more artistically heavy lifting it can do. But you can't just jump from lifting 5 lbs. to 500, and in that same vein, the muscle memory must be gradually worked up to improve.
What does this mean to us as the critiqued? Chill out. You're excited about your work, that's cool. But don't take it personally if someone gives you a tip on your form, even if it's bad- the intentions are never to destroy your workout, but rather, to improve it. There's no reason to be afraid of critique. Your progression as an artist is not you as a person, it's the way you achieve what you want to do. If you block off critique- even in advance- you're really just sending a signal that tells everybody "I don't like to have my fun ruined by criticism, I just want the good parts of social networking." Which can come off as a tad arrogant or oversensitive.
And likewise, as critiqeurs, don't be overtly negative about what someone's doing. Encourage them with helpful hints. You don't tell someone at the gym, "hey, dude, your form's all wrong, there." You say something like, "nice to see you getting out to the gym! Hey, if you really wanna maximize your workout, try this technique, or reference this book right here. Helped me out, and this other guys swears by it." You see the difference? You're not discouraging them by telling them they're doing the wrong thing- and thus producing an environment of percieved nitpicking- you're motivating them to get better! And when people improve, everyone wins.
Anyone who's taken the time and effort to critique artwork and been rebuffed knows that there's at least a little feeling of "well, I just wasted my time with you!" Occasionally even a "who do you think you are?" Replies to the refuting of critique tend to span anything from "well I'm basically going to disregard that for arbitrary reasons" to "I don't take critiques" to "I knew that." And they're discouraging! No matter how good of a sport you want to be about it, you'll always feel just a little bit irritated- especially if they go and make another picture with the same mistake!
But I've been considering something lately. What if critique isn't instantly useful? Sure, you might tell someone what's wrong with that leg, and you might explain the hell out of it! You might even have a diagram showing how to draw it! But what I'm suggesting is that this may not be useful.
At least, not then. Not yet. I remember a little while back when I was drawing torsos that were just too damnably long, and everyone else could see it... except me. I just honestly could not wrap my mind around why they looked right to everyone else and wrong to me. Eventually I worked it out, and now I can completely see in comparison to my newer drawings, why that looked so terribly wrong.
What was the deal? Why couldn't I see it, even after studying charts and diagrams and people themselves? I think that there's such a thing as an "artist's eye," a slowly changing perception of how spatial relations work in our minds that improves as we incrementally observe things about the world around us- and the things we create. It seems to be like a muscle that we have to continually work- hard, AND smart- in order to develop it. The more you use it, the more artistically heavy lifting it can do. But you can't just jump from lifting 5 lbs. to 500, and in that same vein, the muscle memory must be gradually worked up to improve.
What does this mean to us as the critiqued? Chill out. You're excited about your work, that's cool. But don't take it personally if someone gives you a tip on your form, even if it's bad- the intentions are never to destroy your workout, but rather, to improve it. There's no reason to be afraid of critique. Your progression as an artist is not you as a person, it's the way you achieve what you want to do. If you block off critique- even in advance- you're really just sending a signal that tells everybody "I don't like to have my fun ruined by criticism, I just want the good parts of social networking." Which can come off as a tad arrogant or oversensitive.
And likewise, as critiqeurs, don't be overtly negative about what someone's doing. Encourage them with helpful hints. You don't tell someone at the gym, "hey, dude, your form's all wrong, there." You say something like, "nice to see you getting out to the gym! Hey, if you really wanna maximize your workout, try this technique, or reference this book right here. Helped me out, and this other guys swears by it." You see the difference? You're not discouraging them by telling them they're doing the wrong thing- and thus producing an environment of percieved nitpicking- you're motivating them to get better! And when people improve, everyone wins.
bu seriously, yea, Critique is wonderful, sometimes i wont wanna do it, becuase peopel are freakin sensitive lately
LOL!
ok... that was really mean XDDDDD
sorry *pats*
Glad to see you're still typing as brilliant as ever.
I remember how time ago a friend of mine told me of my mistake with torsos XD, another of my mistake with hips X3;;;;
things started to look a lot better
Still, even though I'm not aiming for profession sometime this decade. some of the pointers might be really useful to help me express myself better, and if some of them aren't... Well, that's no damage done, right?
I'll pout for a week and then if I can use it, I will. :P
I do like the social interaction that a piece of art can kick off (mine or others') but I'm stimulated by critique as well. I seldom have time to think hard enough to give it, myself, but I like to when I can. But I know I'm bad at the "encouraging tone" (though,I would only spend time giving critique to art that I really like) so if I sense that I might do more bad than good, I tend to leave it.
how dar u!!! u hav no rite to say what is artz!!1 ur just jeluz because i can draw bettar than u!!!
bawwwwwwww!!! fuk u!!!11 im goin back to my empty one-liner comment friends because dey kno how 2 comment!!!1
also because u can obviously draw better than me means nuthin!!! i culd draw better than u but i chose ma style so fuk u!!111111
if u wanted to "help" u culd have just said "lyke omg sooper kawaii ^____^" and not flame me wit ur "crit"!11 troll!1111 ur just tryin to mak me lewk bad!111
even tho crit is the driving factor of improving oneself at art due to us being at the long end of documented artistic eras and we are all here on an ART site, i'd rather trade all that in for 5 mins of feeling good of you lying to me about how ma pic is all perfect and shit!!!1
im blockin u!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!111111111111111111111111111111111111111111
WATCHERS > SKILL
POPULARITY > CRIT
HUGBOX > IMPROVEMENT
Still, having one person totally overreact and throw a giant tantrum over one comment, worded eloquently or otherwise, can make you wary over being honest with artists at all. Or just make you distrust artists alltogether. I'm only recently starting to get over that...
Hey, I ever show you my TF2 map? I need some critiques on that. There's a server that's been running it in their regular lineup and everyone tells me they love it, which feels really awesome and all but... how will I know how to make the damn thing better if nobody will find anything WRONG with it!?
Or look for the server that runs it. I think their server/clan is called [No More Heroes]. Ah, heck, it's probably the only dedicated koth map server you'll find in TF2 (woefully unappreciated game type. They refuse to even let us have a koth category on the FPS Banana website. Hmph) so if you server search for maps starting with "koth" you should run across it sometime.
But I'm not all that good at pointing out the finer things... I'm only good at pointing out the obvious, or just "what I think/feel." And sometimes, people just HATE hearing that crap. x3
Basically where I am getting is that instead of looking at art as a single answer problem we could see it as more of a critical essay, there are many ways to solve the answer and one way might not do it for another even if it was right in many other ways.
I wish i could get mroe critique, heck I beg people to look at my stuff on a constant basis and I honestly try to losten to them and see their point of view even what I believe is erroneous (of course since I mostly do sketches sometimes the mistake is because the quality wasn't good enough, like one humurous pic where one would think the leg of a girl is horrible withered where it was just her leg on a blanket)
Otherwise, yeah, I think you've pretty much nailed it here. :)
lol pwnd xD
I'm not sure I really want to see more respect paid to critique, or if that's the answer. As it stands, critique is already on this pedestal of being something which will "save artists from themselves", like everyone is an addict who needs to be reprogrammed and have their ego destroyed and be brought back into line for not showing enough interest in self-betterment (or more frequently, having the wrong fetishes).
And, well, the "save the fandom from itself" crowd? A lot of really creepy people there, and ones who shouldn't be allowed to browbeat much of anyone, much less cloaked in the auspices of moral supremacy that hijacking constructive criticism gives them.
The root of the problem, to me, is that while we accept at face value critique's role in policing and regulating art, critique (by amateurs, on the internet) is totally unregulated. The lines between good and bad art might be contested, but the line between good and bad critique is non-existent, with all the onus on the artist to be the better person about it. It isn't even seen as a negative to completely harass the person you're critiquing, at worst you're being brutally honest and they're covering their ears and refusing to listen to the truth.
I still think that constrictive criticism is really helpful; nothing is worse than trying to work in a vacuum. Unfortunately, critique on the internet is frequently just a cover story for posturing and passive-aggressive cutdowns which aren't even useful; anyone that actually wants to improve would probably be better off cultivating some people to ask for advice who they know have their shit together, or going to professionals.