Do you like critique that hasn't been asked for?

[AliceShiki]

Who asks this? How can a critique be anything other than 'unsolicited'?

Artist A: "Hey, can you look at this piece of art and tell me what you think of it?"

Friend B: "Sure, *proceeds to point out 10000 flaws with the art*."

It's not that hard, really.

 

[LinXueLian]

I once made the mistake of critiquing something someone did for free, just for fun, and her friend jumped to her defense. I was just pointing out that my OC's jaw turned out narrower than I liked to envision her. The rest of the art was lovely, and I said so. I'm not sure if the artist herself was upset by the criticism, or if her friend just assumed that she would be upset, but either way, it seemed too sensitive to me.

Ahhh, interesting. I think I can kind of share insight on this one. Not to say what you've done is wrong - you're definitely free to react how you want - but I think from a more communal perspective, what they probably felt was that you were being "ungrateful", since that art you had received had been given for free - and especially if it was requested for free. Free art in a community are considered gifts, at least by unspoken "rule", so criticizing it is....... maybe not so acceptable to members of any community on the get-go.

And if you had asked for free art, received it and then criticized what you got, whoo boy. You're gonna get a pounding from some onlookers LOL

How do I put it....... from a social perspective, it's like getting a purse for our birthday. Then we open the present and tell the person who gave it to us, "Hey, I love that it's an expensive Coach purse, but you got the buckle wrong!" - or like our brother making food for us on his time off and ourselves going, "Wow, I love that you've made me Italian, but it's blander than I like!"

While it's not wrong to criticize goodwill or gifts, it's generally frowned upon I think. There's a sub on Reddit dedicated to this called r/ChoosingBeggars - people who ask for free stuff, get them and then complain about them or nitpick.

Then again, I tend to socialize a lot irl, so I picked up these things along the way. I'm not sure if it's about people being sensitive; all of us have sensitivities. Some less than others, some more than others, and some............ hmm. Wild world!

At the end of the day, if we're going to give criticism, we're going to have to be able to take criticism on our criticism too. Critiques are a two-way street - we can say what we want, but everything we do will have repercussions. Some people won't like what we have to say, and they're free to criticize us too or react negatively towards it. The world doesn't revolve around us, after all - and people will tell us that!

 

[Nyan_sempai]

How can a critique be anything other than 'unsolicited'?

Huh? Its simple. You just make it clear you are open to criticism by saying "hey guys roast me!" Or "is there any suggestions you would like to give?"


As simple as that. And if you think it's naive to get offended with critique, then maybe you are right, but that doesn't change the fact that they should have considered that the person is naive and it's easier to not hurt their feelings. And do it even further by calling them naive, that's not helpful attitude at all. Its easier to just ignore them.

 

[K5Rakitan]

Ahhh, interesting. I think I can kind of share insight on this one. Not to say what you've done is wrong - you're definitely free to react how you want - but I think from a more communal perspective, what they probably felt was that you were being "ungrateful", since that art you had received had been given for free - and especially if it was requested for free. Free art in a community are considered gifts, at least by unspoken "rule", so criticizing it is....... maybe not so acceptable to members of any community on the get-go.

And if you had asked for free art, received it and then criticized what you got, whoo boy. You're gonna get a pounding from some onlookers LOL

How do I put it....... from a social perspective, it's like getting a purse for our birthday. Then we open the present and tell the person who gave it to us, "Hey, I love that it's an expensive Coach purse, but you got the buckle wrong!" - or like our brother making food for us on his time off and ourselves going, "Wow, I love that you've made me Italian, but it's blander than I like!"

While it's not wrong to criticize goodwill or gifts, it's generally frowned upon I think. There's a sub on Reddit dedicated to this called r/ChoosingBeggars - people who ask for free stuff, get them and then complain about them or nitpick.

Then again, I tend to socialize a lot irl, so I picked up these things along the way. I'm not sure if it's about people being sensitive; all of us have sensitivities. Some less than others, some more than others, and some............ hmm. Wild world!

At the end of the day, if we're going to give criticism, we're going to have to be able to take criticism on our criticism too. Critiques are a two-way street - we can say what we want, but everything we do will have repercussions. Some people won't like what we have to say, and they're free to criticize us too or react negatively towards it. The world doesn't revolve around us, after all - and people will tell us that!

The artist was offering free art through a forum, so I figured she might have been doing it with the intention of improving. Since I didn't know her personally, I didn't feel like it was a gift because she was a fan of my work or anything of that nature. I don't think I would have criticized it if it was fan art from someone who loved my story. Anyway, I didn't do it in a mean way. I said thanks before I gave criticism, so hopefully she has learned to pay more attention to detail from it. Every reference image I provided had a woman with a wide jaw.

 

[Biggest-Kusa-Out-There]

Artist A: "Hey, can you look at this piece of art and tell me what you think of it?"

Friend B: "Sure, *proceeds to point out 10000 flaws with the art*."

It's not that hard, really.

Would you think of that as the targeted 'critique' this thread talks about? Or would you think of it as a friend's opinion? (Not that it's less valuable)

Huh? Its simple. You just make it clear you are open to criticism by saying "hey guys roast me!" Or "is there any suggestions you would like to give?"


As simple as that. And if you think it's naive to get offended with critique, then maybe you are right, but that doesn't change the fact that they should have considered that the person is naive and it's easier to not hurt their feelings. And do it even further by calling them naive, that's not helpful attitude at all. Its easier to just ignore them.

Again, would you consider that the kind of 'unsolicited critique' we're all talking about?

Being called naive is not an insult, nor is it 'unhelpful'. It is a critique of character. An unsolicited one, and with no ill intent.

Would being ignored help you grow as a creator of any kind? Would people being only kind help you grow as a person? Life is not only 'hard', life is pain. And it should be experienced in full for us to be better, be kinder, be more compassionate.

Now... being an asshole when critiquing something is unnecessary, yes. Throwing insults at other people and their work is not conductive to growth. People pointing the flaws they perceive in your creations, or in yourself? Absolutely necessary, with proper words.
How can we, as authors, artists, musicians, etc. improve if not by the stones that are thrown at us? How can we create something that stands above the rest if we're cocooned in bubble wrap? Art does require a little cruelty.

 

[morhamza]

Isn't it the best kind? As long as it isn't just sitting on my work without offering any solutions, suggestions and pointing out specific areas to improve in, I'm fine with it.
When I ask for critique it sometimes feel like people are kind in their assessment as a courtesy. Not my younger brother though. The asshole shat on everything. The longer he talked the more I wanted to stab him.

 

[BenJepheneT]

Not my younger brother though. The asshole shat on everything. The longer he talked the more I wanted to stab him.

the quintessential experience to having siblings

 

[Tropic_Panda]

People who were trully capable in some fields, usualy don't give critique, advice, or guidance openly, not to mention for free.

First, because they already have too many thing in their plate. Second, when they surf on the net outside their area of responbility, their purpose is to get entertainment to refresh their mind. So they will just leave something they don't like, and give good rate or applause for something that entertainment them.

If there is something trully interesting to them, they will not give the critique, advice, or opinion openly, but directly to the artist or writer in a super harsh, but serious and professional manner, with real credential as part of their act of conduct (because maybe they will work together someday).

What i want to say, don't put critique, advice, or even applause too deep to your hearts, just respect them and take part that usefull for self development.

 

[Derin_Edala]

Unsolicited critique is useless because the artist has no reason to trust that the critiquer knows what they're talking about (yes, this counts even if the critiquer is a demonstrably good artist -- those are separate skills). If an artist wants the opinions and reactions of random people, if they think that feedback will be useful and are ready to hear and interpret it, they will ask. Otherwise you're just creating potentially misleading noise.

 

[LinXueLian]

The artist was offering free art through a forum, so I figured she might have been doing it with the intention of improving. Since I didn't know her personally, I didn't feel like it was a gift because she was a fan of my work or anything of that nature. I don't think I would have criticized it if it was fan art from someone who loved my story. Anyway, I didn't do it in a mean way. I said thanks before I gave criticism, so hopefully she has learned to pay more attention to detail from it. Every reference image I provided had a woman with a wide jaw.

Mmm yeah - I'm pretty sure you weren't mean about it and that the artist herself didn't mind. It's just that the art community, especially the freebie community, tends to view freebies automatically as "gifts" (it's free labour, no payment involved) - it's very likely why folk like her friend react that way sometimes.

As far as I've learned from lurking in anime forums (aaaaaand Reddit, that site is giving me carpal tunnel syndrome from incessant voting LOL), free art threads are generally viewed as charity, or a sort of goodwill if you will - they aren't necessarily for practice. Some people get really militant about defending artists who give freebies for that reason. It's a bit of an.... internet social thing, I think.

I'm pretty much with you about the free art thing and references tbh. I'm not a huge advocate of giving art freebies - we don't really know who or which author we'll offend when taking artistic liberties with the design. Most authors take their personal character designs very seriously, so if we changed a few details (such as the jaw thing for example) it'll probably set them off LOL "THAT IS NOT WHAT MY CHARACTER LOOKS LIKE"

The whole freebie shebang is a lot of work for little to no payoff. I feel it's on us artists to study the potential recipient first before picking an author's stuff to draw, even as fanart or a gift or a freebie or whatever - then we'll be able to pick to draw for the person who'd appreciate those artistic changes or liberties taken.

I don't make it a habit to offer free art in writing forums or the like so I can't fathom how so many people are able to do it. I'm that cray ass crabby Edna who'll change everything about a character's design because I hate it, hate the face, hate the silhouette, hate the hair, hate the styling, hate the garment being from the wrong era than stated in their description, NO CAPES PEOPLE

And people posting for art will be offended because I told them I didn't like their initial design It'll be total drama island LOL






Oh, and while I'm at it:


ASKING a friend for an opinion on our art/writing/cat/dog/whatever and getting criticism is **NOT** UNSOLICITED critique
We ASKED for an opinion = A.K.A SOLICITATION

In the case of solicited opinions, both criticism and praise are fair game since neither are stated as a preference on the get-go. Critiques are opt-out, not opt-in.

Example of an opt-out of criticism: If we want an opinion from a friend about our art but don't want critiques, we can say something along the lines of: "What do you think of it, but please be gentle with me, no crits please "



UNSOLICITED CRITICISM/ADVICE = Posting something in your own personal account/space/thread/blog or watching/writing/drawing/doing something in public or whatever and someone/a family member/friend etc appears suddenly or randomly, unasked, to criticize or advise you

Scenario A:
You: //Randomly painting a dog
Person A: //Walks by and sees it over your shoulder like a busy busy bee
Person A: Ayyy you got the dog's spot wrong, ain't like that, and the tail should be longer too

Scenario B:
You: //Randomly posting art in your own Tumblr account
User A: //posts comment in your post
User A: CHARACTRE NO LIKE MOE MOE REM DESUWA, YOUR HAND TOO LONG ANATA NO SKIRT TOO SHORT ALSO FULL BLUE HAIR IS WRONG KIMI WA MUST USE A SLIGHT TINT OF LAVENDERRRR ARUUUU

Scenario C:
You: //Feeling depressed
Aunty A: What's wrong hun?
You: Nothing, just depressed.
Aunty A: NOW THAT'S WRONG, GIRL. YOU SHOULD BE GLAD YOU'RE ALIVE. OTHER PEOPLE ARE STARVING AND DYING OUT THERE SO YOU SHOULDN'T BE DEPRESSED. BANISH YOUR SADNESS

Scenario D:
You: //Jamming to Butter in your room
Cousin A: //Walks in
Cousin A: WOW COUSIN YOU HAVE SHIT TASTE IN MUSIC


UNSOLICITED means encroaching on areas not directed at us - in short, being a busybody

Here is a song directed at aforementioned busybodies:

Enjoy

 

[K5Rakitan]

Mmm yeah - I'm pretty sure you weren't mean about it and that the artist herself didn't mind. It's just that the art community, especially the freebie community, tends to view freebies automatically as "gifts" (it's free labour, no payment involved) - it's very likely why folk like her friend react that way sometimes.

As far as I've learned from lurking in anime forums (aaaaaand Reddit, that site is giving me carpal tunnel syndrome from incessant voting LOL), free art threads are generally viewed as charity, or a sort of goodwill if you will - they aren't necessarily for practice. Some people get really militant about defending artists who give freebies for that reason. It's a bit of an.... internet social thing, I think.

I'm pretty much with you about the free art thing and references tbh. I'm not a huge advocate of giving art freebies - we don't really know who or which author we'll offend when taking artistic liberties with the design. Most authors take their personal character designs very seriously, so if we changed a few details (such as the jaw thing for example) it'll probably set them off LOL "THAT IS NOT WHAT MY CHARACTER LOOKS LIKE"

The whole freebie shebang is a lot of work for little to no payoff. I feel it's on us artists to study the potential recipient first before picking an author's stuff to draw, even as fanart or a gift or a freebie or whatever - then we'll be able to pick to draw for the person who'd appreciate those artistic changes or liberties taken.

I don't make it a habit to offer free art in writing forums or the like so I can't fathom how so many people are able to do it. I'm that cray ass crabby Edna who'll change everything about a character's design because I hate it, hate the face, hate the silhouette, hate the hair, hate the styling, hate the garment being from the wrong era than stated in their description, NO CAPES PEOPLE

And people posting for art will be offended because I told them I didn't like their initial design It'll be total drama island LOL






Oh, and while I'm at it:


ASKING a friend for an opinion on our art/writing/cat/dog/whatever and getting criticism is **NOT** UNSOLICITED critique
We ASKED for an opinion = A.K.A SOLICITATION
View attachment 8075
In the case of solicited opinions, both criticism and praise are fair game since neither are stated as a preference on the get-go. Critiques are opt-out, not opt-in.

Example of an opt-out of criticism: If we want an opinion from a friend about our art but don't want critiques, we can say something along the lines of: "What do you think of it, but please be gentle with me, no crits please "



UNSOLICITED CRITICISM/ADVICE = Posting something in your own personal account/space/thread/blog or watching/writing/drawing/doing something in public or whatever and someone/a family member/friend etc appears suddenly or randomly, unasked, to criticize or advise you

Scenario A:
You: //Randomly painting a dog
Person A: //Walks by and sees it over your shoulder like a busy busy bee
Person A: Ayyy you got the dog's spot wrong, ain't like that, and the tail should be longer too

Scenario B:
You: //Randomly posting art in your own Tumblr account
User A: //posts comment in your post
User A: CHARACTRE NO LIKE MOE MOE REM DESUWA, YOUR HAND TOO LONG ANATA NO SKIRT TOO SHORT ALSO FULL BLUE HAIR IS WRONG KIMI WA MUST USE A SLIGHT TINT OF LAVENDERRRR ARUUUU

Scenario C:
You: //Feeling depressed
Aunty A: What's wrong hun?
You: Nothing, just depressed.
Aunty A: NOW THAT'S WRONG, GIRL. YOU SHOULD BE GLAD YOU'RE ALIVE. OTHER PEOPLE ARE STARVING AND DYING OUT THERE SO YOU SHOULDN'T BE DEPRESSED. BANISH YOUR SADNESS

Scenario D:
You: //Jamming to Butter in your room
Cousin A: //Walks in
Cousin A: WOW COUSIN YOU HAVE SHIT TASTE IN MUSIC


UNSOLICITED means encroaching on areas not directed at us - in short, being a busybody

Here is a song directed at aforementioned busybodies:

Enjoy

Love the song!

 

[BenJepheneT]

Unsolicited critique is useless because the artist has no reason to trust that the critiquer knows what they're talking about (yes, this counts even if the critiquer is a demonstrably good artist -- those are separate skills). If an artist wants the opinions and reactions of random people, if they think that feedback will be useful and are ready to hear and interpret it, they will ask. Otherwise you're just creating potentially misleading noise.

I'd argue that randomly flung opinions are like career prospects. You might never know when the stars align and Jupiter eats Uranus's anus and we get something out of left field that might lead us out of the tunnel. Hell, I'm willing to take the risk for solid gold. It's not like I'm gonna let outside feedback fundamentally change me.

 

[clover2218]

Critiques aren't things you 'like'. Asked or not, it's basically someone tearing apart something you worked your ass off to bring to the pages, so while necessary, critiques have nothing likeable about them. They're quote-unquote necessary evil, you could say...

 

[bigbear51]

Simply ask yourself if you're willing to react the same way if someone gave unsolicited compliments. If not, then you're just another hypocrite online complaining about people being too harsh on your works while only wanting praise and generally useless comments of "nice job" and "you draw well".

 

[chapter1king]

Unrelated to the topic but I realised I already follow your art on instagram, lol! how great to see you!

 

[Armorien]

Of course, I love any critique! If I'm posting it online, I understand that people will read it and have their own problems. The other day I got a negative review and it actually motivated me even further!

 

[T.K._Paradox]

Criticism is one of the best ways to grow and learn. If that means getting humbled by someone then, yes I do like critique of all kinds.