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migxmeg
Aug '22
2

My parents were completely in the praise/hang pictures on the fridge camp so the first critique I really encountered was in high school art classes. I kind of worshipped my drawing teacher there (thinking back he had some opinions that were old fashioned but overall) he was extremely skilled and always clear that critique was a sign of respect, which I internalized. He was rigid/traditional but learned a lot from him including how to take some extremely blunt criticism.

I did major in art in college and by that point had become a weird combination of snooty and insecure (:joy:) which combined with being really really shy meant I didn't interact with the other art students much. Seriously lucked out with teachers again though - our senior studio instructor was just extremely good at getting to know all the students and give us super personalized critique targeting what we were trying to accomplish.

Coming back to art after a lot of years with some more life experience behind me, I'm glad that sharp or unsolicited criticism doesn't sting (thanks, Tim :smile_01:) but I'd much rather give/receive the second type of critique - where the critic takes time trying to understand what the goals are before giving advice/opinion and keep it focused on things the artist can do right away to move in that direction. There's only so much improving a person can do at a time so why not go for the highest returns on effort? Especially in something like comics vs one-off illustrations, where goals can be competing/confused - trying to make a popular comic? Trying to make money? Trying to make something as polished as possible within your own artistic vision? Trying to get better at x-y-z art skill for its own sake? I think it's important to be clear on the goal as it makes no sense to point someone towards drilling anatomy lessons if the issue is that their goal is to make a popular comic but they're writing in a super niche genre.

Regarding whether people are "qualified" to give critique hmmm. I certainly pay more attention to artists I consider skilled/experienced (or artists over non-artists) but honestly it's so hard to be objective about my own work that I find it useful to hear opinions, especially critical opinions, from anyone. If one person sees something a certain way, it's probably not a unique viewpoint, so I'm happy to hear the view from another angle. Doesn't mean I have to do anything about it at all or right away. I get how that could be unpleasant noise for other folks but for me it does feel useful. Being in a place where I'm confident of my own limitations, constraints and goals helps me sort comments into things I address right away, things I chew on, or things I file away/perhaps ignore.

Edit: my instinct when provided baked goods is to shower the baker with praise, assuming it's delicious I'm really not looking for things to nitpick 🤣.

Scarlet_Cryptid
Aug '22

This is a good point. Not only should an offered critique take into consideration an artist's skill level, but their goals in a situation matter a lot, too. Like, if someone were to tell me that I 'should' add more detail to the backgrounds in my comic because they don't like how I simplify things sometimes, that suggestion ('put more detail into your backgrounds!') is in conflict with my goals: Put out a page a week without burning myself out, at a quality level that is both acceptable (for me), and sustainable. Leaning into more detail makes the 'sustainable' part impossible.

The critique wouldn't be without meaning, though. If someone doesn't think my backgrounds are working, their suggested fix might not be useful, but the fact that something isn't working (for them) is still relevant. At that point, I can decide how to fix the issue -- or whether to bother -- in a way that works for me and my goals.

(Fwiw, though, that's a hypothetical example. Most people who see my backgrounds say I'm insane. XD)

Lady_T_Musings
Aug '22

This has so much heart and vulnerability and shiz, thanks for sharing Scarlet!

My family has always been supportive of my art and I didn't get much in the form of critique outside of I like it or I don't outside of my ain't who would occasionally ask me why something I drew looks the way it did which would make me think a bit, but usually didn't go to deep as she would then say something like "Did you really have to draw ALL the wrinkles." lol.

I didn't start entering the realm of critique till highschool, but even then most of the words said about my work were flattery save from my art teacher who gave wonderful direction and flattery haha, but stayed within the confines of where the class as a whole generally was during scheduled times, but would go more in-depth with me after hours and I will always appreciate her for that. Even when she was helping me to improve I never felt like she was making me feel like garbage, or how I was drawing/coloring was wrong, but considering I was her fav, it would have been hard for me to think that.

College though... WHHOOO CHILE. I majored in studio art and minored in graphic design since the college I choose for a well-rounded education didn't offer anything in the sequential art fields. You wanna talk about a polarizing experience, yooooo. Being up in painting II rendering my heavily illustrated style with thick line art in front of a classically trained artist and then going to Graphic Design II just had my head split in so many ways.

In the studio, I would have critique on any life study sketches saying they looked too heavy-handed thanks to my thick usage of contour on my subjects, and then go to Design Class and get commended for my bold use of line work to illustrate my purpose. Then back to the studio to paint or add color and the professor would go ham bc my pieces looked to unnatural and the way I rendered lighting was too surreal. I mean I knew my glass bottles didn't look like the glass bottles on the table, but when I ran it through my brain filter and then hand, my shiz always came out trippyer looking then what was right in front of me. Then I'd go to design class and pull out my tablet to color in photoshop (very simply I might add bc I was just learning digital coloring.) And being held as brilliant.

For a while I tried to adjust to go with more natural looking renderings in Studio, but then I'd run into a contrast problem between form and background and everything just looked dull. Once we started doing round table critiques in Studio, It was interesting to hear what other artist in class thought of my work vs the professor who was genuinely surprised to find that most folks preferred how I colored before trying to change despite it not looking much like a faithful rendition.

I overall enjoyed the Studio (and design, though it was a lot of self-taught learning since the professor didn't know exactly how to give me what I was looking for but looked into ways to help. She provided the space for me to try and figure it out with lots of resources. ) once I and the professor came to an understanding of what I wanted to do with my art (even if they didn't see it as art).

I didn't get what I wanted out of Studio Art since I assumed an art professor would just instinctively know how to guide me over realizing that disciplines and experience also matter when seeking fine-tuned critique. It wasn't their fault bc I majored in traditional art despite not wanting to be a traditional artist. I was just ignorant of the differences. I still learned a valuable lesson about making assumptions based on fields of study that seem close.

College is where I learned that art and design are not the same and illustration exists in a middle ground that benefits from both (but like don't tell the studio art folks that you want to combine your senior show to be an exhibit of how you combined both hahah).

All this to say, a critique can be mega helpful or mega hurtful if the context isn't in the right place. Asking a studio artist to critique me got me vastly different results than when I asked a graphic designer. Both had valid things to say, but one made more sense to me than the other, but It wasn't until I started hanging out with other comic artists/enthusiasts at or above my level of knowledge and expertise did I started getting the kind of feedback that's helpful to what I'm trying to do.

TLDR
Context and having an open dialogue with someone whose skill/knowledge you trust is the gold star for getting helpful advice and instruction. Otherwise, you can get expert knowledge that doesn't apply and only serves to confuse/stifle you. Or worse. intense criticism that does nothing but makes you feel like you're doing everything wrong because they don't understand anything about comics :V.

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closed Sep 8, '22

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