[TIPS] Making Good Critiques [Sasoragon]

by **Lonin** Mon Feb 25, 2013 5:36 am

Created by Sasoragon

When making an Adoptables Site, lots of art, feature making, and designing is required. being a Support Forum for an Adoptable Site Maker, people often post their sites and artwork here for critiquing. Because of this, users on this forum need to know the proper ways to make and take critiques. [s](Lol, that rhymed.)[/s]

[size=large]Why is a good critique needed?[/size]

The main purpose of a critique is the help a person improve at whatever they're doing.
A good crit can push people farther to get better in whatever they're doing in a way that makes them feel good about themselves. A badly written crit can do the complete opposite. It can discourage a person and make them feel bad about whatever they make, and possibly make them give up.

[size=large]What is a good critique?[/size]

"A good crit is mostly positive, points out errors, tells you how to fix them, and provides resources (tutorials, references, redlines, ect.) to make it easier."
~ Jani/Harriet

All good critiques must be positive. It functions to encourage people and reassure them that the things that they make aren't utter carp and that they're constantly improving.

Being positive is different form sugar-coating.

Being positive is pointing out flaws and errors in a nice way that won't hurt most people's feelings. Sugar-coating is heavily complimenting people on what they make while almost completely skipping over any flaws there may be.

One good way of making your crits positive is by using the 'sandwich' technique. This technique is used a lot by managers on their employees in professional settings. The technique pretty much means 'sandwiching' your crits with compliments. Ex. "I like that bird you drew. The colors are very bright and cheerful. The way that the wings seem to jut out from the stomach bother me, though. Maybe you could place them a little higher up? Other than that, I think the drawing looks very nice."

When giving a crit, it's also very important to also tell how to fix any errors there may be. If you don't tell how, then it will be a lot harder for people to find out how to fix them.
Giving redlines and links to references and tutorials can really help them as well.

Here's an example of a good crit, which is a slightly edited version of a crit made by Harrie.:

[Link to Animation]

'It's really good, you've done a very nice smooth animation there. The wing motion is lovely, with some nice foreshortening, and there's no hangbutt syndrome. Also, you've also structured the wings correctly, which I'm constantly correcting, so it's nice to see someone who's got it right C:

Unfortunately, the anatomy is a little iffy. It's not far off, but it could be a little better. It's mostly just tummy tucks, and bum jobs C: You see, the body is a little large for the rest of him D: Here, let me show you: [link]

You see? You weren't far off. Just a couple of tweaks here and there, and you'll have it spot on C:

Also, I noted that the tail extends when he goes up? It's not that big, but a little adjustment would really improve the animation.

On another note, that head motion is nice and smooth. It's a nice secondary motion, and it's much better than most cycles, in which the head stay stationary and it looks very unnatural.
I would say, though, it's a little exaggerated. Maybe soften it up a little? His head need not go completely down, just a little way, and it'd be fine. C:

Anyway, that's all. Looking back at said old animation, I can see a massive improvement! Keep it up, I'm sure next year you'll look back at this one and see that you've improved just as much. C:

In this crit, a lot of positive comments were made to make it sound more encouraging. A redline and some explanations were also put into the crit to help the creator.

[size=large]What is a bad critique?[/size]

A bad crit is one that is negative and provides no explanation on how to fix the errors. Basically, it's the opposite of a good crit. *brick'd*

[Link to Animation]

This looks okay, but the anatomy on that dragon is really bad, no offense. It's too fat and the head is too small. The animating also has lots of flaws in it. The movement of the head is too pronounced, and the way the tail moves is very unnatural. I'm sorry, but I think you need a lot more practice on animating.

This would be an example of a bad crit. It sounded very negative, and no explanations on how to fix the errors were given.

[size=large]When Taking Critiques[/size]

When taking crits, be sure to remember that flaws in your drawing are being pointed out to help you, not to be mean. Not all crits will be written perfectly, but you shouldn't ever let them discourage you. Fix the errors that they point out in your next drawing so you can continue to get better. c:

Aaaaaannndd... That's it for now. If I missed anything or made any mistakes in this, please tell me. Very Happy