Telling me how YOU would do something is fine, but kind of a slap in the face. After getting this form of critique a few times I have resolved with myself to NEVER use that phrase again. To instead use the "here are a few ideas to think about" I think its because of my art drills. I’m beginning to be more objective of art I suppose.
But nothing, I mean NOTHING, kills my mood like a bad critique. OH-EM-GEE thanks for telling me exactly how you would do it. But I asked for your advice as a PEER not a TEACHER/ADVISOR/MENTOR. I donno. As we can see with the amount of caps this is a hot button subject. SO I have decided to lay out some critiquing guidelines for myself, feel free to use this.
Mood, message and purpose:
This more for an Illustration, especially those paired with articles. Does the mood of the piece fit the meaning/message? Do these elements speak clearly but also allow for the viewer to process the information seen and think about it?
Division of space, positive vs. negative, use of color:
Did they divide the space well; is there a balance between negative and positive? If not does the imbalance drive you to the focal point? How does the choice of color affect this? Is it a limited palette, full color, monochrome?
Anatomy, proportion, alignment, perspective, other key technical elements.
Look and see how the piece works, are the legs to long not lining up on the correct plain? Extra fingers? Correct perspective?
Execution.
This can be difficult. Does the piece look/feel finished. Is it well done? If rendered, done correctly? Light source or sources. Anything of note to work on next time?
I am a firm believe of giving praise where praise is deserved. If the piece is excited well but one aspect has failed, inform them of the short coming but tell them where they are succeeding in the piece. Sounds like sugar coating? Kind of. BUT how many people like to get up after they have just been kicked? I feel everyone needs to feel that yes, you are getting it! You have this and this down, but here is now where you need to focuses. I mean if the person feels as if they only failed on the piece, why would they want to work on it more? I guess I’m way to happy sappy but, I also feel it’s more constructive. I find ego boosts make people work harder. And I bet if they go back and tweak that one thing, it will look great.
I also believe that any serious artist, even though they will be hurt about it, will listen.
In this post we see a GREAT example of this. I LOVE this picture, save for the finial execution of it. Its piss poor.
In my defense, I have already identified this AS a bad finish. (( I’ve ranted plenty about this on my DA :D)) BUT I felt it is important to show failure.
One of my teachers in college said this " 9 out of 10 paintings you will do will be a failure. Keep painting to get to that 1" this is the one piece of advice I carry with me the most. Mainly because I feel awful after I do something sub par. What I mean is I KNOW I can do so much better why didn't if? Well, it just happens. You always feel like you can do better. ALWAYS. But if you learn from your mistakes as much as you do from success, you'll make mistakes less often.
Here is what I will fix:
*The mood with color. It’s too dreary. I want the figure to stand out and pop. Because she is the same tone as the sky behind, she doesn’t do that as well.
*It was suggested to make the dress all white, but I think I will instead make a gradient from the top of the skirt white/cream to the bottom of the skirt a dark stormy blue grey, I will also turn the blouse white/cream.
*Add more variety to the feathers in her cap.
*Mute the yellow tone a bit, make it more gold/brown
*Paint better landscape
*Possible add stars
While I like the cloud wisps around her I will probably NOT add that to the watercolor version.
Rainmaker will be re-done. I plan on doing a comparison pic of her also; this has been great practice in re-rendering the same image multiple times also! The one here was done in marker on bigger paper so I transferred without a light table, but my watercolor paper is smaller than the dimensions of the Bristol I drew it on SO I’m getting practice in reproducing the same image many times. Which is also on my art drill list. BOYEAH.
So all in all to those who critique, remember it’s helpful only when it’s a helpful and informative critique! For those who art, don’t hide failure! Its nothing to be ashamed of, just use it to build something better. ((Like the bionic man))
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