HOW TO GIVE A CRITIQUE
It's a great thing that you want to critique other deviant's works and help them improve their skills through your constructive feedback. By critiquing fellow deviant's works, you are developing your critical thought and vision and thus, developing yourself as an artist. However, critiquing is not all about pointing out what others did wrong. As ChewedKandi has pointed out in 'How To: Critiquing Artwork' "a critique is giving your opinion in a constructive manner about a subject - be it a piece a music, a piece of art, the meal you've just ate and so on."
That's the main point of this article: to share a few pointers on how to give a quality critique while providing links to a compilation of useful guides that focus on this very same topic.
That's the main point of this article: to share a few pointers on how to give a quality critique while providing links to a compilation of useful guides that focus on this very same topic.
Introduction: Let's start!
First things first! You've come across a piece of art that caught your attention and you felt the need to type a critique. That's awesome but you must find out if the artist is, in fact, looking for a critique. You can usually find out if the artist wants a critique or not by reading their artist's comments or, if the artist is a Premium Member, if he has enabled deviantART's critique system.
The Do's
As TwiggyTeeluck has stated ('Article: How to Write A Proper Critique') "a critique should provide useful feedback on the piece that’s being critiqued. It should include what the artist has done right, what the artist has done wrong, and most importantly, how to improve." She has even created a simple diagram:Useful information:
-What the artist has done right
-What the artist has done wrong
How to improve
Look at the deviation.
Take a good look at the deviation you plan to critique. You may ask yourself some questions to help you create a mental layout of your critique and what you are going to point out. ChewedKandi suggests the following questions:What are my favourite areas of this piece?
By being able to answer these sorts of questions you can build upon a critique in a constructive manner.
deviantART's Critique System
deviantARThas its own Critique System that help us out when critiquing fellow artist's artwork by providing us with 5 distinct categories. TehAngelsCry in 'How To Give A Fair Critique' explained all the 5 critiquing categories:
Vision - Vision marks how well the artist was able to design and display their concept or idea effectively.
When viewing the art, ask yourself questions such as: Can I see what the artist was trying to achieve? Is there a moral to this piece?
Originality - Originality is a measure of how creative the artist was in both the conceptualization and the creation of their art.
In my own critiques this section is generally the shortest, but that does no’t necessarily mean it has to be for you! When viewing the art, ask yourself questions such as: Have I seen a similar piece of art elsewhere already?
Technique - Technique is the way in which the artist has depicted the subject matter in regards to style and form.
This is usually the longest section of my critiques, and when viewing it I ask myself questions such as: Is the light source consistent? Is there something which I think looks odd, and how would I do it instead? Are their any anatomy errors?
Impact - Impact is the final impression the artist has left on the viewer, as a summary of the piece.
I usually use this section as a kind of conclusion to my overall critique. When viewing the art, ask yourself: Does this piece leave an impression on me? Will I remember it for a while?"
While this system is only available for Premium Member's deviations, every member can critique fellow artist's artwork through the commenting section.
Critique Guides' Compilation
'How To Give a Fair Critique' by TehAngelsCry
'How to Critique' [literature] by TheMaidenInBlack for theWrittenRevolution
General Commenting Guides
Thank you for reading this article and I hope it was of any help to you.
Pedro (zungzwang)
![[OPEN] Orion Skylark](https://images-wixmp-ed30a86b8c4ca887773594c2.wixmp.com/f/68aa7358-d3ca-4d5e-809a-6654197516b5/dgocbwt-7b943641-430c-4177-bd08-a79d03d3714b.jpg/v1/fill/w_350,h_350,q_70,strp/_open__orion_skylark_by_r1ck4rts_dgocbwt-350t.jpg?token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJzdWIiOiJ1cm46YXBwOjdlMGQxODg5ODIyNjQzNzNhNWYwZDQxNWVhMGQyNmUwIiwiaXNzIjoidXJuOmFwcDo3ZTBkMTg4OTgyMjY0MzczYTVmMGQ0MTVlYTBkMjZlMCIsIm9iaiI6W1t7ImhlaWdodCI6Ijw9MTAyNCIsInBhdGgiOiJcL2ZcLzY4YWE3MzU4LWQzY2EtNGQ1ZS04MDlhLTY2NTQxOTc1MTZiNVwvZGdvY2J3dC03Yjk0MzY0MS00MzBjLTQxNzctYmQwOC1hNzlkMDNkMzcxNGIuanBnIiwid2lkdGgiOiI8PTEwMjQifV1dLCJhdWQiOlsidXJuOnNlcnZpY2U6aW1hZ2Uub3BlcmF0aW9ucyJdfQ.lgrl4CLTOVQn422Aq-COaXwAQ0KQ6FUVPdNl7Qt5Xas)
