Sorta sermon
Jul. 10th, 2011 03:02 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bladesparkThis is not a religious sermon. This is one of my other soap-boxes. One of my BIG, FAT, hot-button issues. Let's see what you guys think of it.
Have you ever heard somebody say "If you never get critique, you'll never improve as an artist"? I bet you have. I bet you've heard it, and things like it, a bajillion times. And it's implied that people who dislike critique are babies, cowards, and horrible people who just "can't take it."
I'm going to let you in on my dirty little secret. I hate critique. I loathe it. I despise it. I hate it for a number of reasons.
First, I hate it because most of what's offered under the name "critique" is nothing of the sort. That faux, pretend, critique is usually rudeness and insult, the desire to assert superiority, put other people down, and thus make yourself feel better, hiding as "I just want to help you improve." False critique tells you what you're doing wrong (and it may do so politely, couched in compliments about what you're doing right, even) but it offers no help for doing better. It comes without redlines, hints, tips, or suggestions. It is THE most common sort I get, and it's bloody useless. Completely, utterly, 100% without a use at all.
Secondly, I hate it because nobody actually cares if you take it. For example. Several times I had people tell me I should do poses other than standing side views. I favored the standing profile when I was a young thing, and I still do use it, it's a useful art convention. But these "critiques" about it... well, firstly NONE of them ever gave me any idea how to go about doing anything else. "Do something else" is all well and good, but how? When I finally taught myself how to do other poses... I stopped hearing about it. That's all. Nobody complimented me. None of those people turned up and went "I notice you've improved! Wonderful!" None of the people who'd watched my early sad attempts at doing it chimed in to applaud when I did it right. Nothing changed. And you can go on all you like about how I probably got more watchers now that my art is "better" and that I probably will get more commissions too. That may be true. But the simple fact is that the people giving you critique don't care about you. See above. They're doing it to make themselves feel better. Even if they offer real, useful crits, they're just playing the Wise Guru for a moment, and they will not be there tomorrow to say "good job" when you take their advice and get it right.
The ONLY critique I happily take is from close friends. People who WILL be there tomorrow, and MAY actually say "good job." I am not producing art so that some stranger can get their Old Sage jollies from me. I am not producing art so that people can put me down and tell themselves its for my own good. I'm producing art for me, because I am an artist. And I do not need critique to improve.
Because there's where it really falls apart. Critique can help you improve your art. But it is just one of many other tools that frankly people neglect in favor of just asking to be told what to do. And there we come to the third, and most important reason why I hate it. The reliance on critique robs people of the chance to use all the other methods for improvement that are out there just waiting to be used. It takes your development out of your hands, and entrusts it to other people. It removes the chance for you to develop your own art, by yourself, as yourself. It encourages little art clones who do just what their mentors do, and never try anything on their own.
Do you think people who avoid critique are cowards? Well I think people who constantly seek it out are lazy. They are asking for someone to hold their hand. They want it done for them. They want other people to come up with the techniques, redline the problem areas, even define the style. They don't take responsibility for their own art!
I'm not saying that there's anything wrong with sometimes asking for help. Everybody asks for help sometimes, even me. But the way current artist culture praises people for seeking crit and ostracizes them for avoiding it drives me NUTS. The one is not any better than the other. Cowards or lazy bums, if you want to use those terms. Or how about self-motivated creators, and open-minded learners? There is virtue in seeking critique. There is also virtue in avoiding it!
Let's talk about where you can get as a self-motivated, creator. Here. I'll show you.
This is my first wolf head. (My fourth head ever.)
This is the wolf head I finished a month ago.
I had almost NO critique between those two. Nobody told me how to air brush (actually I've ignored everything I've been told about "airbrushing" because I don't airbrush, I use a paintbrush. Sometimes you improve by actively going against people's suggestions. In fact a number of things on this head are things I was told by people NOT to do.) Nobody taught me now to shape the face. Nobody gave me so much as a suggestion about how to make the eyes, or the nose, or the teeth, or the ears. (The one time I asked somebody with really good ears how they made them I was ignored! So I worked it out on my own.) Nobody gave me ANY advice about any of it, except a few things from JJ, who as a friend I trust to give crits. So to "you can't learn without critique" I say BULL SHIT.
Let's try again, shall we?
Here's a dragon I drew in high school.
Here's a dragon I drew last week.
In between do you know how much critique I got? One drawing class entirely about still life, with some good critique about using pencil for shading and coloring when drawing from life that's right in front of you. Not exactly applicable here, especially as we learned with Prismacolor pencils and my current medium is watercolor pencil. And I had a few people on the internet telling me I should try dynamic poses, and I think JJ suggested something about line weights, or maybe that was my idea, I forget. That's IT. I taught myself, by myself, everything I learned in between. All the anatomy. All the color theory. All the ways to shade and highlight from off the top of your head. All the technique for varying line weight. All the dynamic pose, ALL that. I still have a lot to learn. I'm sure somebody could give me critique on that later picture and have something valid to say. But they can just sod off. I'll continue to improve without their frigging critiques, and it doesn't make me some kind of coward to prefer learning by myself!!!
Not that my art exists in a vacuum, I taught myself by looking at other artists, and seeing what they did, and trying it. I taught myself by finding tutorials and using them. I taught myself by using references, and looking at real life, and looking at photos. I taught myself by a lot of means that involved other people, but that precious, holy, oh-so-essential "critique", without which we "can't improve" had NOTHING WHATSOEVER TO DO WITH IT.
So quit fucking saying that it's impossible to improve without critique. It's untrue. It's complete and utter BULLSHIT, and I want to punch somebody ever time I hear it!
Thanks.
And anybody who wants to debate with me about this is welcome, but see icon. I am kind of pissy right now, so don't expect me to be all gentle words and kind correction, if I think you've said something stupid I'm going to let you know. :P
Have you ever heard somebody say "If you never get critique, you'll never improve as an artist"? I bet you have. I bet you've heard it, and things like it, a bajillion times. And it's implied that people who dislike critique are babies, cowards, and horrible people who just "can't take it."
I'm going to let you in on my dirty little secret. I hate critique. I loathe it. I despise it. I hate it for a number of reasons.
First, I hate it because most of what's offered under the name "critique" is nothing of the sort. That faux, pretend, critique is usually rudeness and insult, the desire to assert superiority, put other people down, and thus make yourself feel better, hiding as "I just want to help you improve." False critique tells you what you're doing wrong (and it may do so politely, couched in compliments about what you're doing right, even) but it offers no help for doing better. It comes without redlines, hints, tips, or suggestions. It is THE most common sort I get, and it's bloody useless. Completely, utterly, 100% without a use at all.
Secondly, I hate it because nobody actually cares if you take it. For example. Several times I had people tell me I should do poses other than standing side views. I favored the standing profile when I was a young thing, and I still do use it, it's a useful art convention. But these "critiques" about it... well, firstly NONE of them ever gave me any idea how to go about doing anything else. "Do something else" is all well and good, but how? When I finally taught myself how to do other poses... I stopped hearing about it. That's all. Nobody complimented me. None of those people turned up and went "I notice you've improved! Wonderful!" None of the people who'd watched my early sad attempts at doing it chimed in to applaud when I did it right. Nothing changed. And you can go on all you like about how I probably got more watchers now that my art is "better" and that I probably will get more commissions too. That may be true. But the simple fact is that the people giving you critique don't care about you. See above. They're doing it to make themselves feel better. Even if they offer real, useful crits, they're just playing the Wise Guru for a moment, and they will not be there tomorrow to say "good job" when you take their advice and get it right.
The ONLY critique I happily take is from close friends. People who WILL be there tomorrow, and MAY actually say "good job." I am not producing art so that some stranger can get their Old Sage jollies from me. I am not producing art so that people can put me down and tell themselves its for my own good. I'm producing art for me, because I am an artist. And I do not need critique to improve.
Because there's where it really falls apart. Critique can help you improve your art. But it is just one of many other tools that frankly people neglect in favor of just asking to be told what to do. And there we come to the third, and most important reason why I hate it. The reliance on critique robs people of the chance to use all the other methods for improvement that are out there just waiting to be used. It takes your development out of your hands, and entrusts it to other people. It removes the chance for you to develop your own art, by yourself, as yourself. It encourages little art clones who do just what their mentors do, and never try anything on their own.
Do you think people who avoid critique are cowards? Well I think people who constantly seek it out are lazy. They are asking for someone to hold their hand. They want it done for them. They want other people to come up with the techniques, redline the problem areas, even define the style. They don't take responsibility for their own art!
I'm not saying that there's anything wrong with sometimes asking for help. Everybody asks for help sometimes, even me. But the way current artist culture praises people for seeking crit and ostracizes them for avoiding it drives me NUTS. The one is not any better than the other. Cowards or lazy bums, if you want to use those terms. Or how about self-motivated creators, and open-minded learners? There is virtue in seeking critique. There is also virtue in avoiding it!
Let's talk about where you can get as a self-motivated, creator. Here. I'll show you.
This is my first wolf head. (My fourth head ever.)
This is the wolf head I finished a month ago.
I had almost NO critique between those two. Nobody told me how to air brush (actually I've ignored everything I've been told about "airbrushing" because I don't airbrush, I use a paintbrush. Sometimes you improve by actively going against people's suggestions. In fact a number of things on this head are things I was told by people NOT to do.) Nobody taught me now to shape the face. Nobody gave me so much as a suggestion about how to make the eyes, or the nose, or the teeth, or the ears. (The one time I asked somebody with really good ears how they made them I was ignored! So I worked it out on my own.) Nobody gave me ANY advice about any of it, except a few things from JJ, who as a friend I trust to give crits. So to "you can't learn without critique" I say BULL SHIT.
Let's try again, shall we?
Here's a dragon I drew in high school.
Here's a dragon I drew last week.
In between do you know how much critique I got? One drawing class entirely about still life, with some good critique about using pencil for shading and coloring when drawing from life that's right in front of you. Not exactly applicable here, especially as we learned with Prismacolor pencils and my current medium is watercolor pencil. And I had a few people on the internet telling me I should try dynamic poses, and I think JJ suggested something about line weights, or maybe that was my idea, I forget. That's IT. I taught myself, by myself, everything I learned in between. All the anatomy. All the color theory. All the ways to shade and highlight from off the top of your head. All the technique for varying line weight. All the dynamic pose, ALL that. I still have a lot to learn. I'm sure somebody could give me critique on that later picture and have something valid to say. But they can just sod off. I'll continue to improve without their frigging critiques, and it doesn't make me some kind of coward to prefer learning by myself!!!
Not that my art exists in a vacuum, I taught myself by looking at other artists, and seeing what they did, and trying it. I taught myself by finding tutorials and using them. I taught myself by using references, and looking at real life, and looking at photos. I taught myself by a lot of means that involved other people, but that precious, holy, oh-so-essential "critique", without which we "can't improve" had NOTHING WHATSOEVER TO DO WITH IT.
So quit fucking saying that it's impossible to improve without critique. It's untrue. It's complete and utter BULLSHIT, and I want to punch somebody ever time I hear it!
Thanks.
And anybody who wants to debate with me about this is welcome, but see icon. I am kind of pissy right now, so don't expect me to be all gentle words and kind correction, if I think you've said something stupid I'm going to let you know. :P
