Hello and Welcome to Critique For the Win.

This is a club dedicated to those of us deviants seeking and wishing to give critique.
It's easy to see that Deviantart isn't the greatest place to get critique. Hell, it isn't even the best place to give it.
People get easily offended if you give critique 9/10 times. So I wanted to start this mini-community dedicated to the giving and receiving of critique.

Now you can easily decipher who wants and will receive critique openly and happily.
I hope you all will enjoy the club and take advantage of what it has to offer to you.
In this opening Journal I'll list the Rules, How to Join and Submit, and a guide on good and bad critique!

Also, I would like to add that in the future I would like to do contest within the club, to make us a stronger and fun loving community!


Rules

1.
Please, I would prefer if only positive critique would be used. We want to encourage eachother, not tear eachother apart here. This is to be a positive and fun community, I'd prefer it to be kept that way.

2.
Respect those who critique you, don't get all defensive as soon as you receive critique. These people are only trying to better you and help you grow artistically, not belittle you.
If you get defensive people will stop wanting to critique you. Also, please don't say "Oh, thats just my style." in defense, if people don't like that aspect or think it needs to be fixed and you feel that its just an aspect of your style just ignore that aspect of the comment.
If you feel someone is harassing you please note the club, the creator, or a moderator and link to the comment of concern.

3.
Please do not critique the content/theme of the persons pictures at hand. Critique of concept and communication is acceptable, and will be later explained in the F.A.Q.

4.
As for submission, I would say most types of art will be accepted.
Things not acceptable for submission would and do include:
Fetish art, Excessive Gore, Writing/Poetry, Racist/Demeaning artwork.
WIP'S are acceptable, seeing as sometimes it is helpful to get a push along the way or if you're having trouble with a certain aspect of your picture.


How To Join/Submit Artwork.


In order to join the club all you need to do is send a note to the club titled "Joining."
Though, I would like you to read the rules completely, if you do not follow the rules you will not be able to submit and will be deleted from the member list.
It would also be preferred that you actually watch the club.
After you receive your confirmation note you're officially a member!
I would like if you put the clubs icon in your journal or somewhere on your page, but it is not mandatory.
Remember; If you post the icon it may get other critique'ers to join, and that is helpful to you because that will help bring more critique your way!

To submit an artwork send a link to the submission in a note titled "Submission." The amount of submissions you're allowed to send a month are limitless as of now, but I don't want to spam up peoples message boxes..So please keep the number low. Please also be serious about what you're submitting. :]
Old peices can be submitted as well.
All submissions int he club will have comments closed and a link will re-direct you to the actual deviation where you can critique on the artists original submission.



F.A.Q. For Critique.

So, here comes the long part of this journal!
I'll start this off curtly with a definition of critique from an online dictionary so you all can get the gist.


cri·tique /krɪˈtik/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[kri-teek] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation noun, verb, -tiqued, -ti·quing.
–noun
1. an article or essay criticizing a literary or other work; detailed evaluation; review.
2. a criticism or critical comment on some problem, subject, etc.
3. the art or practice of criticism.
–verb (used with object)
4. to review or analyze critically.

Now that you guys really know what it means I'll explain all I know and have been taught about critique. If I left anything out, please don't be afraid to note me and let me know!

A lot of people I noticed [In the online community, who have only received critique online] are very defensive about it and get offended. At that is partially because the critique they have been receiving is completely negative, and has little or no positive reinforcement. I could and can understand why people feel distaste towards critique in that instance.

So I guess to begin I will post a link to a photo [Can't post the photo in the journal since there is no subby, so please follow the link. The picture in question is one of my own WIP's, since I didn't want to use anyone elses incase they would get a little peeved.]. Following that I'll give an example of both good and bad critique, and explain a bit about them both.

[link]


Bad Critique
I really don't like the use of yellow in this picture because it looks really weird. I wish you used another color.
I also don't like how the red eyeshadow, it looks really dumb. This person doesn't look like they
have a neck, you should fix that.
The cape looks dumb, no one wears stuff like that. I can't tell if this person is male or female, you should make that more appearant.

This is a bad critique because its more about the person opinion instead of critique on the aesthetics/elements and principles of design. Don't know the Elements and Principles of design? [link] That link will explain simply.
When critiquing you don't really want to press your opinion so much. Remember the picture at hand is done by the artists and their preference for color/fashion and whatnot will be a big part of it for them. Also all negitive comments tends to upset the artist, so adding in a bit of compliments here and there helps the critique be positively received. Also letting an artist know what he/she did correctly in a picture is very helpful! Critique is about evaluating the aspects that need work and those that are done very effectively!


Good Critique
I really like the composition you chose for this piece, it compliments the subject matter. I wish though, that I could see just a bit of the other eye peeking out from the bangs. It looks a bit funny that you really can't see anything.
The skin colors you chose are nice, but I feel there needs to be just a bit more contrast to make it effective. Right now it's looking a bit flat, I think if you added just more contrast it would stand out more and be far more effective.
Also the skin colors though nice seem a little bland, I think if you added a few different colors into the mix such as green, or purple, it would look a bit more realistic. Maybe even some pink.
The hair looks well done, though again I feel that a bit more contrast could be used.


This critique is a bit harsh, but not badly so. It won't leave the artist feeling scorned, it lets them know what they did well and what needs a little work. Also when critiquing it is helpful to state what problem you see and how it could be fixed. I.E. "It looks flat" is the problem, to fix it, "Add more contrast" was suggested. Things like this help make you critique more effective, and helpful. In this critique the color was critiqued; But not as it was in the 'Bad' critique. Instead of listing that the color was too "yellow" it was said that they were a bit bland, and a suggestion was given how to fix said problem. This is a pattern that you definately want to follow when critiquing! Any compliments you want to add into the mix, don't think that a few compliments will take away from your critique, they wont, trust me~!


If you have any questions about critique, please post them! I'll respond to them and also post them in this journal to futher help anyone who might have the same question!

Thankyou, and welcome to the club! I hope to see you critiquing soon!



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