Does BlenderArtists need more cynics?

Does the Blenderartist community need more cynics that are willing to point out flaws in near perfect work? Of course kudos and congratulations are always given to amazing and beautiful work, but wouldn’t it be nice to have a few more people that are willing to politely pick apart something a little bit? There’s always something to be learned and improved upon after all. I personally find it extremely helpful when people tear apart my work (maybe because I’m an intermediate Blendee) because it gives a problem to solve and new perspectives.

I know the focused critique and WIP forums include a lot of that but there seems to be a lot of toning down of suggestions. I’m not saying that everyone has to be a hard critic or even completely know what they are talking about (although it would be nice) but discussion upon the flaws of a piece bring about more little fixes, tweaks, and perspectives upon your work. So I personally think it would be nice to have a couple cynics around, you know?

I’d like to hear other people’s perspectives on this. Happy Blending!

I typically only critique if people ask me to. I much prefer to suggest trying something than pointing out direct flaws in a piece. I’m just hesitant to have someone pour their heart into something and the only reward they get is me pointing out mistakes. I’d rather just point them to some article/tutorial demonstrating something I notice they don’t seem to be aware of, so they can hopefully pick out flaws on their own and improve them.

It’s always been possible to praise the quality of the work while pointing out things that the artist may have missed or wasn’t aware of.

What tends to be discouraged though is the outright trashing of someone’s work as if he literally didn’t do anything right, the majority of pieces that are posted have various spots of merit like being impressive for a new user or that it shows decent modeling skill, but I definitely would agree with anyone bringing up the idea that every work shouldn’t just be treated as if it was totally perfect.

My biggest problem is no qualifying questions. “You should do it like this or that”, without any information on the results the artist wants to achieve.

I like for us to play nice, and point in a better direction, with discretion,

and if that does not work,

who cares?

it’s a site, where people(some of them are even sane!!) come to talk about what they are passionate about,
so it’s tricky when some people have all of the passion, and none of the skills, or all of the skills and none of the passion,

Cynicism is born out ignorance,

Correct, don’t destroy.

Many are called, but few are chosen.

Or…

Death is natures way of letting you know that you haven’t been chosen.

Apply this to the graphics artist in the world of art.

“They will never let you hear them scream.” But they will scream, nonetheless, for having been vilified in a public place. “Public humiliation” is something about which people say, “I’d rather die,” and they mean it. I won’t be dishonest with anyone, but I’ll always strive to be constructive. “Cynical,” to me, never meets that qualification.

So, the answer to your original question is: “No.”

The site also has a Private Messaging facility. Use it well.

I always try to point out both what the artist could improve as well as what he/she did good and generally try to be as friendly as I can when pointing out flaws in an artwork.

The thing is that there are very many threads on this forum and I am hard pressed on time as it is, I simply cannot reply to each thread and give constructive criticism all the time and I think that many other people here feel the same. The amount of people who want comments on their work greatly outnumbers the people willing to give it.

Also it happens way too often that I take the time to put together a list of what the artist can improve only to receive a “fuck you” in return. It really makes me less enthused to comment at all.

Well said Jake!
I try to be as straight as possible with critique and point out if i think something could be improved if they tried to this or that but also try point out what is good.
Personally i appreciate when people are straight forward and just give their view/tips on something without sugar coating it, the more suggestions and tips i can get the better.

Some ask for critique and then keep defending themselves instead of taking in what others have to say.
If you ask for critique you should be prepared for some, god or bad.
Due to lack of time i usually only reply on threads i feel i can contribute to, or just have to say that some one has made some amazing work.

I think this forum has a lot of helpful members, it’s very little flaming and insults comparing to other forums.
But constructive critique with tips could always be better :wink:

Cheers

Yes. BA needs more cynics. Because then I might get some critiquing on my work.

Short answer yes.

Long answer maybe, on one hand some people can’t take criticism.
On the other some people (like me) feel that they failed if it isn’t criticized because if it isn’t worth the time to criticize any errors then it isn’t all that good.

Since everyone awakes from the dream, that means none are chosen? Or everyone? :wink:

Good professional and constructive critique is always welcomed by an artist. Unless he/she is a pompous ***!

The harshest critiques come from the least skilled.
“Good professional and constructive critique is always welcomed by an artist. Unless he/she is a pompous ***!” ? Ya right. It absolutely does not mean you are pompous if you do not want critique. A person has a idea in his head why do you think yours is better? People here really need to learn how to critique. If you want to critique put a little effort into it and think about it. I have a new idea for the want to be critics, ask a question. If people followed the masses advice you work will become plain and boring. When a person try’s to abstract or disproportion something people say put it back in the box. There are ignored threads in Focused critiques right now.
Everybody has a opinion.

If you feel that you have been overlooked, ask again. If you feel that you have been slighted, the good news is that you are mistaken. The absence of critiques might either be that people really like it (yay!), or that they just didn’t know what to say. If you feel that they might not have known what to say, re-phrase your question. Point anyone who may subsequently happen to read your post to what sort of feedback you are looking for. The more specific you are on this point, the more likely you are to get feedback and feedback that is truly useful.

sundial: I have a WIP with 418 topic views and only one person volunteered any feedback (well, two, but one was just “looks good”). Another WIP had 180 views and precisely one comment. I’ve posted two finished short films with 656 combined views and no comments. So that’s 1254 views with two bits of constructive criticism (which did help me a lot) and one simple compliment.

.2% of viewers gave me any feedback; therefore, we need more cynics.

Sorry to rant…