Comments v.s Critisicsm vs. Critique vs. Flaming

[kairigirl]

We seem to be struggling with this a little bit still. <-< (I feel like a teacher).

When someone posts a picture, you are NOT *cough* NOT expected to reply. You're not expected to give them especially good critique, you're not expected to give especially bad critique, you're not expected to give a rating, the ONLY thing you are expected to do is NOT FLAME THEM. DO NOT FLAME THE ART, THE ARTIST, NOR THE PEOPLE REPLYING TO THE ART.

That's the Syllabus for the class. We're going to cover a few things though.


Here, in the FanArt section, critique is encouraged. Not required, but instead encouraged. It's NOT against the rules to not give critique and it's NOT against the rules to just say a small quick comment or rating. If a person has nothing much to say about the picture, that's alright. They're encouraged to leave a small comment, but they don't have to point out everything.
--Note: Please don't just leave "That's good, -/10" or something like that. If I or Rena or another mod notice you doing that a large amount of time, you will be PMmed by one of us asking you to leave some kind of comment beyond "That's good, -/10" just out of courtesy.
I think you should all be able to follow this rule. Example: Old Picture of Mine. "I like the words in the background." "I like her expression and the shading." Those are simple comments, show that you looked at the picture enough to actually see it (that is, didn't click and close and just glanced).


There's also criticism. Criticism is the stuff a person has to hear to get better. This is often looked at as harsh. Why? It's going into the nitty gritty details of the picture.
Let's look at this for example: Yes, the Same picture as Before. It's called Complexity, btw.
Criticism:
"Her hips are much too small for her head. That stool is extremely high and the painting is too tilted. The anatomy and portions are off by a lot. I don't like how the picture's too small nor how the hand is bent at an odd angle."
That right there is criticism. This is allowed. Most artists value what criticism is given them. Why? It helps them improve. At the same time though, it's often viewed as harsh because criticism just points out the bad points of the picture and what's wrong, but doesn't usually give out ways to help. It is allowed though. I'll get into it later what isn't.


Critique though is what I REALLY encourage. We've looked at comments which usually just point out what the viewer likes and we've looked at criticism which points out what the viewer doesn't like. Critique puts these two things together. We'll use the same picture (yeah..I drew this Sophomore year, btw..that'd be Spring 2005).
Example: Voila
"Nice concept, I like the mood in this picture. She seems really distant and the words add a nice touch. Her hips thogh seem a little too small. It's pry because you showed her torso as too small, you wouldn't even see her belt and hips. Also, her right shoulder seems too cruvy and doesn't seem to connect very well. Try looking at your own shoulder. Her left hand seems nice, but it's too curvy. Look at your hand as well. Here's some tutorials [insert link to tutorial]. The shading though is very nice. The mood overall is good, but the picture is too small to read the words. Could you perhaps make it bigger? 7/10"
The rating doesn't have to be there. Critique is usually though explaining the rating. Why 7/10? It's a good picture, but it's got a lot of flaws; I can do better than that. Hence, 7/10. It's not a grade. Don't let a rating get you down.
When the artist sees this, it usually makes them feel a little better. Sure, comments are going to make the artist think "Oh, cool, I'm great!" and continue drawing how they are drawing but not get any better. Not to mention their head blows up. Criticism often makes an artist stop drawing because they think they're not good enough, but it does help them get better if they're able to swallow the harshness (and maybe a little pride). AGAIN. BOTH ARE ALLOWED. (I don't want you all PMming me complaining.) Critique though does both of those. It makes the artist feel better yet it makes sure they know what not to do next time and what to change. It helps and encourages at the same time. Critique is the thing that I encourage anyone here to use.


FLAMING. Here's what I'm seeing a lot. Not necesarily towards the artist, but towards each other. Let's say that someone critiqued someone and they used Criticism. Someone else comes along and sees this and automatically jumps on that person because they're too harsh. That's a No-No. Don't do it. If you think that someone is being too harsh, do one of two things: PM them telling them so in a NICE PM (because they have every right to say that you're picking on them if you flame them in a PM) or tell me. My inbox is open and I'm on most nights on AIM. If you feel that someone was too harsh and borderline flaming, do NOT reply to it. I, Rena, or one of the other mods will take care of it.
That's what you do when you see someone flaming someone. Now, I don't want to see someone flaming someone either. Criticism, btw, is a little close to flaming if it's done wrong. If you're sitting there telling them they stink and should never draw again, yes, you're most likely never going to see that post again. Or it will be edited. You've been warned.


We'll wrap this up. In short: Critique is encouraged. If you don't have the time to write up a critique, leave a little comment just so they know that they were acknowledged. Criticism and Comments are fine, but critique is something that's usually more valued by an artist.
Flaming is not allowed. That's a universal rule. I've seen some posts in here that are criticism and borderline flaming. If you think it's too harsh and cruel, there's a good chance it is. An easy way to fix it is to add some kind of advice to help them get better or at least find one thing you like in it, even if it is just the concept.
If you see flaming, PM me. Don't reply to it. Let the staff take care of it.

Sorry, but I'm seeing a lot of stuff around lately that's not helping. I don't like to close threads here because then the artist can't get any help if they need it. But I can't let bonfires sit there and fester. The way you can help is recognizing when is a good time to reply and when is not a good time to reply, not to mention what it is good to reply with. I'm sorry, I feel like I'm giving you lessons in posting, I shouldn't have to, but there's too many flames and reasons for me to close threads. I don't like closing threads. FanArt is for artists to learn, to show off, and get better. Not to get put down and destroyed.

PM me if you have questions. Please don't be shy, I'm a nice person, I swear. x-x