Feedback Needed on Getting Feedback
polycounter lvl 7
Hello Polycount,
I need some advice on communicating my art with others. Whenever I post something somewhere, my art goes mostly ignored. I have no idea why. I would really like to get more feedback on my pieces. I am not sure how to word this, to not sound super mopey.
I am aware that I need to improve a lot. I am not expecting people to bend over backwards giving me compliments. I am just looking for some acknowledgement. A sign that my art actually exists. It is very hard to push myself into practicing when I cannot feel any feedback at all. I would really like to make it in the gaming industry, and don't want to stop caring. I post less and less stuff online due to the fact that I see no point in doing so.
How do I change that? How do I make my art more appealing?
Here are some examples of my recent works:
Thank you for your advice. (crits on the art itself are highly appreciated too
)
I need some advice on communicating my art with others. Whenever I post something somewhere, my art goes mostly ignored. I have no idea why. I would really like to get more feedback on my pieces. I am not sure how to word this, to not sound super mopey.
I am aware that I need to improve a lot. I am not expecting people to bend over backwards giving me compliments. I am just looking for some acknowledgement. A sign that my art actually exists. It is very hard to push myself into practicing when I cannot feel any feedback at all. I would really like to make it in the gaming industry, and don't want to stop caring. I post less and less stuff online due to the fact that I see no point in doing so.
How do I change that? How do I make my art more appealing?
Here are some examples of my recent works:
Thank you for your advice. (crits on the art itself are highly appreciated too
)
Replies
I think you've just moved into that intermediate-level, where you aren't a complete newbie, but you aren't a rockstar yet.
Newbies need to work on pretty much everything, and it's easy to give a quick critique that can help a ton.
Intermediate guys are too advanced for a quick critique and require much more work to give anything helpful.
Rockstars really know what they are doing, so the critiques are usually light, maybe lots of compliments.
As far as your work goes, again, it's really hard not to get super wordy and write paragraphs, so I'll just focus on one thing...
As far as appeal, I've seen hundreds if not thousands of elf-girls in armor, anime-girls with random technology, and robot dudes fighting robot/creature-things. I think when other artists go over art like that, they tend to move on without thinking as it almost seems like just more of the same. The pieces could really stand out more if they had more elements in the design that told a history/story of that object/character.
Check this out: Art by Lena Richards
This is a page of drawings by an artist I really look up to. Nothing fancy, no crazy renderings or effects that some artists use to attract a viewers attention, yet it really makes you stop and go over each and every sketch. Each piece tells a story, makes you imagine a world where these things exist, and you just get lost in imagining what these characters would be like.
For example, if you designed the armor of the girl on top in such a way that made her specialized in hunting say, giant mole creatures in a desert biome, the viewer wouldn't know that exactly, but you would see a large amount of changes in her design and that would make her much more interesting to look at.
I've been thinking about this subject for a while, and I've come to realize what I keep getting drawn to are pieces that are really 'fun'. Like, even if the piece isn't done very well, or is kind of unfinished, a fun piece will still engage the viewer. It will make people want to look at what you have created rather than just being another piece. I've stopped posting art publicly for a bit, as I'm trying to work out the same thing for myself.
I ended up writing too many words just to get my point across, but I hope this helps, I'm incredibly exhausted and I'm not entirely sure this whole rant makes sense. Good luck!
If you want acknowledgement then you should make a tumblr account (or any social site with tons of amateur artists, meaning not ArtStation), follow some artists and like/comment on their work. Make friends and acquaintances. Soon you'll have an awesome circle jerk going. I know that sounds patronizing but it's not intended to be, thats what just about everyone does.
People might like your work, but unless it's amazing they're not going to drop whatever they're doing and send a stranger a message about it. That's when it's useful to actually know people because they'll actually say something.
And I mean likeminded artists who are close to your age/skill level that you can become friends with and grow together. Don't just follow and send messages to your art heroes.. 99% of the time even if they respond the best you can hope for is a teacher-student relationship where you're showering them with compliments and asking for advice.
It also helps to give your own characters stories and personality, instead of just churning out character designs. Especially on a blog where it's easier to let people learn about what you're making at a slow pace.
If what you want is criticism, my advice is much the same. Get friends, particularly ones that are better than you and especially ones that will give you honest feedback. You can't always rely on strangers on the internet to go out of their way to help you, but friends are more likely to take the time. Otherwise, I give you Cunningham's law: "The best way to get the right answer on the Internet is not to ask a question, it's to post the wrong answer."
You can pretty much extend this to apply to posting with the wrong attitude too, if you advertise that you aren't open to criticism then you can expect to get shit loads of it.
Also, though I've never been to one supposedly the polycount hangouts are pretty active? Might be worth checking out.
TL;DR: You got 5 posts here man, god only knows what you're doing elsewhere. Try talking to people.
I don't think there is a big difference between giving crits to anyone. It is easy to tell someone to work on anatomy. But it is much more helpful to try and explain how drawing is working with objects in space (which is a realisation that is hard to come by), how to think in shapes instead of symbols etc. So it is a bit demotivating to be left out.
I actually think that people who are intermediate are way easier to give crits to, because you can concentrate on specific stuff and it is very likely they will understand without long walls of text.
@ AtticusMars: I will expect praise once I feel I deserve it
(skill is left to right and comments are bottom to top)
First of, what type of style do you want to achieve? any artist you look up to?
as for general crits, you suffer a lot from "here is a character" syndrome, meaning just a random painting of something. to follow up on what Avanthera said, think about what you are creating, make up a simple story or at least some sort of event, and show that.
for example the manga chick; she is clearly doing something, but what, is it like a martial art pose? is she fighting anyone, maybe show a silhouette of that. or is she dancing? pointing at something, I honestly have no idea. you also suffer from being to zoomed in, not even showing a half figure, but rather closeups. this makes it hard to see what going on and even harder for you to tell a story.
as for rendering you could really work on your material definition, right now everything looks like its made out of brushstrokes, there is no difference between materials like metal, skin, clothes or hair. do some studies on that.
as for appeal and beauty I can recommend this video
[ame]
Thank you for the graph. It motivated me to work harder
There are many artists that I look up to and want to try everything. I paint a lot of anime girls in my free time when I am only in the mood to draw something.
people like Paul Kwon, Alchemaniac, Eric Muentes, but also work from games like Skullgirls and BlazBlue and work from [url=http://alessandrobarbucci.blogspot.sk/[/url]Alessandro Barbucci[/url]
The last one uses very readable shapes for me so I often use it as reference when I want to work in a similar style.
As long as concept art is concerned I love the stuff of Ruan Jia, Jen Zee. and Luke Mancini
from the classics I really adore the work of Caspar David Friedrich, Vincenso Patzo, Charles Barque.
There are many more I look up to actually. I think most artists have something to look up to.
I will try and come up with more complete designs with more thought behind them. I find it very hard when I go from "just an elf in an armor" to "this particular elf in armor"
I tried a quick study today:
I really need to work on materials. I will try to do more studies every day.
Good luck!
-V
I have offered a bit of critique on polycount before and for the most part I find myself in 3 types of threads and try to act accordingly to each. There are threads that I can contribute to and the original poster is open to feed back, threads that I can contribute to and the original poster is opposed to my critique (either because of my delivery or my advice) and threads I can't contribute to.
The easiest one to cover is the last, the ones I can't contribute to. I'm not a character illustrator, a production asset creator, a pixel artist or a ui artist. I know a bit about them, I've done them from time to time, but my focus is else where and I don't think its right for me to try and help those asking for feedback outside of the fundementals (like check the perspective on your helmet painting, the left side is collapsing a bit and you can fix that by skewing the top left corner up a tad.)
So with that said, I focus on concept art and as such only really browse through concept art threads. The majority of the threads are usually compliment baits and I avoid those. I also read most of the feedback previously given and if the OP seems to be fighting feedback, I also avoid those. Then I try to look at the overall manner of how the thread is progressing and if I feel like my delivery method isn't going to be well taken by the OP, I avoid those threads as well.
I'll kinda sum up what I've learn working closely with other amazingly talented artist. Bad critique offered at good times can be waste of time and a good critique offered at a bad time will fall on deaf ears. I've had colleagues genuinely trying to help me with stuff they are extremely knowledgable on and just because I was having an off day I fought them on critique. This also goes for if the person is ready for the help or not. Trying to have someone work on bounce light specular when they can't even render form in perspective is not going to help them improve.
So I really only apply to threads I think I can help the OP in and that he will actually make use of the help. Which is how I think most people treat this type of forum and may be responsible for why you're not drumming up a lot of interest on a small 2D subforum on a traditionally 3D dominate website.
That being said, the more information you provide about your pieces whether verbal or by showing process the more people who want to help can identify what you're going for. If you show that you're someone who makes use of feedback and applies it to the newer pieces you're working on you'll start developing circles of people who follow your threads. I follow Ayoub44, Camie and cstlmode because they seem like great guys that are willing to put the time in to better their craft.
I hope understanding it from a person who gives feedbacks perspective helps you kinda gear your thread to attract those types of people.
I will try to work on smaller things for a bit now. It was always a matter of pride for me. I thought that doing small things was just a waste of time. The thing is that I get confused by intricate references (spiral staircases, engines with lots of details and small parts) - so I did not want to make it easy for me. When you mentioned this, there are some portions of the fundamentals I haven't dedicated as much time to, though. Light, for example. I understand a bit of it, but that's all, lol. I need to make the connection for how colors change.
@ Greg Westphal: Thanks. I will try to be super specific in each post.