There’s nothing more valuable and more damaging to artistic development than a critique. On the valuable side, critiques provide third-party insight, opportunities to reevaluate processes, and suggestions for growth. On the damaging side, critiques can cause us to shelter our work, prevent us from taking bold steps that produce new directions, and punch our fragile artistic ego in the face.
How can we maximize the value of the critiquing process while minimizing the damage done to our creative spirit? Let’s start with discussing how to give a critique.
As a critic, your job is not to hack art to shreds and burn down the dreams of others, but to provide real and usable feedback that can be used to improve both a work of art and bolster creativity. This isn’t to say that you can’t be honest, but it’s always better to consider how your comments might be taken before you hand them out. This is an important rule to remember.
Too many artists abandon the learning opportunities available through online communities because of the heavy-handed remarks and unrestrained critiquing of a few inexperienced critics. If you want to support your art community and create and maintain an atmosphere of respect (that extends to you as well), you have to be respectful.
Know When to Critique
Bad day at work? Tough meeting with a client? Haven’t had anything to eat in 12 hours? It’s probably not a good idea to jump in and start offering advice when your body and mind are out of alignment. Critiquing is best committed to when the noise of daily living has quieted down and your personal pressures are eased.
The last thing you want to do is use an artist’s work as your personal punching bag. Critiquing is not a stress-relieving exercise. You’ll only build a poor reputation and anything you have to share of value will go ignored.
Pick One Issue
There exists a tendency to want to shotgun multiple issues in a single critique. For those artists with some skill in critiquing, this isn’t a problem and can be handled without offending the artist. For those inexperienced with the process, stacking issues on top of each other can quickly defeat the whole purpose of the critique (and potentially ruin relationships).
It’s always best to pick one issue – the issue that stands out to you the most – and make that the focus of your comments. You’ll be offering some much-needed assistance without alienating the artist.
Be Objective
Some critiques are of little value to the artist. These are typically subjective critiques and have no real bearing one way or the other on the outcome of the artwork because they’re not about the artwork. Subjective comments are about you.
You have to remember that you’re not the artist of the work. And telling the artist what’s wrong or what you would change based entirely on what you would do if you were the artist is not the best solution. The artwork belongs to someone else and it’s that artist’s vision you should be supporting.
If you want to make a subjective comment, remind the artist that it’s purely your opinion and should be considered or discarded as needed.
Be Brief
When offering advice to an artist, be quick. Don’t prattle on for five paragraphs about something that can be addressed in three sentences. The longer you take to make your point the more likely the artist is going to think you’re being unfairly heavy-handed with your comments.
The PCP Model
It might sound like something out of an employee manual, but the Praise-Correct-Praise model of critiquing is worth trying. That’s because it works. Compliment that artist on something that’s positive in the artwork – something that stands out as being a great foundation to build on. Next, offer your suggestion for improvement. Follow your suggestion with another compliment or reinforce your earlier compliment.
By sandwiching something that might be viewed as a negative remark by the artist between two positive remarks, you soften the blow an honest critique might land on the artist’s ego.
It’s always easier to give a critique than to receive one. Next, we’ll prep your art and your ego to for the critiquing process.
King Unicorn is a guest blogger here at Grimvisions. You can see more of his work at http://kingunicorn.blogspot.com/
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Nicely said, KU. All of this sits firmly in the realm of common sense, which is sadly uncommon at times. Well-worth the written reminder to ourselves.
Wonderful post! As a children's art teacher, it's a delicate dance of trying to help them see where they need improvement without stomping their self esteem into the ground. I will definitely use these guidelines!
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