Hello everyone.
For those who may be reading this, you may be on here wondering what constructive critique is, what that entails, or someone recommended you to read this thread. Well look no further. Speaking as a visual artist currently attending art school for animation, I often find it very common on here during the past eight or so years I've been here for people to get mixed up and confused on what criticism is meant to do and what ends up being destructive as opposed to constructive. It's also been a thing where new people often come to us posting their work and not understanding why we're offering advice to you, the potential pixel artist in the making.
Of course, speaking as a member of TVGR this also applies to the other creative boards on here as well. So this could very well apply to drawing, modeling, writing, and game development as well.
If you’re a newbie and you’re reading this, don’t worry! Like you, the reader, I was at that point where I was a newbie once too. In fact I used to be far more defensive about my work just like anyone else, there are people on here who can attest to that. As for the more senior members who are reading this, this thread may also be good to remind yourselves the terminology of criticism as well, but not necessary for you to read too deeply into assuming you already know most of this.
So, what is criticism?
The answer may come with just a simple google search:
![[Image: sSZk1dK.png]]()
Of course, there are positive and negative ways to go about criticism, which is why I have also taken the liberty of taking two different types of criticisms based on their connotations:
![[Image: Fdb66rT.png]]()
![[Image: NLRi6Go.png]]()
These two definitions are important to understand in some sense because one indicates that they’re looking at the mistakes of something and offering advice to approve of it while giving some form of appreciation to the work, while the other tends to look at the faults of something in a more judging manner.
But wait Dioshiba! That’s being an elitist! You think you’re better than everyone else!
Nope, in fact I’m far from that. You see if I were being an elitist then I wouldn’t bother discussing any sort of skills that are being utilized or reasons on why I think something could be better. Having dealt with elitist members before, I can tell you that they would be far more insulting towards you and not even bother to give any sort of constructive feedback to you to begin with! In fact most elitists would rather go out of their way to try and drive you out of the community criticizing you at every angle and throwing various insults to drive you away, and that’s the exact thing that I aim not to be because I know what that feels like. And besides, I still don’t know everything myself compared to the person next to me willing to give me tips on what could be done on my end to improve my craft, and I would expect the same from other people if I have criticism of any kind to offer.
Bare in mind, this does not mean that we are being angry people who just want to spite your work. In fact, it’s quite the opposite! As a community we always want to help each other improve our work and advance our skills, because we’re always learning from each other and being inspired by each other. Yes, sometimes it can come off as harsh, but that in no way makes it the intent of the person critiquing the work.
But wait a minute, isn’t offering critique and criticizing someone the same thing?
Not exactly, this is where the English language tends to get confusing with the terms. Simply giving thorough feedback is not the same as criticizing people. To put it in a clear way, “Critiquing” is to constructive where “Criticizing” is to destructive. It could also be put in a way where “Critique” is associated to positive where “Criticize” is to negative, if you catch my drift.
Okay, so what is constructive feedback vs. destructive feedback?
Well, I touched upon this briefly, but to be exact on what that means of what is constructive is breaking down the piece very closely and looking at each part of the whole piece and being able to look at what could be better.
For example, take a look at the following posts that I’ve gathered from my own thread regarding my pixel art as provided by Retro64 and JewyB:
![[Image: Y2cjktN.png]]()
(Not to put you guys on the spot without either of you guys knowing I was going to use this, but these were the best examples of constructive feed back that I could think of!)
Being destructive is just telling someone that “your work sucks and you are a terrible artist.” If I were on the receiving end of that then I probably would either ignore it or question the person on what exactly it is they are criticizing.
But wait, aren’t there cases where someone is giving bad advice? What’s the best way to determine what is being said is credible?
That is a fair point. There have been cases where people have often given bad advice in the past and tried to fight with members who would disagree with them. I can tell you that criticism can also be destructive if the person hasn’t done their research in what it is exactly they are trying to critique and could easily come off as criticizing. A general rule of thumb is that if someone else is suggesting that the criticism one person is giving might not be valid, and then chances are it is not a valid critique and the person giving it should probably step back.
Likewise, it should be mentioned that if other people are agreeing with the advice that is being given, then it might be a good idea to take the criticism that is being offered, because it will help you out in the long run. But as a general rule of thumb, wait to see if other people are going to agree with what is being said by other members. If you’re absolutely unsure of what is being said however, ask the person why they think their criticism is valid to seek clarification. We’re all just people on the internet and with that said it’s easy for people to forget that it’s a bit more difficult to understand the context of what is read as opposed to being in a formal setting with other artists and hearing their voices.
But what if I think that you’re being too mean? I don’t want to take criticism from you just because you’re criticizing my work!
Now hold on, that’s not exactly what the intent of criticism, is as discussed earlier. It’s not exactly a good idea to brush off every form of criticism you see just because you don’t like hearing it. We’re not here to give praise to everyone that posts his or her work nor are we here to give respect to those who demand it. We see this type of thing happen with a variety of new people every so often that it’s become the main reason why I’ve chosen to make this thread in the first place.
Bear in mind that giving criticism to the work does not mean we are criticizing you. So don’t take it as a personal insult if we’re telling you that you may be missing something that could help you improve on your work immensely. However, if there is a need for someone to be critical of you then it’s probably because you are constantly brushing off advice and insulting the people who are trying to help you, so you have to understand that getting defensive is simply not going to get you anywhere besides frustrating other members and getting us to be on your bad side.
And respectfully, there are rules in place on the forums that are easy for anyone to forget to read up. I get that we all want to be on here to post our work or be eager to show off what we make, but It’s always a good idea to be checking on them and reminding your self of what’s acceptable to do on these boards and what isn’t. Especially considering when there is a whole subsection of rules specifically for boards such as “Creativity” and “Pixel art”, as well as some other ones.
In any case, while this post will be subject to change in the case something else comes up that might not be clear. What I hope for this thread to do is clear up any misconceptions of these concepts that aren't necessarily made clear to begin with. Which is why I've taken the liberty to write this thread out of my otherwise busy schedule. Of anyone has any sort of tips on whaat can be done to improve this thread feel free to leave a comment!
For those who may be reading this, you may be on here wondering what constructive critique is, what that entails, or someone recommended you to read this thread. Well look no further. Speaking as a visual artist currently attending art school for animation, I often find it very common on here during the past eight or so years I've been here for people to get mixed up and confused on what criticism is meant to do and what ends up being destructive as opposed to constructive. It's also been a thing where new people often come to us posting their work and not understanding why we're offering advice to you, the potential pixel artist in the making.
Of course, speaking as a member of TVGR this also applies to the other creative boards on here as well. So this could very well apply to drawing, modeling, writing, and game development as well.
If you’re a newbie and you’re reading this, don’t worry! Like you, the reader, I was at that point where I was a newbie once too. In fact I used to be far more defensive about my work just like anyone else, there are people on here who can attest to that. As for the more senior members who are reading this, this thread may also be good to remind yourselves the terminology of criticism as well, but not necessary for you to read too deeply into assuming you already know most of this.
So, what is criticism?
The answer may come with just a simple google search:
![[Image: sSZk1dK.png]](http://i.imgur.com/sSZk1dK.png)
Of course, there are positive and negative ways to go about criticism, which is why I have also taken the liberty of taking two different types of criticisms based on their connotations:
![[Image: Fdb66rT.png]](http://i.imgur.com/Fdb66rT.png)
![[Image: NLRi6Go.png]](http://i.imgur.com/NLRi6Go.png)
These two definitions are important to understand in some sense because one indicates that they’re looking at the mistakes of something and offering advice to approve of it while giving some form of appreciation to the work, while the other tends to look at the faults of something in a more judging manner.
But wait Dioshiba! That’s being an elitist! You think you’re better than everyone else!
Nope, in fact I’m far from that. You see if I were being an elitist then I wouldn’t bother discussing any sort of skills that are being utilized or reasons on why I think something could be better. Having dealt with elitist members before, I can tell you that they would be far more insulting towards you and not even bother to give any sort of constructive feedback to you to begin with! In fact most elitists would rather go out of their way to try and drive you out of the community criticizing you at every angle and throwing various insults to drive you away, and that’s the exact thing that I aim not to be because I know what that feels like. And besides, I still don’t know everything myself compared to the person next to me willing to give me tips on what could be done on my end to improve my craft, and I would expect the same from other people if I have criticism of any kind to offer.
Bare in mind, this does not mean that we are being angry people who just want to spite your work. In fact, it’s quite the opposite! As a community we always want to help each other improve our work and advance our skills, because we’re always learning from each other and being inspired by each other. Yes, sometimes it can come off as harsh, but that in no way makes it the intent of the person critiquing the work.
But wait a minute, isn’t offering critique and criticizing someone the same thing?
Not exactly, this is where the English language tends to get confusing with the terms. Simply giving thorough feedback is not the same as criticizing people. To put it in a clear way, “Critiquing” is to constructive where “Criticizing” is to destructive. It could also be put in a way where “Critique” is associated to positive where “Criticize” is to negative, if you catch my drift.
Okay, so what is constructive feedback vs. destructive feedback?
Well, I touched upon this briefly, but to be exact on what that means of what is constructive is breaking down the piece very closely and looking at each part of the whole piece and being able to look at what could be better.
For example, take a look at the following posts that I’ve gathered from my own thread regarding my pixel art as provided by Retro64 and JewyB:
![[Image: Y2cjktN.png]](http://i.imgur.com/Y2cjktN.png)
(Not to put you guys on the spot without either of you guys knowing I was going to use this, but these were the best examples of constructive feed back that I could think of!)
Being destructive is just telling someone that “your work sucks and you are a terrible artist.” If I were on the receiving end of that then I probably would either ignore it or question the person on what exactly it is they are criticizing.
But wait, aren’t there cases where someone is giving bad advice? What’s the best way to determine what is being said is credible?
That is a fair point. There have been cases where people have often given bad advice in the past and tried to fight with members who would disagree with them. I can tell you that criticism can also be destructive if the person hasn’t done their research in what it is exactly they are trying to critique and could easily come off as criticizing. A general rule of thumb is that if someone else is suggesting that the criticism one person is giving might not be valid, and then chances are it is not a valid critique and the person giving it should probably step back.
Likewise, it should be mentioned that if other people are agreeing with the advice that is being given, then it might be a good idea to take the criticism that is being offered, because it will help you out in the long run. But as a general rule of thumb, wait to see if other people are going to agree with what is being said by other members. If you’re absolutely unsure of what is being said however, ask the person why they think their criticism is valid to seek clarification. We’re all just people on the internet and with that said it’s easy for people to forget that it’s a bit more difficult to understand the context of what is read as opposed to being in a formal setting with other artists and hearing their voices.
But what if I think that you’re being too mean? I don’t want to take criticism from you just because you’re criticizing my work!
Now hold on, that’s not exactly what the intent of criticism, is as discussed earlier. It’s not exactly a good idea to brush off every form of criticism you see just because you don’t like hearing it. We’re not here to give praise to everyone that posts his or her work nor are we here to give respect to those who demand it. We see this type of thing happen with a variety of new people every so often that it’s become the main reason why I’ve chosen to make this thread in the first place.
Bear in mind that giving criticism to the work does not mean we are criticizing you. So don’t take it as a personal insult if we’re telling you that you may be missing something that could help you improve on your work immensely. However, if there is a need for someone to be critical of you then it’s probably because you are constantly brushing off advice and insulting the people who are trying to help you, so you have to understand that getting defensive is simply not going to get you anywhere besides frustrating other members and getting us to be on your bad side.
And respectfully, there are rules in place on the forums that are easy for anyone to forget to read up. I get that we all want to be on here to post our work or be eager to show off what we make, but It’s always a good idea to be checking on them and reminding your self of what’s acceptable to do on these boards and what isn’t. Especially considering when there is a whole subsection of rules specifically for boards such as “Creativity” and “Pixel art”, as well as some other ones.
In any case, while this post will be subject to change in the case something else comes up that might not be clear. What I hope for this thread to do is clear up any misconceptions of these concepts that aren't necessarily made clear to begin with. Which is why I've taken the liberty to write this thread out of my otherwise busy schedule. Of anyone has any sort of tips on whaat can be done to improve this thread feel free to leave a comment!
![[Image: clothes_of_the_mega_man_8_bits__mm11__by...coke4c.png]](http://orig00.deviantart.net/cf18/f/2018/277/2/c/clothes_of_the_mega_man_8_bits__mm11__by_douglasartgallery-dcoke4c.png)
![[Image: mqdefault.jpg]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/Yh1oAxQ2Y9A/mqdefault.jpg)
