Art Critique - a survival guide

1. Friends and family
   are usually good at spotting mistakes, but rarely able to tell you how to fix it.
   The good news is they are already invested in you personally, so their feedback can be a great source of positive motivation.
2. Artist peers
   can spot a mistake and offer a possible solution.
   You can find them in dedicated facebook groups, online forums or Discord servers, or at your local life drawing class.
   These feedback communities work on a reciprocal basis - "I scratch your back, later you scratch mine".
3. Art mentors
   can spot a mistake and offer the solution.
   If you sign up for any drawing course, it's common for teachers to offer consultations of your work when the class is over.
   If you have good people skills, you can even pick an artist you look up to and messege them directly.

1. Show effort.
   A sketch that took you 10 minutes probably isn't going to motivate someone to write a critique that will take them 20.
2. Try to solve it yourself first.
   This relates to the previous point. Look for a solution online, try a different approach or do some studies.
   Not only does this show that you have the right attitude, you might find your solution in the process.
3. Be specific.
   If you want constructive advice, include some constructive questions.
   
   "How do I make the color combinations in this area more harmonious?"
   "How do I make the facial anatomy less uncanny?"
   "The object doesn't feel like it's a part of the scene, could it be a perspective issue?"

The best advice in this article?

Don't take it personally.

Trolls attacking someone's hard work for no reason is not nearly as common as some people think.
If it really is a troll, remember that your emotional response is the troll's food.
Don't feed the troll. Ignore them in their puddle of misery and move on to making more drawings.

You're playing the long game. Those with curiosity and willingness to learn always get ahead.

Consider:

1. "You shouldn't texture everything."
2. "If you texture everything, you'll lose a clear focal point."

One is a command.
The other gives the artist a choice.

Consider:

1. "Your perspective seems off."
2. "I like your composition, but your perspective seems off."

No drawing is 100% negative, so neither should be its feedback.

Some people get carried away and write long essays without the artist asking for it.

If you can spot 10 mistakes in an artwork, pick the most important one to point out and save the rest for when the artist requests it.

Consider:

1. "The drawing looks flat."
2. "To make the drawing more 3D, you can try constructing it using simple forms. One resource I can recommend is the critically acclaimed construction course by Karyo™, link in my profile."

You don't need to give us advertising of course, but pointing out a problem becomes much more helpful if you offer a solution to go with it.

We don't know anything. We only make educated guesses about what the artist intends. Even something like making a subject more 3D might miss the mark when they are going for a more flat, graphic style.

There are no rules in art, only tools. Each tool gets you something, and it's up to the artist to know when to reach for it to push their art further.

I'm not saying professional artists don't make mistakes, but sometimes what looks like a mistake might be intentional.

Critiquing your peers or guiding those who are just starting out is generally safer and a better use of your time.

Imagine writing a critique in these two places:

1. A dedicated critique channel on a Discord server.
2. A comment section under a famous artist's post on Instagram.

You can probably sense the latter puts you on a thin ice.
Artists don't always post art looking for feedback. Sometimes they do it just to share it with others. And that's okay.

Can you tell the difference between the following?

1. The fundamentals, the line quality, form, texture, anatomy, proportion and perspective
2. The personal taste, choice of colors, theme, subject, the style or the artist's favorite choice of breakfast cereal

One is objective (the craft) and can be critiqued, the other is subjective (the art).
Critiquing subjective choices can often come off as inappropriate or rude.