<sub>I wrote this in my journal here. I decided I'd submit it as an article as I got a little good feedback on it.

I did write it as a dA tutorial available in my gallery from a text based version I wrote on a graphics forum. I've variously edited it, and added to the original, so this is me editing the original I did rather then the one I did as a dA tut. I'm talking riddles here but whatever. Here goes.

Oh! And In advance, apologies for any mistakes or if I seem to go round in circles. I'm not too great with putting things into words.</sub>

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Giving Good Critique

Critique is an important part of learning. Many people post very bad critique.

Majority people post useless critique or discouraging critique. The first being worse. I will give you examples or useless, discouraging and good critique and explain why each is what it is.

Useless Critique [Still its not bad[

That looks awesome!

That sucks

Those types of critique are useless because they do not specify why the product is good or bad. If the item is okay, whats good about it and what could the author change? Without specifying they are possibly going to change the wrong thing. It isn't *bad* critique though. I'm sure those with "Critique Discouraged" on their deviations would appreciate it more. Not for those who encourage though. Its more useless.

Discouraging Critique

Don't like it. Render needs blending

That sucks

Those types of critique are discouraging because the know down self esteem of the author. There is no encouragement for the author to keep trying so you might as well be saying, "You suck, give up."

Good Critique

Sorry but I don't really like that. The render doesn't blend in so well maybe you should try working on that by "setting the rectangle marquee tool feather to 10 pixels and going around the outside of your render and press Ctrl+X." However, keep at it and I'm sure you'll get there!

This is a good example of critique because it gives both encouragement and a way to improve. The bit in "quotation marks" can be swapped for a tutorial recommendation or alternative option of course just give a reason for why you think what you do but keep up encouragement.

Please keep in mind what you say to people when giving C&C. People have feelings and many are easily discouraged. Respect other peoples work and the effort they put in to it. Even if it looks like a 5 minute job, it could have taken them hours. Keep that in mind and respect that because effort always goes into peoples work, no matter how minor and the more bad critique you give, the more likely they are to put in less effort or not to bother, excluding the few were this pushes them to do better.

Respecting the Artist

No matter who they are, their age, gender, sexuality, or religion or whatever else you wanna call people such as stupid labels, all artists deserve respect. You may not perceive something how the artist perceived it when they made it. Thats fine, but respect it. Some things may look like blobs of paint to you but to the artist and other people there could be a whole different meaning behind it that you fail to interpret. Of course, that can't be help, but respect it.

Some artists have "Critique Discouraged" on their deviations. Thats fine too. So people should honor and respect that and not do it. Some people take critique offensively, encouraged onwards or not. You don't know what is going on in that artists life, it could have just been a mess around piece, or something that doesn't have meaning to them, or it could be on the other hand and mean the world to them and to them, its perfect, exactly how they want it. Not unnecessarily because art-wise it is a perfect piece, but perhaps because to them, it means a whole lot. Even a not-so-good photo can hold a precious/really important memory, whether its somewhere from when you were young, someone you lost or even you and your family now. Art makes memory's and emotions, after all, it is individual expressive, so in a way, nobody has the right to say the artist is wrong. Because in their own way, they aren't. There are no really MUST HAVES for art, of course, you get basics like anatomy and things but I've seen some amazing pieces that don't comply with human anatomy, photos so underexposed but hold such emotion, it goes on. So you must understand if someone doesn't want art critiqued, though of course, thats only the start of a number of possibility's as to why.

So, keep the artist in mind when critiquing, and always be respectful. Not everyone manages to interpret art as it was meant to be interpreted, yet in our own way, we perceive it as something different. After all, we're different.

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_{Of course, this is my Point of view, how I feel, and my opinion based on what I have seen in the community and I understand some people more then likely wont agree with me. You're entitled to your own thoughts of course. But this is my point of view and OPINION. Not a fact. You can never be wrong with an opinion. Thats how YOU feel. So I'm not prepared to argue over this one kiddos as I've seen people argue about critique articles in the past. If you don't agree, thats fine, but this is my point of view so please respect it. Just in advance to those who were thinking of some retorts though I know most people here are too nice for that, but, I've seen it happen.}