Is this good or does this suck?

[ReCreate]

Salute!

Many times when critiquing or creating art, people immediately judge by “is this good or does this suck.” Is this question appropriate?

I give it that for a commercial artist such as a graphic designer, or illustrator this question must be addressed as a preliminary priority. In art fields that create for a commercial cause, there art will be judged quickly, and seen as “is this good or does this suck.” But as a student of art, I question the necessity of this during my foundation years for developing skills and discipline. At age 17, when I’m drawing from a model, why am I repeatedly asking myself this? Shouldn’t I be savoring and attempting to learn more and more, without caring what others perceive it as?

It’s a sad reality, but I believe many things have been bumped up to this level. As an artist, get used to this question, because it’s what art is currently judged upon. This is the way the world moves, and if you don’t keep up then your left behind. Its college application time, and all my drawings, paintings, and sculptures are critiqued the way a college would see it, “is this good or does this suck.” :(

[Rabid]

Problem is that if your work never gets judged in a simple and blunt manner you'll never improve because you have a calm environment of critiques around you. Harder to explore when your purpose behind it wont change.

Problem is that if you want people to not judge your work don't expect them to. I had a kid in my class that hated getting critiqued too. (wasn't that great either but thats beside the point) he never got any better as the classes progressed to higher and higher levels, soon his artwork wasnt making the cut. Keep in mind the last time I critiqued him in our first class together he said "I hate this crit bullshit, how could you understand my exploration yadayada..." so I told him from now one I'll keep it neutral. Next crit comes up, "looks fine bud..."
next, "looks fine bud..."

well :"fine" didn't get him a passing grade by the second advanced class...

If your artwork is private it matters less what others think true, but try this on for size. Instead of getting a generalized sucks or doesn't suck. Tell the class or criter what you were trying to accomplish. Or better yet, ask them to tell you what they think was going through your head. If they answer wrong, they just gave you a crit without saying that it sucks.

What good is an art piece that couldn't get across your goal that you had from the start with it?

[ReCreate]

Rabid Peanut, understand that I love to get my art critiqued. I absolutely enjoy the process of learning and improvement. When people look at my art I would prefer them to be hard, so I can make changes. I can't wait to get my work photographed to post in the critique section of this forum.

So, I dont know if my point was clear, sorry. I'll try to restate.

When you create something, your immediate thought shouldn't be "is this good or does this suck" ... throw it out if it sucks, and keep it if its good. You should get feedback for improvement and disect what went wrong that you should aviod next time.

I bet that student of yours was so set on "its good" or "it sucks" that he didn't want to hear anything different.

[Rabid]

Of course, because there arn't many drawings out there that don't show at elast some good qualities....

[alesoun]

I think that if you're continually asking yourself if your work is good or it sucks, then you're applying a critical eye to it, and that's not necessarily a bad thing.

If, however, you're beating yourself up about it, instead of wondering good/sucks ask yourself if it's stretching and testing you. Are you learning from what you're doing or trying to do? Are you becoming aware of any weaknesses or mistakes and trying to correct them? What are the areas you are improving in, and how can you improve on others?

It's not "good" or "sucks", As Rabid Peanut says, most drawing show at least some good qualities. Learn to recognise your strengths and work on your weaknesses.... and don't think a college will focus solely on your weaknesses.

Someone on Sketches and wips or the critique centre is currently asking advice about their portfolio. Why not check their thread out? http://conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=107864