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How to Crit
As giving good crit is often appreciated here is a guide to helping you structure your crit to be of maximum use to the artist
To Crit or not to Crit?-
First of all check the artist wants crit. Some really like it, others get really mad at it so respect those red crosses. A lot of artists upload stuff to get positive comments may struggle to deal with unwanted criticism. I tend to crit only when I see the green tick, I will not generally crit on a picture unless there is something that I feel is greatly marring the picture and can be easily fixed.
Take into account the artist style and artist skill. If something is supposed to be distorted due to style reasons then don’t focus on the anatomy not being correct. Also be realistic about what the artist can achieve at their current skill level.
Another thing to consider is as what stage the picture is at. In W.I.P stage you can crit a little more freely but if it’s a finished masterpiece then it may be difficult for an artist to change things or they may not want to work further on the picture. I tend to only crit on fully finished pieces if the artist really wants it to help learn for their next picture or may want to go back and make a few alterations. If someone has spent a lot of time and energy on a picture then exercise some respect and caution with your crit. Only pick on something that will be useful to them as a developing artist unless they are specially requesting in-depth crits.
Finally and most importantly, don’t crit for the sake of criting, only crit if you feel you have something that may be of benefit to the artist.
Check Artist Comment and Crit already left-
Always read the artist’s comment/ description and quickly skim the comments that have already been left. There’s no point in pointing out something either the artist is aware of or has already been picked up on 20 times already in the comment section.
Structuring the Crit-
The most important feature of the crit is what the artist is getting right and what looks good! This is absolutely vital to an artist and helps them feel encouraged and confident with where they are succeeding rather then depressed and de-motivated as they feel they can’t get anything right. A lot of people get confused with crit and think it’s just about pointing out all the mistakes. Wrong! You should aim to have at least 60% or higher of the crit to be about the good stuff in the picture.
A good way of structuring the crit is to start with a general comment on the picture. Then crit what could be improved and then talk about what good in the picture. This means you are starting and ending on a positive feel.
Comment-
As there are many great commenting tutorials about already I won’t go into this. I suggest checking a few of the out for ideas to help you with your comments.
Points on improvement-
The most important thing about ‘negative’ or improvement crit is to suggest something the artist can try to correct/better the picture or something they can work improving in future pictures (such as placement of eyes, better shaping on a body part etc).
Bad crit- ‘The arm is wrong’
…well thanks for pointing it out but that’s really not helpful. Simply pointing out something is wrong may only be a slight benefit the artist hasn’t noticed this problem (this is why you should read to artist comment so you can see what they are already aware of). More often than not, they know! They’ve been struggling for ages with it and haven’t been able to get it to work or understand why it’s not looking right.
Good crit- ‘The angle of the arm is a little unnatural so the foreshortening is a making it look off, maybe try putting the arm in a higher position with more of an angle at the elbow. The elbow will also project more so will need to be drawn sharper.’
Ahhh, so now the artist has a few pointers on why that arm’s looking funky and something they can try to adjust it. Better!
What’s good-
You can always find something good to say about a picture. Focus clearly on what you like and what is working well. Perhaps they’ve grasped realistic lighting or used a line weight effectively or tackled a complicated shape like a hand well. Try going through the picture and say something about details you like as well as on the picture as a whole.
Don’t be afraid to double crit something, if something’s good but there’s a patch that can be improved on i.e ‘The hair looks great, the addition of a few loose strands makes it looks amazingly realistic. It would be great if the level of detail in the highlights were added to the front of the fringe. I think the angle of lighting would mean that the fringe would catch a little of the light too’
Notes-
Use common sense, don't noob/text/RP speak (unless you know the person likes it), read through what you've written before posting and please use a spellcheck!
I hope this little tutorial helps people understand how to crit well, feel more confident with doing it and improve the quality of feedback for that artists
As giving good crit is often appreciated here is a guide to helping you structure your crit to be of maximum use to the artist
To Crit or not to Crit?-
First of all check the artist wants crit. Some really like it, others get really mad at it so respect those red crosses. A lot of artists upload stuff to get positive comments may struggle to deal with unwanted criticism. I tend to crit only when I see the green tick, I will not generally crit on a picture unless there is something that I feel is greatly marring the picture and can be easily fixed.
Take into account the artist style and artist skill. If something is supposed to be distorted due to style reasons then don’t focus on the anatomy not being correct. Also be realistic about what the artist can achieve at their current skill level.
Another thing to consider is as what stage the picture is at. In W.I.P stage you can crit a little more freely but if it’s a finished masterpiece then it may be difficult for an artist to change things or they may not want to work further on the picture. I tend to only crit on fully finished pieces if the artist really wants it to help learn for their next picture or may want to go back and make a few alterations. If someone has spent a lot of time and energy on a picture then exercise some respect and caution with your crit. Only pick on something that will be useful to them as a developing artist unless they are specially requesting in-depth crits.
Finally and most importantly, don’t crit for the sake of criting, only crit if you feel you have something that may be of benefit to the artist.
Check Artist Comment and Crit already left-
Always read the artist’s comment/ description and quickly skim the comments that have already been left. There’s no point in pointing out something either the artist is aware of or has already been picked up on 20 times already in the comment section.
Structuring the Crit-
The most important feature of the crit is what the artist is getting right and what looks good! This is absolutely vital to an artist and helps them feel encouraged and confident with where they are succeeding rather then depressed and de-motivated as they feel they can’t get anything right. A lot of people get confused with crit and think it’s just about pointing out all the mistakes. Wrong! You should aim to have at least 60% or higher of the crit to be about the good stuff in the picture.
A good way of structuring the crit is to start with a general comment on the picture. Then crit what could be improved and then talk about what good in the picture. This means you are starting and ending on a positive feel.
Comment-
As there are many great commenting tutorials about already I won’t go into this. I suggest checking a few of the out for ideas to help you with your comments.
Points on improvement-
The most important thing about ‘negative’ or improvement crit is to suggest something the artist can try to correct/better the picture or something they can work improving in future pictures (such as placement of eyes, better shaping on a body part etc).
Bad crit- ‘The arm is wrong’
…well thanks for pointing it out but that’s really not helpful. Simply pointing out something is wrong may only be a slight benefit the artist hasn’t noticed this problem (this is why you should read to artist comment so you can see what they are already aware of). More often than not, they know! They’ve been struggling for ages with it and haven’t been able to get it to work or understand why it’s not looking right.
Good crit- ‘The angle of the arm is a little unnatural so the foreshortening is a making it look off, maybe try putting the arm in a higher position with more of an angle at the elbow. The elbow will also project more so will need to be drawn sharper.’
Ahhh, so now the artist has a few pointers on why that arm’s looking funky and something they can try to adjust it. Better!
What’s good-
You can always find something good to say about a picture. Focus clearly on what you like and what is working well. Perhaps they’ve grasped realistic lighting or used a line weight effectively or tackled a complicated shape like a hand well. Try going through the picture and say something about details you like as well as on the picture as a whole.
Don’t be afraid to double crit something, if something’s good but there’s a patch that can be improved on i.e ‘The hair looks great, the addition of a few loose strands makes it looks amazingly realistic. It would be great if the level of detail in the highlights were added to the front of the fringe. I think the angle of lighting would mean that the fringe would catch a little of the light too’
Notes-
Use common sense, don't noob/text/RP speak (unless you know the person likes it), read through what you've written before posting and please use a spellcheck!
I hope this little tutorial helps people understand how to crit well, feel more confident with doing it and improve the quality of feedback for that artists
Suggested Collections
Well I had a number of people say I'm good at giving crits. As I'm suffering severe insomnia I thought rather than lie there I'd write a little tutorial to give people pointers in crit that i've found to be useful when I do my own crit. Hope it helps (and makes sense)! 
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Comments11
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Some people really need to read this 