Critiques: If you don't want it, let us know when you post

[DanaT]

The Figure forum is a pretty open forum. We accept any type of artwork as long as some part of the human body is shown and as long as the artwork doesn't contain anything that is not allowed in the Users Agreement. We welcome both nudes and the clothed human body.

We also value the diversity of several different kinds of responses. Kudos are acceptable here, as well as observations-both positive and negative, as well as thoroughly analyzed critiques which usually include both things that work about the work and things that don't.

We don't dictate to members what kind of artwork they post as long as they represent the human figure and we don't dictate what kind of responses members can give as long as they follow the tenets of the users agreement. Critiquing, like making art, is a developed skill and we accept all levels - from beginner to advanced - in both the areas of creating artwork and giving critiques.

So that being said, we know several members desire to post their work but do not wish their work to be critiqued. If you don't wish your work to be critiqued, that's fine. You just need to post somewhere in the first post that you don't want your work critiqued. A simple 'No Critiques Please' is enough.

A couple of WC! forums have a don't critique unless asked policy, the WC! Gallery is one of those that accepts the human figure. Instituting a policy like that in the Figure forum would add one more thing for the moderators to police which quite frankly, we don't have the time for. We have more than our share of butt icons to attach to threads.

Thanks for your understanding. We hope you enjoy the Figure forum.

The Figure Forum Staff

[Luka]

Thank you Dana.

This has been needed for a while now.

[DanaT]

Thank you Luka.

I'd like to take the opportunity to remind everyone however, of one type of critiquing that is NOT allowed without the artist's permission - and that is altering the artists artwork and re-posting in the thread.

If you want to show the artist an suggestion using their own artwork for demonstration, please ask their permission first or else your alterations will get pulled.

[Luka]

Originally Posted by DanaT

Thank you Luka.

I'd like to take the opportunity to remind everyone however, of one type of critiquing that is NOT allowed without the artist's permission - and that is altering the artists artwork and re-posting in the thread.

If you want to show the artist an suggestion using their own artwork for demonstration, please ask their permission first or else your alterations will get pulled.

A good point.

One I have just learned about.



Thank you.

[Artbynan]

Hi,
I agree with that!
If we critique each other work of couse, in a respectful manner, we can all learn by our mistakes or by a way of the artist decided to do his piece!!!

[Newberry]

I have a minority view here. I think critiques should be asked for, not offered.

Michael

[giancarlo80]

I have to agree with michael newberry it's easier to ask for a critique than to ask not to. Personally, I dont like giving or recieving critiques.

[Journeyman]

For people like me who are beginners the help and advise on this forum is indispensable. For those that have ability and enjoy sharing there knowledge it’s a lot easier to be able to give advise with out having to worry about people saying I didn’t ask for it. It works well this way.

Dave

[Sonni]

I agree with Dave and I'm not a beginner. However, I am a student of life and art and am always interested in opinions. Even the most "untrained" eye has the ability to see what others sometimes cannot. That said, it's just as easy to say "no critiques, please." You can put it in your signature, never have to type it again, and folks will respect it.


Personally, I think it would be a pretty boring forum if 80% of what went down was back-slapping, gush, and a dozen ways of saying "that's sooooo nice." . There are enough forums like that in this labyrinth of WC and they have never held my attention for long.

[giancarlo80]

Big difference between given advice and critiqueing. A hard or unkind critique can destroy a young artist who does't have confidence. Recently we witnessed such a poor display of good manners from one of our newer members who insisted that he did no wrong.

[giancarlo80]

Big difference between given advice and critiqueing. A hard or unkind critique can destroy a young artist who does't have confidence. Recently we witnessed such a poor display of good manners from one of our newer members who insisted that he did no wrong.

[osyang]

I agree with Sonni and Dave that the help we get from others on this forum is invaluable and it should be the default, but Giancarlo has a point: we should be careful with our wording when posting critiques, I remember an instance when someone wanted to say "terrific" but wrote "terrible" instead, you can imagine it caused quite a stress!

[mburrell]

The artist, the work or piece and the viewer or audience. These are the three components in this relationship. Each viewer that comes to look changes that relationship or response. Since the artist makes art not only for it's sake, but for someone to view. It would seem reasonable to expect feedback about content and formal issues. We here must take care not to crush someone's spirit. It is a fine line between challenging someone and attacking them often the difference is in how the challenge is received or perceived by the artist. So it is good to try to see where the artist is coming from, where they want to go so as to help them to see what they're viewer takes away from their work. I think it would be helpful to develop suggested terms of critiquing, their meaning and usage. Harmony, Balance, Form and others and their relationship to content, subject and process. In this way a artistic language will be understood and in that discussion new ideas may be found. Or you may just have someone point out your figure has three fingers not five on that hand, is that what you wanted? It is possible that your viewer focused on an issue that was not addressed in the work, missing what was. This allows the artist to respond to the viewer to reveal their actual intentions to educate them in a sense or at least have them consider what you where working on.
Having said all this, good manners and differing opinions should go together. This forum is a place to develop those skills, how to give advise, and how to receive it even if it is bad. An artist needs to have a strong yet sensitive skin.
Mike

[Sonni]

Posted somewhere is a blurb with suggestions on how to critique, which, I believe includes not attacking the artist. Most of the good critiques I've had deal with what seems to work and what doesn't seem to work in a piece. This can be done with the "sandwich" approach: Find what works, and comment on it, find what doesn't seem to work and comment why, find an encouraging comment for the artist.

Yesterday, and fellow plein air painter and I were critiquing one of my paintings hanging in a wine tasting room gallery. I was uncertain about the believability in a section of a figure--something I'd struggled with while painting it. She was commenting, trying to help me figure it out. In the process we began discussing where the shoulder blade intersects with the arm pit, and I was poking around her shoulder blade and shoulder, measuring, to try to judge what I'd done wrong.

Watching this interaction were a couple tasting wine, both with raised eyebrows. I tried to explain to them what was going on, that we weren't in the throws of illicit public fauning. This drew them into the discussion. The fellow commented that he was instantly drawn to the area we were discussing because he thought it was incorrect. So we got his input, which turned out to be a light issue (the contrast in this area of the figure was too great and incorrect for the direction of light). After more measuring and discussion his wife/girlfriend asked if we were artists. Lori, my friend, who also happens to teach art, and I looked at each other, then at the couple and said, yes. I could see the next question coming: do you know the artist who did this? I grinned and said yes. Lori said, she is. The guy went silent. Then he perked up and said he didn't mean to be negative. I said, you weren't, and if I had told you in the beginning I was the artist, I may not have gotten some valuable information.

He was still backpeddling and went into what he liked about the painting. His girlfriend started commenting on the others. I was having a grand time. Finally the girlfriend said to me, you take negative criticism very well. I reiterated that I didn't think it was negative, and that I was very capable of giving critiques, and thought I should be able to take them as well. It took a few more minutes to get the idea through to them that they were making very helpful comments, not negative ones, and I invited him to come back anytime to help me with my paintings. They left smiling. Lori and I were grinning. We knew.

[trevors]

Thats a really good attitude Sonni