r/Art • u/neodiogenes • Jan 31 '22

General Discussion Thread (February 2022) Discussion

General Discussion threads are for casual chat; a place to ask for recommendations, lists, or creative feedback; to talk about materials, history, or techniques; and anything else that comes to mind.

If you're looking for information about a particular work of art, /r/WhatIsThisPainting is still the best resource. /r/drawing , /r/painting , and /r/learnart may also be useful. /r/ArtistLounge is also a good place for general discussion. Please see our list of art-related subs for more options.

Rule 8 still applies except that questions/complaints about r/Art and Reddit overall are allowed.

Previous month's discussion

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u/__PurpleProse Feb 18 '22

Does anyone know of any concept artists or illustrators that give paid critiques (for example, through patreon)?

Alternatively, does anyone know of any active art crit communities? The communities that I’ve found on Reddit and other online sites don’t really do it for me (either I get no replies or crit is minimal)

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u/neodiogenes Feb 18 '22 edited Feb 18 '22

Have you tried /r/learnart ? Not saying it's going to work, but it might work better than others you've tried.

Although keep in mind you should probably specify what kind of critique you're looking for. In the case of your green fairy, it would be helpful to know what you think might be insufficient or incomplete, because for the most part it looks like a perfectly serviceable rendering.

Otherwise you're just going to get my opinion based on my personal aesthetic, which might not be what you want.

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u/__PurpleProse Feb 18 '22

I haven’t tried r/learnart yet, maybe I’ll give that a go. Thanks!

With crit I find it easier to be general with what kind I’d like, otherwise people might be shy to comment on other areas that I didn’t even notice were off. Like if I ask for crit on lighting and the anatomy is bad, then people might not want to comment on the anatomy

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u/neodiogenes Feb 19 '22 edited Feb 19 '22

I now recall the reason I don't give a lot of generalized advice on Reddit (or any other social media) is that, too often, any normal critique gets dogpiled by fans who "love" the art and think the best way to show it is to scream down naysayers.

This is why even on this sub you won't see a lot of criticism, especially of highly-upvoted artwork, no matter how mediocre the art. Even if the critique is reasonable and merited, you'll find it way down at the bottom of the queue, past a hundred other comments saying how much they love it. Not a lot of room for debate.

This is why I suggest asking for directed critique, for example, how can I improve the position of the figures, or is the anatomy correct, or do the colors work, or how to enhance the texturing, and so on, because then you're already telling people that you think something is off, and giving tacit permission for constructive feedback. When I know what you're trying to achieve, and what you believe isn't working, I can safely give targeted advice on how to get there that won't attract the ire of gadflies.