I was thinking about an earlier journal. I do always enjoy positive and supportive feedback!
I actually do like constructive criticism, too; I basically need to get in the right mindset for it, first, and the format helps a great deal. If you wish to offer constructive criticism, I put together a format that has definitely helped me over the years, cobbled together from many others' and my own experiences!
1. Ask if criticism is wanted or welcome!
- Criticism of any kind is only useful as long as it's expected and wanted.
- For instance, at my DayJob constructive criticism is expected and wanted as a requirement for the job.
- I don’t view criticism as a requirement for my art, because it’s not my job. It’s something I do to relax and have fun with.
- Getting into “accepting criticism” mode requires me to shift my mood and expectations into “serious learning mode”!
- Sometimes this mode isn’t fun and can be a bit painful, but it’s alright if I’m prepared for it!
- Some days I have zero energy or patience because Adulting Sucks; in this case I'd probably ask that the person follow up with me some other day!
- Asking someone if they’d like criticism helps both you and the person, so you don’t waste their time and your time,
- Constructive criticism that is useful to me may take a lot of time to put together.
- You may not wish to spend that much time on putting together good constructive criticism after all.
- If you don’t do it right, you could cause a lot of resentment, pain, drama, etc., depending on the person.
- Most of all, if you insist on giving criticism in an unhelpful way it looks like you are more interested in being cruel than actually helping anyone.
- All of the above are why some people may not offer criticism, and perhaps why some artists don’t want it.
2. Don’t conflate personal taste with criticism.
- If you’re criticizing the content of the thing, like, say, “I don’t like big boobs”, or "I don't like that this piece is focused on her ass. You should draw boobs more", that’s not helpful at all to the artist. It just means the art is not for you.
- I remember someone red-lining one of my pieces to make the boobs smaller. The character had big boobs. Not helpful! Show me how to draw big boobs better!
3. Understand what the artist is trying to accomplish!
- If this step is not clear, it’s OK to ask the artist what they’re hoping to do or convey with this piece. The rest of the criticism really heavily depends on it!
- The critique should be tailored to helping the artist achieve their goal(s).
4. Review and acknowledge all the stuff the art piece is doing really well with respect to step 3!
- A good tactic for assumptions is DON’T.
- Don’t assume that the artist knows that you already like their work.
- A simple statement of “I like / love / adore your work in general” helps greatly.
- Don’t assume that the artist is also assuming good intentions of you, especially these days. Have you seen Facebook and Twitter?
- Someone who assumes bad or negative intentions of you will absolutely not trust or believe a single thing you say.
- “I saw something about this piece I feel I can offer a lot of help with! I have no doubt you can accomplish this goal.”
- Even if you’re already good friends and are giving a formal criticism, it’s still a good step.
- Don’t assume that the artist already knows what they did well and what they messed up on.
- The reason this is important: stopping inadvertent overcorrection!
- It's not uncommon for an artist to get really insecure about their artwork because of bad constructive criticism and change a bunch of stuff that didn’t need changing.
- Additionally, a lot of fandom artist folks have anxiety of varying severity; this helps keep them from spiraling into worse anxiety.
- Don’t assume that the artist knows that you already like their work.
5. Review and acknowledge all the stuff the art piece is NOT doing well with respect to step 3.
- What exactly about the piece is not contributing to the goal determined in step 3?
- Be very specific!
- “The anatomy looks way off”
- The way the hips were drawn could be improved! Usually the widest point should also be about level with the crotch” is way more specific and helpful!
- I've seen criticism that consisted solely of this step.
- “Here's everything you're doing wrong” with absolutely zero guidance is unhelpful, frustrating, and irritating.
6. Show the artist how to improve regarding step 5, with respect to step 3
- This is likely where the most time will be spent.
- I am a visual learner. Red-lines or red-lining helps!
- Make a new layer on top of the image, and show me what shapes and methods you would do to improve the image.
- Usually this is done in red, but it technically can be any color line. The point is to make it contrast with the image colors so the corrections can be easily seen.
- Show me reference images, and break them down into simpler shapes! Show me your methods.
- Text can be useful, but for me it should supplement the red-lines and images for in-depth concepts!
- Give me resources that have helped you!
- Physical books have helped me far less than digital resources. Digital versions of the books are fine!
- The main reason I have nowhere to keep the physical books open in a place where I work; it's super impractical to reference them!