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Criticism, Contructive vs. Destructive
14 years ago
General
Curious, I looked this up today. I've had some people criticize me and I usually feel offended by it. As such, I rarely criticize others because I don't want to inflict the same... 'pain', if you will. I've often heard that criticism is healthy for an artist, but I've never fully understood why. If it's suppose to help me learn, why does it make me feel like giving up and not trying again?
Then I read that there's a difference, Constructive Criticism and Destructive Criticism. For simplicity, I'm calling them ConCrit and DesCrit. I didn't really know what each truly meant, so I went and gathered information.
Apparently, ConCrit is criticism meant to help the artist. This type has no emphasis on how bad it is, but rather how to make it even better. For example, say someone drew a pretty female tigress with blonde hair, but drew her with a yellow background. You could suggest making the background a different color, so her hair would stand out more. In this way, you're helping the artist see how to he or she can improve his or her art, without intending to insult him or her.
On the other hand, DesCrit is the opposite of this. This type doesn't offer much to the artist. Instead of giving advice or suggestions, you state opinions that degrade the art and artist. As an example, let's say someone didn't like how the blonde tigress from earlier looked. They might post that she looks hideous, without actually saying why or how to make her look better. In this case, the artist is merely ridiculed which may cause negative reactions and unwanted conflict.
I think sometimes people really do have good intentions when give DesCrit. My belief is that it comes from being poorly worded.
For example:
"The yellow background seems to blend in with her hair. Maybe change the color so her hair pops out? That aside, she looks great!"
vs.
"That background color is awful. I can't even see what I'm looking at."
Both lines advise a change with the background, but the first statement gets the message across without deriding the artist.
Granted, these are simple and obvious examples, but hopefully it gets the point across. The point is to help each other get better, so if we get hostile, we lose that "help" part, right? I think I've learned something today. Maybe I'll be able to help artists improve using constructive criticism in the future.
Then I read that there's a difference, Constructive Criticism and Destructive Criticism. For simplicity, I'm calling them ConCrit and DesCrit. I didn't really know what each truly meant, so I went and gathered information.
Apparently, ConCrit is criticism meant to help the artist. This type has no emphasis on how bad it is, but rather how to make it even better. For example, say someone drew a pretty female tigress with blonde hair, but drew her with a yellow background. You could suggest making the background a different color, so her hair would stand out more. In this way, you're helping the artist see how to he or she can improve his or her art, without intending to insult him or her.
On the other hand, DesCrit is the opposite of this. This type doesn't offer much to the artist. Instead of giving advice or suggestions, you state opinions that degrade the art and artist. As an example, let's say someone didn't like how the blonde tigress from earlier looked. They might post that she looks hideous, without actually saying why or how to make her look better. In this case, the artist is merely ridiculed which may cause negative reactions and unwanted conflict.
I think sometimes people really do have good intentions when give DesCrit. My belief is that it comes from being poorly worded.
For example:
"The yellow background seems to blend in with her hair. Maybe change the color so her hair pops out? That aside, she looks great!"
vs.
"That background color is awful. I can't even see what I'm looking at."
Both lines advise a change with the background, but the first statement gets the message across without deriding the artist.
Granted, these are simple and obvious examples, but hopefully it gets the point across. The point is to help each other get better, so if we get hostile, we lose that "help" part, right? I think I've learned something today. Maybe I'll be able to help artists improve using constructive criticism in the future.
