Criticsms / Feedback vs Doing what you want - A distinction

The best criticism, and the most important type to listen to, is always going to be the type that enhances what you're already trying to do. It understands what you're going for and how to make THAT better and isn't telling you to stop doing that. Bad criticism is based on personal taste and nothing more. Like someone can say "you shouldn't make a pink-colored orc girl character" and try to justify it with "because it doesn't fit with the traditional sense of orcs", but that doesn't change the fact that they're saying that because they personally don't like the idea of a pink orc.

So yeah I think an important question to always ask yourself when you get criticism, unsolicited or not, is "would this actually help, or is this criticism based on the critic's personal taste?" If the answer is "it's personal taste", throw it out and don't give it another thought. You don't even have to tell the person you're not planning on using it, either thank them and move on or ignore them. I know it can get tricky in the cases where it's a mix of personal taste AND something that could enhance what you're doing, but with time it gets easier to pull out the useful bits and pieces from the grime.

It's probably because I'm a beginner, but I would not mind any kind of critique as long as it's not agressive or totally absurd.

First, I think that on a lot of occasions, it's difficult for the reader to make the difference between pure technique and creativity. I see extremely often comments complaining about technical aspects when it's evident it's a conscious (and sometimes mastered) artistic choice. People easily think that if things don't look like the bulk of what they read, it means the artist lack technical skills. I even saw a few comments complaining about brush choice and advising artist on what brush to use to draw comics?!? Clearly some readers have no idea what, not only making comic, but making art is in general. But that does not mean all their comments will be useless. Simply we can't ask readers to comment the same way creators do.

But okay, let's say the advice is for creators and knowledgeble readers.
I'm still not sure I want that as an artist/writter.
I don't really think creativity is something that cannot be touched.
There are bad creative choices, there are good ones not used the right way, there are some that will never find a public.. which does not mean they are bad, but I think in every of these cases the feedback from reader can be important. It does not mean everything should be trashed, it merely give more insight to the creator. Critiques don't have to be 100% valid to be useful in my opinion.

I definitely agree: critique don't need to be 100% valid to be useful. I've gotten some pretty rude comments before that I was able to take something out of and use to my advantage, and I do think it's harmful as an artist to completely disregard what someone's saying simply because I don't like it.

Even people who do know what they're doing aren't always going to know what they're talking about. Like I remember one time I got a portfolio review from a professional and her only takeaway from my art was that because it was digital and not traditional, it was no good. It irritated me because it was pretty clear she was being extremely bias, and I think most people would have disregarded that sort of comment as "useless", but I ended up challenging myself to see if I could trick people into thinking my digital work was traditional. And as a result of that challenge, overall my inks have gotten a more "natural" feel to them, which is something I enjoy a lot and might not have gotten had that portfolio review not irritated me.

That's why it's really important to really think about what's being said, why it's being said, and what a positive takeaway can be from it. Some things I think it's fine to disregard, other things there might be a positive thing to come out of it. It's really up to the artist/writer, and I think as long as you're not going to the extreme of listening to every critique, or disregarding every critique, you're gonna be fine.

The hardest part about distinguishing what is useful in any given piece of criticism, tactfully given or not, is that the critique is of something that has at least some degree of personal connection to you. You draw something, you write something, that's an expression of who you are, what you hope to be, what you dream of giving the world. And when someone says something is wrong or off, that can hurt.

But just like @dojo said, just because it's personal does not mean that other people's perception of it is invalid. I love your example: you removed yourself from your art and skill, made the critique about what you can do rather than who you are, and because of that you were able to learn and grow. That's an awesome feat.

I can say that, as someone who is very, VERY sensitive to critiques but also crave them, when I give critiques I try to ask myself Three things:
1) Is this thing objectively wrong? Grammar, formatting, color balance, anatomy, etc.
2) Is this thing confusing? If so, am I taking my time to unpack it, or am I seeing it for what it is?
3) Is this boring/off putting/otherwise unenjoyable? If so, is it because it's just not to my tastes, or is it not executed well?

If whatever I'm giving feedback to is objectively wrong, objectively confusing, and not executed well, then I give a critique. If any of those are in question, I might comment and give suggestions, but they'll be gentle and general, if I comment on them at all.

This isn't a bad way to take criticism either. Is the thing someone pointed out - rudely or kindly - objectively wrong, objectively confusing, or not to the standard you want to ultimately reach? Then take what you can from the comment and improve. If not, leave it to the dust and keep doing you.

I think the best feedback is feedback on the stories, ideas and characters; technical stuff is important but if the story or those subjective things are trash then even the greatest technique won't save it.

using the example of the pink haired orc girl maybe instead of just dismissing the person's opinion and assuming you know their reasons, ask them why they feel that. Maybe they think that the character is not one who would use pink hair, then that means you failed in some characterization on that particular character, or maybe they say that since the rest of the characters have normal hair they seem out of place, unless that was the original intencion and you have and explanation ready later you might just have failed in making a cohesive world and the character instead of immerse the reader annoys/takes them out of the world.

don't dismiss opinions or assume people just don't understand, if they don't understand that's your failure not the readers failure

but that's just my opinion i might be wrong who knows *shrugs

1) Once you release your work it's no longer yours.
Grow up and mature as an artist and realize that you are giving birth to piece of art that is the worlds to judge, not yours to protect and keep safe from 'rude comments' or 'harsh opinions'. If someone says it sucks, it does suck, They're right.

If someone says You're an illustrating-god, they are also right. IT'S THEIRS to love,hate,absorb,dismiss,reject, worship and enjoy. If you want to keep it totally yours, bury it on a hard drive and never let anyone see it.

2) Not everyone is talking to you. I'll accept that we use review//critique//feedback interchangeably.. Although it would help if we used words for their actual definition, but that's a whole 'nother thing, The thoughts about a work SHOULD be absolutely SUBJECTIVE. That's the whole point. As valid as your decisions are to make and put whatever in your comic(s) - the reactions are also just as valid. And the point of a reviewer is to have a slant that sets the tone for what they like and don't like. And it *should be consistent. They are usually talking to other READERS- sometimes warning them, sometimes pushing them to check it out.

3) Slot your box. When someone is talking to you, the creative, YOU need to know who they are and slot their reaction accordingly. Are they an artist/writer who also makes comics(art/media) and the feedback is what they would have done? Are they a pure reader who is giving you the absolute bare-bones enjoy/didn't enjoy feedback? Are they a critique (as in CRITICAL) and giving you a bigger context of how your system/efforts worked and didn't work? Is it a peer review and they are discussing technical issues?

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I get it because many of us are sharing our work before BOTH the work and artist are truly ready to be out here. I'm amazed when someone shares their FIRST effort and then gets offended when someone goes in. Especially since I know - two years from now they'll be posting in threads about their art's improvement and be embarrassed about their early efforts. And THIS is the same effort they are getting so upset over.

Most people expect a creative to have dealt with technical issues before running around. And excuses sound like excuses to them. They really don't care. As an artist, you gotta get past the personal stage.
Everything works better when you learn to let go.
I did a whole video on this. Dry and nerdy, but important to understand.

This is such a good discussion. Glad I stumbled across it since I plan on doing a comic soon.

As a writer, I can relate to this. Occasionally I'll have a scene that I've fallen in love with, but others might not think it "works" or needs to be changed. It could be something as simple as dialogue or someone's movements. I used to say "Come look over my stuff!" but I did it through the vail of "...but my work is already awesome". It really inhibited my growth.

TLDR: As creators, I think we need to get out of our own way.