Providing constructive criticism to group members

_{*Please note that I’m writing this from my personal experience. I did not copy this text from somewhere; I wrote this by myself to share my knowledge and advice with those who need it. I might have made a mistake somewhere or missed something, but I’m still learning, like most of us.}




Why is giving constructive criticism in a group so important, you ask?
Well, the reason for giving critiques in general is quite obvious – to help other artists improve, to share your opinion, to give your input on how you perceive one’s work. Why would you want to do that? Because you’re nice and polite person that wants to help others, of course.

With this growing number of groups on dA, I noticed that not a lot of group administrators are giving proper feedback. Most of us are just amateurs, trying to learn more about the kind of art we’re interested in.
Not all of us have premiums memberships, but why couldn’t regular members give their opinion anyway? The group system is great, if you ask me. It could be improved, of course, but that’s not the point here. It’s a great opportunity to learn, to grow as an artist and I believe that was the main reason why dA has the group feature in the first place. (No, not to abuse it with adding all of your work to 50 groups.)

When speaking of giving feedback when the artist wants to know why you declined it, it’s even more important to give your two cents. That way, the artist will know how to improve and what kind of art your group accepts.

Common reasons why you don’t want to give constructive criticism:

You don’t feel like sharing your opinion. - That’s too bad; you will probably lose your group members and give the impression that you’re just one stuck up prick and that you just don’t care about your members. Do you really want that?
You don’t really know how to express yourself. - That’s why I’m writing this. Please continue reading.
Giving critiques does take too much of your precious time, doesn’t it? – Well, suck it up. Why did you start a group/applied as a moderator in the first place?
Oh, you don’t really know why you declined it/you declined a work and you’re not really familiar with the technique or the medium. – Wait, what? Go apologize! If you couldn’t find a good reason for declining it, then you probably should have accepted it. Not your area of expertise? Find moderators who will vote on those submissions. Again, why did you start a group that will feature mediums that you have no idea about? Go apologize.

What should you write? How do you put it?

Grammar is really important when writing a good critique – use spell checks, dictionaries, Google some terms before posting your critique because you’ll give the impression that you don’t even know how to write, not to mention give proper critiques. That’s why I apologize for all my grammar and usage mistakes; my excuse is that English is not my first language, what’s yours?

Let’s start with some basics:

-Critic =/= critique – A critique is the written product of thorough examination of one’s work while the critic is the person who gives critiques. So next time when you ask for a critic, ask yourself if you really want one to come to your house.
-Criticism =/= being an ass – Critique needs to be constructive, not destructive. Don’t just pile up things that need to be fixed. Offer your advice or solution on how it could be fixed.

The next thing I would want you to consider is – sandwich. Don’t think about noms just yet – I want to point out the sandwich structure.
We all know how a sandwich looks like and we all probably made at least one in our lives. First you put the bread, right? Then you put (whatever you put in a sandwich next) and pile up other ingredients and then you put another slice of bread on top of it. (No, I don’t really care if you do it differently, we’ll do it my way. )

The same thing goes with critiques: imagine the first slice of bread as a positive statement, something that you really liked in one’s work. You can use expressions like:

-“I like how you used (insert what you liked**)...”
-“That (**) looks amazing...”
-“The (**) is really beautifully done/amazing/great/original/etc. ...”

And then you put the butter on top of that:

-“...but, I think that your work could be improved.”
-“...but, I don’t really know if (something that you didn’t like***) was done right.”
-“...but, I believe that (***) was necessary here.”

I think you understand what I wanted to say here. In this part of the critique it’s really important to start with something that you like. The artist will feel much better if your opening is positive.
It’s important that you don’t say the exact reason why you declined it right away – the rest of the critique would be pointless if you did so. Say something more general, something that could be applied to almost any piece.
You could use expressions like “I think”, “I feel”, “I believe” because some would probably disagree with your opinion and it’s important that you say that these are just your two cents.

Now we are moving on to stuff you’ll put on that butter. I don’t care if it’s salami, ham, bacon, eggs, some vegetarian or vegan stuff you put in your sandwich these days, it just matters that it’s probably the reason why you’re making this sandwich in the first place.
This is the main part of the sandwich/critique and you’d want to put it the right way or your sandwich/critique will not taste very well.

You’ll probably have more than one reason why you declined it, so you’ll need to have layers. Between every slice of (ham, bacon, salami) you would want to put some cheese, mayonnaise, mustard or whatever to make the sandwich more interesting. That ingredient will tone down your negative statements about the work.
Those are some advices that can help the artist improve.
Try to use expressions like:

- “Next time, you could...”,
-“Maybe it would look more interesting if...”,
-“Maybe it would look even more interesting if...”,
-“You could’ve used (insert what) that would (do something that could improve it).”.

You could use “a little”, “a bit”, “not too much”, because then the artist feels like he’s just one little adjustment away from improvement and that he wasn’t completely wrong.
Provide links to articles, tutorials, instructions, videos, etc. that will help the artist understand it better or offer your precious knowledge - explain it yourself.
You would want to avoid the word “should”, unless you’ll use “maybe” with it, because you don’t really know if that thing was actually intentional or not. It also implies that you’re being a smartass.
Also, try to avoid sentences that sound like orders.

The last thing you need to do is put that second slice of bread on top of all of this. This slice is, again, positive – try to end it all with a positive or neutral comment that will give the artist some hope and make them feel better.
Try using:

-“I hope this didn’t sound harsh”,
-“I hope this helped”,
-“Please don’t be discouraged by this”,
-“Good luck with your future submissions”, etc.

Don’t forget to be polite. Add “Have a nice day/week/weekend”, “Take care”, “Regards”, etc.



One other question that I believe needs to be answered:

What if the artist is being rude to you? How dare he? You’ll show him, right? – That’s the worst possible reaction. If the artist is just upset because his work was declined, then your critique was probably not helpful enough or it was too harsh/put bluntly. Try explaining it a bit better. If he continues to be rude and insult you or the staff although you were polite, IGNORE him. He’ll forget about it eventually. Your decision was final and there’s nothing he can do.

That’s about it, I guess. If I forgot something, or if you have any questions, feel free to comment.

I really hope some will find this helpful! Have a nice week!
ScarletteDeath