Critique On Your Artwork

If you have been working on some particular artwork, and your friends or someone have taken a sneak-peek on it, then you know what I am talking about. You will get critiques, suggestions and comments from them. It can sometimes be a tricky situation.

As artists, we should be open to critiques. If we do not listen to what others and our peers are saying, then it is quite possible that we will not improve and correct our mistakes. It is, in a way, not just for artists, but for just about anything you do.

We need to heed to the suggestions and words that others speak of our artwork. But we need to be careful of what we listen to, and how much of it we take in.

There are four types of feedbacks you would get:

• Encouragement from friends and family – they do not want to pull you down. They will shower praises on your artwork, and that may be good some times. But do not get carried away with it. It feeds nothing but your ego. It is not required for you to be rude to such comments – just say thank you and let it off.
• Corrections/improvement suggestions from friends and family (who do not know about the medium) – Take these suggestions with grain of salt. They will not be knowing about the medium, or may not be knowing about your intent of the artwork the way you did. Hence, when ever your instinct says not to take the suggestions, polietly state it to them, explaining them the reason why you did what you did.
• Negetive critique from peers and others in the field – the world is not a perfect place, and all people are not flawless. They will heavily critique your work, in a very snobbish way – and they may do that for many reasons. They might be snobby indeed, or they might be jealous. Do not take the words they utter to your mind and ignore it. Because if you do not, it will just drain you of your creative energy. You can sometimes use this to fuel your own intent to excel. You just have to look it in a different way and not take the words they speak literally.
• Constructive critique by peers – this is the best feedback anyone may get. They usually start off by giving the good qualities of your artwork followed by the negetive aspects and how you can improve. Treat the words from them as if they were gems and jewels – but do not stow it away in your little jewel box. Use it and improve it.

I migth not have covered all the different types of feedback and ciritique one may get, and also, there may be those that lie in between.

How do you take critique on your artwork?