Artwork: "But I didn't ASK for critique."

[Simon D. Aelsi]

There are arguments and counterarguments.


"Don't post it to the internet if you don't want critique."   "But if someone doesn't want it, you're being an ass by giving it ANYWAY."
"Just because you don't want it doesn't disallow me from giving it anyway."           "But that doesn't mean you SHOULD."
"They won't get any better."                                                                           "And you won't be respected as much."
"Why share it then?"                                                                                      "It's okay to not want critique. Maybe they're just showing it off!"


Both very real sides of the coin.  Where do you stand and why?  Me, I'm on the fence.  I've been at the receiving end of both arguments.
I'm curious to see what fellow content creators think of this. 
(And please, let's keep discussion civil and clean! We don't need to give the mods more heart attacks!)

 

[Ms Littlefish]

I give my thoughts and reactions on whatever people are letting me view. Sometimes it's meant to be as critique but often I'm very much just reacting and my cogs are turning as I'm experiencing the piece. I don't think I ever word things rudely and I always have nice things to say as well; otherwise I wouldn't be responding. When I give critique it's because I already like what they've made but I believe they have the talent and ambition to go further. 


I understand the other argument in theory, but so much of what excites me as a creator is the collaboration and trading of ideas with others.

 

[Victor Sant]

If someone post something I belive that deserves a critique, I will do it if the place where it was posted allows it.


People who want to show things just for the sake of showing it (I.E.: don't want opinions, just want people to see it), can do it on their personal media, where they make the rules (as they can simply limit or deleted unwanted comments).


But when they place it on public domain, they are giving people the right for people to express their opinion.


As long there is a 'reply' or 'comment' box available, people can comment whatever they want as long it is not against the rules.


"Don't post if you don't want critique"

 

[Simon D. Aelsi]

I


"Don't post if you don't want critique"

I see. But what if it's made CLEAR that critique is not desired? That's also the uploader's right, some might argue. Then what?
Some may call that reasoning to be quite rude and even unprofessional!  Care to explain why?


@ Littlefish, feedback, no matter the level of meticulousness, has never felt scathing. (As I feel PROPER feedback never should!) But I'd learned a lot.

 

[KanaX]

I voted " No I won't. Their wishes should respected. (No matter how asinine the reasonings may seem...) "
However, I would only do it out of common decency and desire to avoid conflict.


I consider any reason to forbid people from criticizing your art, to be completely immature. When a creator displays something, they do so to have it been seen and experienced by other people. If they did it solely to express themselves and let their imagination and creativity touch other people, then I'm sure that they won't care about neither positive, nor negative comments. But more often than not. when people directly want to avoid seeing critiques, it seems to me that they actually want all the positive feedback they can get, while avoiding having their work be scrutinized and having the less than favorable elements being brought up.

Again, if I see that the creator says "I do not want feedback" it would be rude and childish of me to just ignore that and start analyzing the content. But maybe artists that are not insecure about their work, their inevitable flaws and themselves would not demand of me to not give my opinion on it.

 

[Dalph]

Sharing stuff and not asking for a critique don't get along well with each other to me.


Unless you are just showcasing stuff and not allowing people to comment at all, or you specifically say you don't want feedback but honestly, I still have to meet someone here that says "I don't want feedback", this statement itself kills the whole purpose of sharing your work.


If you share something it means you want to know people's opinions about it and that includes constructive criticism too, it doesn't make any sense to share it otherwise. What's the point?


Honest Critique > Fake Praise

 

[Euphony]

I'm not big into people posting something just to show it off. If it's a small group of friends chatting on IRC or Skype or something, I get it, it's fun to share your creations and pat each other on the back for motivation. But on a big forum like this, it reeks of attention-seeking (and honestly, don't people get enough attention via social media these days?). If someone continuously posts things with a "no critique allowed" caveat, I start questioning their motives for being here. It sounds like that person is just looking for praise and isn't actually interested in improving their skills.


That being said, I would still keep my criticism to myself--not out of respect for that peron's wishes, but because I feel like any criticism would simply be lost on them. If they don't want criticism, it's probably a waste of time to comment with anything remotely negative. They might even twist it around and make you look like a jerk for commenting.

 

[Victor Sant]

But what if it's made CLEAR that critique is not desired?

Like I said, don't want critique? Don't post on public domain.


Posting in plublic domain IS ASKING for critique, even if not desired.


Don't want critique? Disable comments. If the place where it is being posted don't allows comments to be disable, it's probably not the right place to be posting something that critique is not desired.


The world is not something that people can bend to their will, their desire for something doesn't matter when their actions says otherwise. And the action I mentiong, is posting something on a place that is subject to critique not wanting critique. There are better places to show off things without worrying for critique.

Some may call that reasoning to be quite rude and even unprofessional!  Care to explain why

IMO, rude is saying that I can't express my opinion, when expressing it is not against any rules.

 

[Scythuz]

I'm gonna pick option 4, basically it's option 2 except you give them critique regardless if you find let's sayyy... a game-breaking bug, something that really shouldn't be ignored basically.  


At the end of the day though, if you haven't got the courage to take critique, you probably shouldn't post your work online in the first place.  Life as a creator is about constant self-improvement -whatever pace you go at- and you should always be willing to accept critique if it'll help you.


@Saltwater Croc If this thread is in reference to yourself as a freelancer and content creator then well, I hate to break it to you, but it's completely unavoidable in our line of work.  Your challenge is to filter out the helpful from the unhelpful and use what you can to improve.  Remember, you don't have to have to follow all critique, just do what you think will help.

 

[Simon D. Aelsi]

@Scythuz No. No, this thread is not in reference to me.

@Victor Sant Welp, to each their own, I suppose!

 

[mlogan]

I think it depends on a lot of factors, imo. Largely, where you post it. For example, if you have a gallery on a personal website and someone went out of their way to send you an email with critique - no, that's rude. Or, from what I can tell, DeviantArt seems to be more for showing off, and while it has comments section, I've personally never seen anyone use that for in depth critique (the good jobs and probably some nastiness, but not real criticism). So, I would not expect it there. Soundcloud, at least from my experience, is similar - a showcase.


However, this forum, for example, is largely about helping each other through the process of game development. So, it's pretty much a given that things posted here are open to criticism as a means of helping each other improve. If someone posted here and said "no criticism", well, I would probably comply, but honestly, I'd lose a bit of respect for that person. Because, to me, it says they just want the kudos and not the opportunity to grow and improve.


Really though, I think of it this way. If someone hangs their artwork in an art gallery - are they immune to criticism from the people who come in to view the art? Nope. They might not like what they hear, but it would seem ridiculous if they stood at the entrance asking people to only say kind words. Or what if a band got on stage to perform, and asked the audience for only nice words after the performance? They'd likely be laughed off the stage. Posting things online isn't much different.

 

[Simon D. Aelsi]

I was actually in reference to deviantart.  I think I had mentioned something about proportions in an arm to someone. 
I choose to believe that I myself have gotten better with receiving, learning, and applying critiques.   As well as ignoring insults (that are truly insults). 
Of course, I myself am not perfect and I'm sure I've gotten my feathers ruffled at least once.

I'm very intrigued by your responses!

 

[RoooodWorks]

if you post something to the public, its asking to be critiqued, plus how else are you gonna improve if you don't ask for feedback, unless your one of those guys that think they are perfect at everything and don't need critique. Me I would critique if you don't say if you want to be critiqued or not.  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ I dunno that's my opinion.  

 

[Simon D. Aelsi]

Well said, Chibae.

 

[Chester]

Yes I will but if it ends up like Amy's Baking Company then I probably won't meow.

 

[Sharm]

If someone makes it clear they don't want it then I won't critique, because that's a waste of my time and energy.  It severely damages my opinion of the person though.


Of course there's a difference between "I don't want critique" and "I've gotten the critique I needed from this, it's time to move on."  I mean, at some point you've heard it before and need to make new and better things, but sometimes the internet doesn't like letting go.  Saying you don't want any more critique is just fine, and continuing to do so after that point is rude and pointless.

 

[Kyuukon]

I won't but why are you posting if you don't want people to comment on your work anyways, seriously lol.

 

[cabfe]

As said before, anything publicly posted becomes subject to critique.


That's the same as showing yourself IRL. Even if you don't want that, people will critique (behind your back, most of the time) your looks, manners, everything.


It's part of the social contract.


Want no criticism? Find a cave and become an ermit.

 

[TheOriginalFive]

I voted the third option. I don't go out of my way to critique a complete stranger's work, nor do I bar others from commenting on mine. However, I would privately critique a friend's idea if I thought it didn't look or feel right.

 

[LaFlibuste]

In general I would agree with people saying "if you don't want critique, don't post it publicly" but in most cases I likely wouldn't really care enough to critique their stuff (why waste time analyzing something and writing a well tought-out critique if they don't want it? Their loss), so I voted "it depends". I might do it anyway if the person seems open enough and/or his stuff is inspiring enough/has enough potential. Because if it's "my right" to express my critique regardless of the creator's desire for feedback, it's his right to not give a damn about my critique and disregard it entirely. And as the person giving the critique, I have better stuff to do than talking to walls.