Question about Critique

[Gundersen]

I just wanted to ask some of you more experienced artists out there: Should you listen to all people that critt your work?

In this question i try to ask if you should listen to everyone that gives you critt, if their own art is good or bad, if they are a beginner or pro. What makes a person a good person to give critt? experience or a keen eye?

[Elwell]

I just wanted to ask some of you more experienced artists out there: Should you listen to all people that critt your work?
Should you listen to everyone about anything?

[Anid Maro]

There was an interesting thread (http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=123942) about this not too long ago, you might find it an interesting read.

But in short, no you shouldn't just blindly accept critiques. Not only is the quality of critiques going to be influenced by the critiquers' level of understanding but critiquing in itself is a skill that requires practice to get good at.

What signifies a good critique, broadly speaking, is a clearly identifiable criticism and some sort of explanation as to why this should be changed.

For example:

"Your color sucks."

As opposed to...

"The colors in your image are overall too saturated. Since both the background and the subject have the same saturation they tend to blend in together and are hard to distinguish."

Oh and of course, the critique no matter how well explained should actually be accurate. :)

[J Wilson]

Helllll no.

If I respect someone's work and skill I'll give weight to their crits. If someone knows MY work (friends with artistic eyes) and knows what I'm capable of I'll give weight to their crits. If anyone gives a crit that echos some doubt I already have I'll give it weight. If they are the person PAYING I'll give it weight, but you have to be a bit careful with that because sometimes their ideas are crap, or they are just idly throwing out things. You need to know when you can ignore the client a bit, when they'll be happy as long as they are getting something that looks GOOD versus exactly what they THOUGHT they wanted. I think keeping an open mind is essential, but you need to trust your own judgement if you can't agree with the advice given.

There is true crits versus people just telling you what they would have done. Preference versus meaningful changes. If someone who is better at anatomy than I told me that I needed to change an arm, I would. If they said they maybe would have made the figure have longer hair, then I trust my artistic vision.

I think it also depends on where you are in your artistic developement too. Newbies should always have an open ear and mind for crits from more experienced artists because there is still so much they don't consider. Someone who is much more advanced, should still have an open mind, but they are much more likely to have made their decisions for solid reasons. It's very dangerous for newbies (in my opinion) to try to explain away their mistakes because even if they had reasons for doing what they did, their basic understanding may still have failed them.

[Gundersen]

ohh there was already a post, then I guess a discussion is not needed :) But thank you for your replies guys. I totaly agree with all of you. I just was annoyed looking at people critiquing work when they got 4 posts and 3 of them is in their sketchbook with absolute no qualifications. So i just had to check if i where stupid not takeing critt from everyone :)

Gonna read through that post Anid Maro, it looked interesting

[Ilaekae]

This sounds like I'm just making a joke, but I'm serious...

Sometimes it's possible to say something that has the intent of forcing you to recognize your own error or problem area-- like "Do all of your cheerleaders always have penises?"