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July Community Projects

$Moonbeam13:iconMoonbeam13: reports, 17m 49s ago
Awareness, Holidays etc for July
5 comments   Projects  Last +fav: @lenawargo

LIT CONTEST! World War Z: Tales of the Zombie War

=fallenidle:iconfallenidle: reports, 19h 21m ago
Literature contest for prose writers; tell us how YOU survived the Zombie War!

#WeFail - FAILS R US =D

=Ultra-Violet-X:iconUltra-Violet-X: reports, 11h 17s ago
#WeFail
#WeFail
#WeFail
#WeFail

YAAAAAAAAY
:fail: <--- Oops ;)

Paper Heart Movie Poster Contest

$chix0r:iconchix0r: reports, 1m 43s ago
We want to know what love means to you! Get your creative juices flowing and design a movie poster for "Paper Heart" that focuses on the theme "What Does Love Mean to Me?".

feature: black

*Fluegel:iconFluegel: reports, 10h 27m ago
Feature of mainly black/dark deviations <3
14 comments   Tributes  Last +fav: ~Super-Chi

LANNNDSCAPPE CONTESTT UPDATTTE!

=sStranger:iconsStranger: reports, 17h 25m ago
CONTEST! AUGUST 30TH DEADLINE. LOTSA PRIZES. OLD AND NEW ENTRIES ALLOWED!
15 comments   Contests  Last +fav: ~vleuten

DENYING THE POVERTY DRAFT-THE SOLDIER AS A SYMBOL

=whitetrashpalace:iconwhitetrashpalace: reports, 18h 10m ago
The Poverty Draft, Politics, Symbols, and the inconvenience of being human.

Even in times of war, the Soldier as an individual is of no consequence. The Soldier is a symbol, a simple pawn in a culture war. The Soldier is either a villain, or a Hero. The Soldier always serves for the honor of his country, not his paycheck. The Soldier is faithful, as there are 'no atheists in the trenches'. The Soldier is Combat Arms. The Soldier is male, he married a young white girl, and he has a baby on the way, whom he has never met.

The Soldier is a romantic ideal.

Condemned to R 'N' R

=CRcerberus:iconCRcerberus: reports, 1d 2h ago
A small collection of iconic figures in the history of Rock N' Roll.

Young Artists Feature

=The-Nightmare-Escape:iconThe-Nightmare-Escape: reports, 22h 2m ago
Young talent worth checking out.

Culture News This Week

adidas Fingerpainting Contest

$chix0r:iconchix0r: reports, 2d 1h ago
Win a trip to New York City to see your art displayed in the adidas Originals SOHO store when you win deviantART and adidas' Fingerpainting Contest!

Paper Heart Movie Poster Contest

$chix0r:iconchix0r: reports, 1m 43s ago
We want to know what love means to you! Get your creative juices flowing and design a movie poster for "Paper Heart" that focuses on the theme "What Does Love Mean to Me?".

15minutesOfFrame("JohnSu");

^Age2003:iconAge2003: reports, 2d 21h ago
Getting to know some of the bigger names and familiar avatars in the Flash Gallery. Edition 4: *JohnSu

SHOW US WHERE YOU LIVE FEATURE - WONDERFUL-WORLD

=Wonderful-World:iconWonderful-World: reports, July 7
We asked our members to show us where they live at the =Wonderful-World club and here are the deviations they sent us...

:wow: WHAT A WONDERFUL WORLD :clap: :earth: :heart:

Unknown Talented Artists Nš17

=Yasny-chan:iconYasny-chan: reports, July 5
:love: Show them your love!

Deity Generator Contest

*neko-of-lotherian:iconneko-of-lotherian: reports, July 4
A goddess of nighttime whose skin looks as if it is made from darkness. A god of killing with the head of a squirrel who carries a human skull with him. A god of light with burning eyes of amber. Who are these people? Come on in and see!
45 comments   Contests  Last +fav: ~Beep-Bop

Digital Graffiti

$chix0r:iconchix0r: reports, 2d 1h ago
Spencer Kelly visits the Royal Albert Hall to see a digital graffiti wall where you can virtual spray paint to your heart's content and email the results to yourself.

My own Fairytale

=seduced-by-the-sun:iconseduced-by-the-sun: reports, July 5
contest of fantasy
29 comments   Contests  Last +fav: ~Beep-Bop

Black Magic Contest

=liam-stock:iconliam-stock: reports, 1d 3h ago
Inspired by Trudi Canavan's "The Black Magician Trilogy" =liam-stock and =Staub-und-Schatten produced stock images with the theme "Black Magic" for you to bring fantasy and magic to life.

Best of June 2009 !

=SkyAndNatureClub:iconSkyAndNatureClub: reports, July 7
Best of June 2009 We feature the best submissions in every month in a news article. Come and have a look at the best of June 2009 ! :w00t:

Culture


On constructive comments or the lack thereof

*Shutsumon:iconShutsumon: reports, August 11, 2006
There seems to be an attitude prevalent on deviantART not to comment except to give praise in an unconstructive manner. A few people – probably in reaction - take the opposite tack and either flame or only say what’s wrong with a picture without any positive notes whatsoever.

Now I don’t really mind the unconstructive praise within reason. I do it myself about half the time – possibly more. Sometimes a picture is just so good that you’re left speechless. There are some truly great artists on dA.. But when you can see a multitude of problems with a picture and people are still telling you it’s great it sounds a little hollow. It wouldn’t be so bad if I didn’t get the feeling that some – may be most - people avoid giving negative feedback because they think you should never be negative. To me this seems silly. People learn from their mistakes but sometimes they need them pointing out to them.

However, don’t go to other extreme and tell them their work is useless or whatever. (I’ve seen people say some horrible things on here) That’s not constructive either. That’s plain cruel and soul-destroying.

Also no matter how constructive you are trying to be don’t just list what’s wrong with a picture. A lot of beginning artists have very fragile egos and will come to the conclusion that nothing is right with the picture if you just hand them a laundry list.

So how do you give constructive criticism? Well this is just my opinion but it’s how I do it and I’ve never had anyone accuse me of flaming them or take my comments as a diss so I guess it works.

Guideline One: Look at everything. Full View the picture and study it. Read the artist’s comments (my personal bugaboo is people who don’t read the artist’s comments and then say something that makes it obvious they haven’t). Check they even want criticism – if they’ve set it to critique discouraged respect their wishes and don’t go beyond guideline three.

Guideline Two: Keep the tone of your comment encouraging. This is important. Constructive Criticism builds people up rather than knocking them down.

Guideline Three: Say what’s right with the deviation first. If you like the colours or the shading or the line work or the composition say so. If the person doesn’t want a critique you can still say what you like about a picture so you can still do this. And even if you can’t find anything wrong with a picture knowing why people like it can still help the artist because they know what they are doing right.

And if you can’t see anything right with the deviation? If you really hate it? Look at it again. If you really can’t see anything to praise then question if you’re objective enough to give a truly constructive comment. If you still think you can then praise them for trying and for their hard work or something similar. They’ve probably broken their back to create the picture you hate, so acknowledge that at least.

Guideline Four: Pick one or maybe two things (if you had a lot of positives it’s fair to list 2 negatives if not stick to one) that are wrong with the picture even if there’s more than that wrong. It’s easier to improve slowly than cope with correcting an entire list of faults. And be careful how you phrase the criticism. Try to phrase it as “issue” -> “suggestion” -> “encouragement”. Example paraphrasing something several people have said to me about my art.

“I think your shading looks a bit off for the light source. Try drawing an arrow pointing in the direction of the light while you’re working on shading. But well done it was a strong effort.”

Of course it’s not always possible to give advice. You may not know how to solve the problem. In that case try to explain the problem in as positive a way as possible.

If the person noted a flaw in their artist’s comments and you agree with them and have a suggestion to help them to correct the problem in future artworks you can do that as well following much the same pattern – but acknowledging they did it themselves.

Guideline five: No matter what you should never flame a deviant. If it’s really bad (though that’s a value judgement) or you think its art theft report it to relevant authorities on dA (with evidence in the case of art theft) and let them decide if it needs moving to scraps in the former case or deleting and the user banning in the latter. Flaming isn’t big and it isn’t clever and it’s never right no matter what the target may or may not have done.

Guideline Six: (Note I’ve never had opportunity to do this but I’ve heard from people who have) If you see a deviant who isn’t great but shows potential and the ability to take criticism then – if you feel up to it – watch them and continue to give constructive advice. Seeing them improve will give you a sense of accomplishment because you’ve helped them.

To sum up if you want to give constructive critiques – and I’m not saying you have to, it’s completely up to you – the most important thing is to keep your tone encouraging find at least one thing due praise and offer advice on the problem if you can..

I will close with one thought that may help you decide to try this. Helping people improve their art will help you improve your own because it will make it easier to see and understand your own mistakes.

Devious Comments

love 1 1 joy 4 4 wow 0 0 mad 0 0 sad 1 1 fear 0 0 neutral 0 0

~aperfectnightmare:iconaperfectnightmare: Aug 11, 2006, 1:20:42 PM
Excellent guidelines

--
If the saying "You are what you eat" is true, then I must be a hot latina!
~IvySan:iconIvySan: Aug 11, 2006, 1:23:36 PM
These are great guidelines! :D It's really well thought out. :)

--
Extraordinary is extra ordinary.
"...it goes like faaaadeeee dark faaade..." --Sun-Flowerfairy13
"Hey quote me in your sig xD. I want to be quoted I want to be quoted!" --Totally Rad
~vgmmaster:iconvgmmaster: Aug 11, 2006, 1:24:11 PM
I notice this as well. But if you look closely, the people that only give praise may be the people's friends or +fav/comment whores.

However, this is a nicely written article. Well done. :clap:

--
My gallery
~mikabots:iconmikabots: Aug 11, 2006, 1:25:32 PM Mood: Cheerful
A very helpful read, nice article =) I like the focus on being encouraging. One should always find potential in an artist's work, help them to build confidence and not tear them down.
`Doubtful-Della:iconDoubtful-Della: Aug 11, 2006, 1:25:47 PM
Although your points are good, this is not really a news article. More of a journal entry or rant.

If you'd like to be productive, and find other productive people, why not try joining a club like

--
"There is room for different point of view, different style, no matter how good of a photographer you are" 'gilad
~Janus-Hero-of-Winds:iconJanus-Hero-of-Winds: Aug 11, 2006, 1:25:54 PM
Well-said. I like constructive criticism more than one-word postive comments, by a long shot.

--
This is the Internet. Anything you say can be used against you...and if it's lulzy enough, it probably will.
~Conexion:iconConexion: Aug 11, 2006, 1:26:17 PM Mood: Optimism
Very nice. It gets really bothersome when you get a bunch of comments that say "Lookz Great! lolz"...

Sure... yay... it looks great... now what can I do to IMPROVE?

It can get tiring... especially when you start hitting a rut and don't know what to work on. Good article.
~kingcobra:iconkingcobra: Aug 11, 2006, 1:28:16 PM
The discouraging comments that I hate the most surprisingly are not the "ur art sux" ones, because are fun to ignore. It's the "Where the hell do you find blue sand anyways?" or "Why the hell did you use Fireworks to make this?" i.e. the semi-insults. The comments don't go after the content that you submit, but the person who makes them says the most discouraging things possible to [1] insult others/their work and [2] not get banned for being more direct (i.e. by not saying "ur art sux" you don't get banned). These kinds of comments are bending along a pet peeve of mine, and it will be of no surprise to me if others feel similary. Insult directly, or wuss out. Don't semi-wuss out, because that's still semi-insulting.
*Shutsumon:iconShutsumon: Aug 11, 2006, 1:31:30 PM
Sorry you see it that way.

I could have posted it on my journal but then who'd have seen it. It's certainly not meant as a rant but to help people.

Perhaps I should have posted it as a tutorial but putting together a large graphics file for something that is pure text seems wasteful.

--
"A person who never made a mistake never made anything"

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