 1/ On giving feedback to people on the internet, a primer from a professional trainer. I'm writing this because, while I don't tend to get a lot of unsolicited feedback on my art, I just got some (I politely responded assuming good faith, and then thought better of it and blocked them.) So, here's a quick, and genuine, primer on how to give people feedback if you *absol-fucking-lutely have to* This will be in the form of some questions and answers. Serious advice, no gags or punchlines. 8 comments
3/ What position of knowledge am I coming from? Does my background suit the purpose of this piece of art? This is a really important one to have in mind: you might be the world's most accomplished systems engineer, but there's no point writing someone a 4 paragraph takedown if you're talking about the guts of a PC that only exists to be used to bash the head of a zombie. If you don't have any specialist knowledge, then do your research. Make sure the thing you're saying is factually correct. 4/ Do I know this style/genre? This is a really important one: art has stylistic 'rules', at least sometimes. There's no point complaining that someone draws their characters' eyes unrealistically big if they're drawing Manga-style. Likewise, there's no point critiquing things that are literally part of the genre. If you don't like sci-fi, then complaining that the sci-fi elements don't work in a piece of sci-fi art is a waste of everyone's time. 5/ Is this bad, or is it just not to my taste? Yes, there's a difference. There's one artist for 2000AD whose stuff just doesn't work for me. They did the comic Fetish in 1997. I just don't like their stuff for sequential art and story telling. It's GREAT art and shows both a unique style and technical skill. I just don't like it personally. They're a good artist. One big thing you need to get past as a trainer is that your opinions aren't facts. 6/ How will this advice help the person to get better? This is another big one. There is literally no value in any feedback that can be summed up as 'this is bad' or 'this sucks'. Honestly -- do something that involves making a thing. Make a piece of toast. Okay, so for this experiment: that toast sucks. Make it not suck. How are you going to do that? I haven't told you it's burned, or the butter is too salty. You have no information to improve from. You just have to guess. 7/ Did the piece achieve the aims the *artist* was trying for? If it did, to be honest, unless you have some explicit power over the fate of the piece (if you're the art director of a magazine or website the art is being sent to, for example) then nothing you say really matters. If the artist isn't trying to sell you the art in some way, if it did what *they* wanted it to, then it's right. Okay, one final question to ask yourself... 8/ Are we in public? If you have something negative to say, blurting it out in public isn't okay. I'm literally employed to tell people how their skills need to improve. It's my job. I get measured on it. I *NEVER* start critiquing people in public. I certainly don't critique strangers in public. I'm ND myself, so I had to learn this one, but honestly, siblings, don't do this. It feels horrible for the person, and can make people think badly of you too. Happy critiquing. @DarkSheepArts |
Gregory's Server
2/ First thing's first, and I'm serious about this:
What level of feedback did the person ask for?
If they didn't, there's another question to ask yourself:
Do I have a peer or mentor relationship with the person? Do we have the sort of interactions where we give feedback about each other's work?
If the answer to both of those is no, then it's going to be hard to give feedback that doesn't come off as criticism.
I'd almost suggest that you shouldn't comment.
However, if you do...