In almost every case it is a genuine attempt to help. To let you know about something they think can be improved or would improve the image so you can be better - even if you're pretty damned good right now.
Constructive Criticism - Tips on peeling aside the personal gut reaction.
1) Remember that art is subjective. This means that it is "seen" differently by different people. Because people are unique, they appreciate different things. A group of people may appreciate similar things, but each one is an individual reaction. Even if 2 people like the same curve, they may like it for different reasons. The same things apply to what people don't like about a particular image or composition.
2) Your time and effort is not being dissed. While you may have put a lot of time and effort into something, the only thing that matters is the final result - what OTHER people can see. So they may not know that you spent an hour cloning out the pepsi can and adjusting the sky color just right - they know what they see - that there's a weird line in that one area that doesn't look quite right to them.
3) Take a deep breath. It is not a judgment on your entire or even partial worth as either a person or an artist. It's an opinion on this one image, and probably one or 2 aspects of this one image, not the whole thing. An artist is known by the entirety of their works, the good, the bad, the what was I thinking, and the magic pieces all together. If it helps, review Point 1 again.
4) Be generous. People aren't always great at phrasing things, so if it rubbed you the wrong way, the benefit of the doubt lets you to think that they didn't mean to insult you, they just didn't say it the best way. You never know - it might even be true!
Constructive Criticism - What to do with it.
1) Consider it. What WOULD happen if you followed the advice?
2) Try it out if you can. Get a good visual look at the difference it would make.
3) Decide. Now that you've given it consideration, do you agree with their opinion or not? If you don't, okay, no big deal. They didn't get "you". Review Tips Point 1. If you do - you've gained something valuable in your particular bag of tricks.
4) Be civil about it. "Interesting, I don't agree but thanks for the opinion". "Thanks, I'll try that out!"
In almost every case it is a genuine attempt to help. To let you know about something they think can be improved or would improve the image so you can be better - even if you're pretty damned good right now.
Constructive Criticism - Tips on peeling aside the personal gut reaction.
1) Remember that art is subjective. This means that it is "seen" differently by different people. Because people are unique, they appreciate different things. A group of people may appreciate similar things, but each one is an individual reaction. Even if 2 people like the same curve, they may like it for different reasons. The same things apply to what people don't like about a particular image or composition.
2) Your time and effort is not being dissed. While you may have put a lot of time and effort into something, the only thing that matters is the final result - what OTHER people can see. So they may not know that you spent an hour cloning out the pepsi can and adjusting the sky color just right - they know what they see - that there's a weird line in that one area that doesn't look quite right to them.
3) Take a deep breath. It is not a judgment on your entire or even partial worth as either a person or an artist. It's an opinion on this one image, and probably one or 2 aspects of this one image, not the whole thing. An artist is known by the entirety of their works, the good, the bad, the what was I thinking, and the magic pieces all together. If it helps, review Point 1 again.
4) Be generous. People aren't always great at phrasing things, so if it rubbed you the wrong way, the benefit of the doubt lets you to think that they didn't mean to insult you, they just didn't say it the best way. You never know - it might even be true!
Constructive Criticism - What to do with it.
1) Consider it. What WOULD happen if you followed the advice?
2) Try it out if you can. Get a good visual look at the difference it would make.
3) Decide. Now that you've given it consideration, do you agree with their opinion or not? If you don't, okay, no big deal. They didn't get "you". Review Tips Point 1. If you do - you've gained something valuable in your particular bag of tricks.
4) Be civil about it. "Interesting, I don't agree but thanks for the opinion". "Thanks, I'll try that out!"