How do we like to handle critiquing?

[Caricature Shop]

I love to learn and share. Sometimes the best learning comes with the most honest of evaluations. Up until this moment I've tried to leave it with the best positive thought for the situation. But I feel truly constructive criticism would be more appropriate. In short, I may be holding back by not sharing more.
To flip the mirror I would only want direct commentary on any pieces that I would share. I want to know what others see in my work. That is how we share perspective.

Thoughts.

[Caricature Shop]

I apologize for the total abuse of the word 'share' in the above dialogue.

[Draw4You]

caricatureshop

I thought I understood what you were saying, but now I am not sure?

Could you share in a different way what you mean?

I myself am at the point to where any truly constructive criticism is just as good as a positive input for my work. I need input!

I would not ask the same for everyone, because we do not live in the same box!

I invite you as well as others to respectfully share what you do not like about my work, or what I need to improve. This is good input for me as well as hearing what you like about it.

Mike

P.S. You all have my permissiom to sent me a private message on this board. This is a nice way to make a point without offending others. It's called 'Instant Message', you find it by going to the last icon to the left of a post above the Gender to the left of a post.

[Caricature Shop]

Mike,

I guess I see warm fuzzies. Don't get me wrong, positive reinforcement will take one higher than just about anything. My point is that I would like to know more about what people think about my work. In a forum of my peers, this is a tremendous opportunity to learn 'offstage'.

I was just wondering if others felt the same way.

[Mark]

depending on the situation/artist, I would suggest that either positive support or honest critique are needed in appropriate amounts. Someone who is new to caricature needs more support on what is good about their art in order to promote confidence. On the other hand an artist with many years experience already has this confidence in his/her art, and here I would say that more honest 'nitpicking' critique is in order, as there is no chance of destroying a budding artist ;D
IMO its all about what germans call 'Fingerspitzengefuehl' which translates to 'a fine feeling for the situation' .

As for me personally, even though I see myself as a 'budding' artist, I would prefer constructive critique as I feel it would help me learn more

Mark

[toonMom]

I agree with Mark, it depends on how many drawings a person has under their belt. I also think if you want some nit-picking you should ask. I think if a member says they like your drawing then they really do like it. If you want them to try to find things wrong with it, they might have to dig a little deeper.

[itsadam]

I agree with Mark and Toonmom, if a person is just starting out, they are going to want some support to give them the encouragement to carry on drawing, this support needs only to be a small amount, because in my opinion if you give someone too much nice critisism for a fairly badly done drawing it could give people too much of an ego boost, this of course is an argumentable point.

I my self can take constructive critisism, I believe it helps one to improve their work, I feel it will help me to hear what is wrong with the drawing. Although hearing what is right with it aswell also helps.

In my opinion truely good critisism should include what is right with the drawing aswell as what is wrong. telling someone what is wrong with it helps them to "see" the drawing properly, whilst telling them what is right with the drawing helps them to know they are on the right track.

Anyway, ive wrote about this for too long.

So in short critisism is good as long as you can find a way to incorperate what is good with the drawing as well as the things that could be improved.

Adam

[Mark]

there's a very interesting thread over on the loop that really drills home what can happen if criticism isnt explained. Take a look.. p074.ezboard.com/ftheloop10064frm12.showMessage?topicID=31.topic

Mark

[toonMom]

I didn't read the whole thread (it's very long), but there are a lot of good points made. The main one is that if you're going to say there is something wrong with a persons drawing you should say specifically what it is that's off. However, I often find that when I don't think a caricature is dead on, I can't point out where the problem is. I can't do it in my own work and I can't do it in the work of others. I guess I'm not good at " seeing" yet.

[Caricature Shop]

This thread is definitely giving me a better handle on how to approach the next opportunity.

Oh, I would only want to offer thoughts that might help one grow. It's the best we all can do.

[corky]

I believe that there is a huge difference between what we would term constructive criticism and negative comments. Negative comments are usually personal, meant to attack and injure the person; they are more about the attacker's insecurity than being helpful to the other person. Constructive feedback (I have always had a problem with the words Constructive Criticism...criticism is always negative, not constructive, as far as I'm concerned) helps the artist to see where they can improve, what their strengths and weaknesses are. A good athlete knows this; they will look at their mistakes in a race and use that to make the next one better. An artist can use the suggestions and analysis of another artist to improve their work. From what I've seen on this board, everyone has done their best to offer constructive feedback, and avoid personal injury to the other artist. I learn more from someone saying, "did you see what you did with that line there?" than if they say, "that's a lousy drawing!" And it's nice to hear the positive comments, too. It makes me more motivated to try something different, to push myself to win that race!

[Caricature Shop]

Point taken. I believe the way this board works for me is to have others help push me to higher performance levels. Feedback helps in accomplishing that goal.