Good day ladies and gentlemen,

We have quite the artistic community here. As such, I believe we should compose ourselves as artists! We have plenty of great threads that show art, how to create art, but we are lacking in threads critiquing art.

Now, I don't mean critique in the sense of "Damn, yo' pichuh sux, yo!" More like honest to goodness critiques of style, form, technique, etc., talking about the work as a whole.

To me, this is very beneficial in many ways. Often, others will see things I miss, and so I get a lot more out of a work by reading another persons critique. It also helps for the viewer to get ideas on how to do things, as well as helping artists learn what works and what doesn't.

I know we often give (well deserved) props to those who make some great work in the Art Bin and Gallery, but they are often short and to the point. This thread is meant specifically to delve deeply into works on an individual basis.

Who's art am I suggesting be critiqued, you ask? Well sit down, and lemme tell ya!

Everyone! (Everyone who is open to criticism, that is!) So, a good policy would be to ask someone in advance if you can give them a critique. Also, critiques of famous work are welcome.

And by no means, do you have to know a ton about art. It can be simply what you like about a work, or what you don't, things you notice, and so on. This is meant for everyone!

My last pitch is about how great it would be for us to develop our nexian styles (especially us who are still new to art). Obviously, much of the art created here is of a trippy nature, drawing on experiences from times on the high psychonautical seas. Well, lets cultivate that! We have incredibly diverse skills and styles, but we are all nexians, so lets richen our artistic culture!

Without further ado, I humbly offer all of my works up to be critiqued.

I think this is a great idea and I'd be happy to weigh in. As someone who has done countless portfolio critiques, I'd like to make a couple suggestions for artists wanting critiques:

1) state your artistic intention: what you are trying to accomplish with your art. Be as general or specific as you want. That way, those giving critiques can evaluate your work next to your intention, which allows for more productive commentary
2) let us know what you are presently working on, struggling with or trying to improve. Even just thinking about and stating these things can be very helpful for an artist
3) narrow it down to 3-5 works and post them here in this thread. Choose pieces that are a good representation of your present abilities. Partially finished works that you are stuck on can be great too.

Remember not to be defensive, or to try justifying where you are at artistically. If you really want to improve, it's the critiques that hit closest to home that will help you the most.

And for those giving critiques: remember that you can be honest without being a jerk. And besides pointing out the things that you think need improvement, try also pointing out things that stand out as being particularly successful. Sometimes artists can be blind to their greatest strengths.

Awesome! I knew you'd set this up better than me! It's nice having a pro around.

I'll pick out a few of mine in the next few days to put up for critique, as I realize I have been almost completely devoid of thorough, honest criticism. I appreciate compliments, but I know I do plenty that could use improvement.

I like this. I posted a couple of comments in the big art thread, hoped people would take them as constructive criticism but I was hesitant as I also do not want to ever discourage anyone from making art.

It will be good to have a thread specifically for this purpose.

I had a prof whose critiques were just brutal, I mean I saw him reduce students to tears several times. His only comment was, "If they can't take it in class, how are they going to take it when it's in the newspaper?"

I learned more from him than probably any other art teacher.

Ok, here goes nexus!

The first one is of a life-like creature. It exists in mass quantities and flows from shapelessness into structures. So in this one, it is creating a fractal toroidal space. I tried to choose the colors to show an energy flow from one part to another.

The second one is supposed to be a pseudo-scenery type drawing. I wanted to make it appear as of reality was melting and flowing into/out of a conscious being.

The third one is of an oak tree growing near a river. I have a hard time putting in a background, and often I just want to draw a tree, but it ends up looking odd without other things drawn in. My art teacher once accused me of being afraid of white space, and probably rightly so!

The fourth one I really didn't have an intent for. I simply wanted to make something flowing and colorful. I did try to work in a certain visual I have seen while tripping, seen in how the spectrum background is broken up.

The last one is an abstract. I was getting into color at the time. It was originally in black pen, but I tried to use the color to reinforce for others how I saw the picture.

I greatly appreciate anyone who takes the time to comment on my work. And by no means do you have to comment on all of them. Take a crack at just one, and that's fine by me!

I'm not gonna critique your stuff P
...I either like something a Lot...a Little...or Not At all...

But I will say that, if I had some printer ink...Twisty Tenden would have pride of place on my studio wall.

i like the tree

It can be challenging to critique a body of work when there is nothing obviously wrong with it, as in your case. I will say that you're moving in a solid direction and doing promising work. If you remain as consistent as you have, by this time next year you'll be surprised at what you can do.

Anyway, some minor nitpicking:
First piece: this has always been one of my favorites. Really potent sense of perspective, very active composition. The thing that I think would help it the most (and this applies to all of your work) would be to make more use of the full value range, especially softer grays. Possibly pick up a set if grayscale conte crayons or something, with at least a few sticks that are in the 10-30% value range. These are great for distant atmospherics, transparency effects, blending, etc. your stuff has great punchy contrast, and tempering that with a little subtlety would strengthen the whole picture. Let's take the second one: you did succeed in creating a sense of flow in both directions, but the distant stuff is just as high contrast as the close stuff, which costs you some of your sense of depth. The float stuff toward the upper left- picture it 20-30% lighter, and imagine how that would pop the foreground.

Pick up more light grays, then try another tree. This time, go much lighter with background branches and other distant objects. Work your value range more. You'll be surprised at the difference it makes.

Thanks folks!

Wow Guyomech, I honestly thought there'd be more wrong than that! Thanks for your input!

Controlling the contrast is definitely something I have been working on lately. Also, I'm always kind of unsure of myself on the composition. I know a little about placing the focus, layers, perspective, and so on. I don't really know enough to feel confident, but enough to be up in my head about it and unsure. So, I usually end up trying not to think about it and just doing whatever I feel like at the time.

I am excited to see where I am in a year. It's been a about a year and a half since I really started drawing, and it's pretty nuts to look back at some of my older stuff.

I hope others can make use of this critique thread. I definitely think it can be a useful tool in progressing as an artist.

And cyb, get some ink, man!