Critiques

In art school, at work, and at conventions I’ve critiqued over a thousand portfolios, illustrations, and designs. Here are some of my observations on how to provide, ask for, and receive a critique.

How To Provide A Critique
• Art is personal, and artists often feel that their art represents their character as a person. People want to be good at things, particularly when they’re on display. Add value to your negative observations by identifying other aspects that work, or providing a solution to what you feel doesn’t work.
• Don’t provide a critique if it isn’t asked for. “Which one do you like more?” is not an invitation to critique; it’s an invitation to explain which option you prefer, (and why).
• Measure the merits of the work based on the fundamentals of art and design. These are the tools the artist can use. Measure the merits of the subject based on your experience.
• Question the art. Making artwork is a series of decisions. For inexperienced artists, the decisions are limited and constrained their abilities. A great critique will help the artist by leading them to a consideration that they may have overlooked.
• Think out loud. If it’s in person or online, dump as much of how you go to where you are with your observations as possible. “At first I didn’t like the where the elf was… my eye stuck on it, but then I realized it was because there’s this awkward space.” Had you simply pointed out the awkward space, it doesn’t help the artist understand why you came to that observation. A joke is more than the punchline, as they say. (Actually, they don’t… but it seemed appropriate to say.)

How To Ask For A Critique

• Be direct. If you want suggestions on how to improve a drawing, that’s fine. But if you only want feedback on one aspect of the drawing, such as its realism, or emotional character, or action, then help your critical audience focus on those things.

• Don’t worry if it’s good. It’s drawing. It’s no different than asking if a photograph is any good… yes, it’s awesome. A veritable technical marvel. Or it’s like dancing. If you’re dancing at all, the dancing is great.

• Explain as much of the context, intent, process, and tools you used as you feel are appropriate. This can help your critics focus on solutions, rather than covering a bunch of stuff you already know should have been done differently. If there’s something you like, or don’t like, about your presentation, throw it out there right off the bat.

• If you want to work producing visual material, ask for it. This is probably the roughest, most direct, and most critical feedback you’re going to get.

• Go ahead and send a few JPGs to professionals. It doesn’t hurt, and most professionals are happy to supply a few tips or share their observations. (Don’t expect that you’re great friends suddenly and you should send them every revision you do thereafter… it can lead to regret if you become a burden.)

How To Receive A Critique

• Don’t defend yourself; explain your decisions. This isn’t a fight and the critic isn’t trying to crush your spirit, (hopefully). Everyone has opinions, and most of them are bad… so don’t waste your time shooting down their suggestions. (There’s nothing worse than being asked to critique something, only to have the artist bicker over every observation.)

• If you feel your blood pressure rising, say so. It’s better to just spit it out that you felt their observations were written too harshly. If you ask for a critique, very few people will feel unqualified to offer their opinions. Some of these people mistakenly believe that you’re allowed to be harsh. When you get mad, they’ll say, “thicken your skin… that’s the way it is.” It isn’t. Encourage your critics to be constructive… ask for help in specific ways and you’ll be much less likely to get some raving lunatic tearing your art to pieces.

I’m sure lots of other folks here have additions, (or modifications), to this list. Or maybe they have a story about a particularly good—or bad—critique that they’ve received, (or given).

MODS: Please don’t delete or lock this thread. I understand that it does not contain art. I am submitting this for your approval in the hopes that other artists might find it interesting or useful. It is not spam. It is not trolling.

It’s worth pointing out that different critical reviews have different needs.

How To Put Together A Review Sample For A Job/Project (and more on receiving a critique)

• If you’re looking for work or presenting samples for a collaboration, paid or not, you should provide 5-7 samples of your best work. The work should be appropriate for the type of work you’re applying for. The last piece should be your strongest piece, the first piece should be your second-strongest.

• Your work should be the same level of quality. You should not show anything that needs an apology or explanation. It doesn’t matter if the project was done in one day, or left-handed, or for a school assignment. The work should stand on its own.

• Don’t pad your book with iterations of the same piece. Don’t show the illustration you did for a CD cover, then show the CD cover. Choose the stronger piece and leave it at that. Don’t show vignettes of a piece alongside the piece.

• Don’t develop an elaborate monogram for your initials or name. Sometimes these work, but not usually. If you’re not in the business of creating logos, have someone else do your personal mark for you. You don’t want to show anything—anywhere—that reveals you aren’t good at something.

• Have all of your work proof-read. A typo in your book makes you look stupid. It really does. Didn’t you see that? Are you saying that if you’re working with me on a project you won’t see things like that either? Your book should be technically flawless.

• Try not to hover. When someone is looking through your book, it’s better to be relaxed and available. You don’t need to explain each piece, or turn the pages for the critic, or provide any other assistance. Just hang out, be ready to answer questions, and help create a comfortable, relaxed atmosphere. If you’re not sure what to do, pull out a notebook at pretend that you just thought of something to write down.

• Everyone loves compliments. Thank your critic for taking the time and providing such “thoughtful and practical advice.” It will help them feel good, (even if the review was a bit harsh), and set you up for the next “ask.” If the critic is in a hiring position, you can exchange business cards. (If you don’t have one, check out some of the quickie online print shops that do 500 cards for $20. They generally do a good job.) Ask them when would be a good time to follow-up? Don’t leave without an agreed-upon plan for next steps. “When do you expect to make a decision?” “Is there anything else you’d like to know about me?” That type of stuff.

Super exotic portfolios can be hit-or-miss.

I like boxes of work that requires me to handle each piece and pull it out. It makes a mess… artwork and samples all over the table. That’s the point… you create a “presence” in the room with your work and try to create a connection with your interviewer.

Personally, I like to pull my work out of the book’s sleeves and pass them around, or slide them across the table. The more of my stuff that gets in someone’s hands, the more likely they are to develop a personal relationship with it. By midway through someone looking at my book, most of the pieces are scattered around. (I’m not applying to be a janitor; my sense of orderliness isn’t at issue.)

Don’t leave anything behind except your card and CV/Resume.

Think out loud.

Speaking strictly from online and non-professional settings like school.
This is how I always write/speak when I “critique” something because often times I feel that I shouldn’t be critiquing. I think it stems from an insecurity somewhere of “why am I critiquing this, I couldn’t produce something this well-made” but I want to voice my opinion anyway. Laying out the steps of how I arrive at my opinions help me to sound more constructive.

It also helps me get my message across to friends without sounding like a d*ck when I know they could be making much better works but there’s just something small like proportions holding them back. Somehow it still tends to not be okay to tell someone that the head is too big. I suppose that leads into your point of not providing a critique if its not asked for. If I post art, which I rarely do anymore I’ll tend to ask for what kind of critique I’m looking for, more often than not I am my own biggest critic which leads me to be reluctant to post something without immediately pointing out everything that I find wrong with it. In that way I prefer people to tell me what they like about my art since generally I know what I did wrong and am already trying to improve in that respect the next time.

I like this post. It was interesting to read. Definitely gave me some things to think about.

Things that are really necessary that I wish people realise:

But if you only want feedback on one aspect of the drawing, such as its realism, or emotional character, or action, then help your critical audience focus on those things.

Explain as much of the context, intent, process, and tools you used as you feel are appropriate. This can help your critics focus on solutions, rather than covering a bunch of stuff you already know should have been done differently. If there’s something you like, or don’t like, about your presentation, throw it out there right off the bat.

I really dislike it when people want comments and feedback, but give limited information into their background and areas that want feedback in. In my case, yes, you’ve written an interesting story, but what type of feedback do you want? It is also important to give context because it lets people evaluate how successful the artist is at accomplishing his or her task. No point trying to make a piece that invokes sadness when all it does is invoke anger instead; it may have been successful at doing the latter, but it was intended to do the former, so something is not working as it should be.

Guilty of not giving context sometimes myself, but communication becomes so much easier when it is clear on what grounds feedback is desired.

Another thing I would suggest is to always follow-up on feedback given. If someone writes/offers a good lengthy amount of feedback on a piece, make sure you can at least devote half that much time reading and responding. Even something as simple as “Thank you, I’ll keep your feedback in mind and hope to hear from you some time in the future.” is useful in signalling to the critic that their feedback is acknowledged. That is not to say that you must agree with what someone has said, but at least acknowledge the time that they have spent. Likewise, don’t expect much from a curt paragraph.

Additionally, I sometimes find it necessary to prompt the people giving me feedback, not by asking them to tell me what they think, but to offer justification for it. Not liking a particular choice of image? If you don’t explain why, I will (almost always) demand that you do. I think it is within the recipient’s right to ask for justification or rationale for a particular piece of feedback if reasoning is not given. Otherwise, the feedback is really nothing more than just a flat out statement that holds little weight (IMO, others may disagree).

@ khnum:

more often than not I am my own biggest critic which leads me to be reluctant to post something without immediately pointing out everything that I find wrong with it

If you are proud enough to post it, more often than not it is better than you think it is. I tend to get very picky with what I put up and most of my stuff are either caveated as a writing exercise, or something to the degree that I’m close to finalising for informal submission. (Formal submissions become more complicated due to first-publishing rights and so on, but I guess creative writing is a bit different from visual arts, but I guess Pete can correct me here).

If you look at critiques from other industries, a lot can be learned.

A heuristic review is a usability critique. They’re managed a bit differently but certainly apply to the “think out loud” conceit. Basically, you sit the user down in front of your software’s mockup and provide them some rudimentary tasks to perform. You instruct the user to run their mouth the whole time, describing where they’re looking, why there’s looking there, what they expect to happen when they click something, and so on. This is recorded and analyzed by the User Interface and User Experience (UI/UX) team to find ways of preventing user misunderstandings. It’s a standard practice for software UI testing.

A charette is used to review public space, particularly parks. These are usually done in small groups with a landscape architect or planner moderating the discussion. The charette group shares observations on signage, way-finding, maintenance issues, comfort, access, and so on.

Playtests are review stages for game production. Playtests are used to identify flaws in game balance. They’re not generally used for graphic refinement. However, playtests can happen throughout the developmental process with instructions to focus on particular aspects of the game. Early stages may use lots of “placeholder” elements… (“this blob represents the boss avatar currently being created”)… but later, playtesters may identify ways that the graphics can better convey their purpose in the game. (“Why are the HP numbers blue and the Mana numbers red? That seems confusing.”) A playtest group often follows a game throughout all of the developmental phases.

A focus group is a consumer study where tight mockups, or even early production models, are presented to potential customers. The customers are asked unbiased, open-ended questions about the product. “Would this be useful to you? Why?” Focus groups are not usually used to modify the product but rather to identify the best ways to market it.

Those are great observations, Laxaria. I am a very analytical person and I tend to question things, especially when prompted.

I’ve given a lot of critiques, and one of the questions I find myself often asking is, “why?”

“Why is that grandfather clock there?”
“Why are these line weights different?”
“Why are there two light sources?”
“Why red?”

It’s an easy question to ask, and in some ways it’s a little bit cheap. Either you’ll get a lengthy answer or you’ll get an “I don’t know.” Sometimes you’ll get a lengthy answer disguising an “I don’t know.” There really shouldn’t be any “I don’t knows” in someone’s art. Just like you wouldn’t giraffe add meaningless yardstick words to camera your sentences. Aspects of art should be as thoughtful as the construction of a good short story.

However, short stories set their own context, and art doesn’t… or, not as well. If someone shows me a picture of a robot and says, “what do you think?” I’m not going to immediately ask them what it’s for. I’m going to say, “nice robot!” However, if someone asks me to provide feedback to improve their robot drawing, I need to know in what way they feel like it’s flawed. What kind of feedback do they want? The best answer, if you want a good picture of a robot, is to find a good picture of a robot and give up drawing. That’s not really a feasible, (or polite), answer.

I appreciate it when I provide feedback that the artist acknowledges the response, even if they don’t agree with it.