Giving talks and providing good feedback (face to face).

Stinger88

TLDR: Have you got any tips on giving talks or providing good feedback to students face to face?

I've been getting more involved with college and uni visits arranged by work. Recently I shadowed one of our art directors as he gave feedback to a group of students at a local Uni. While on these visits I've occasionally been asked to give feedback on student work and portfolios. I know the "general" sort of things to say about peoples work and I know what makes a good portfolio, even if my own portfolio is in dire need of an update (see: http://wiki.polycount.com/wiki/Portfolio). One day I hope to stand in front of a group of people and give talks and provide valuable feedback with confidence, something i'm lacking tbh...

I often feel like i'm an "impostor" and in no position to give feedback, probably due to a lack of confidence in my own work. I also know what makes great art, so when I look at student work I probably expect a much higher a standard, so I often see far more bad things in the work than good, and I often feel like i'm being too harsh.

One great piece of advice my art director gave me about providing good feedback was to always start with something you like about a piece/portfolio. This engages the person more from the beginning and they will accept the "more negative" things you have to say later. If you start with the bad, the person is more inclined to not want to hear anymore and they may "switch off" at that point.

So... Do you guys have any good tips and tricks when it comes to speaking to students and/or giving good feedback/critique on peoples work, face to face?

ta

slipsius

Definitely shit sandwich it. Start with something you like, say the negatives, then end with something you like, or reinforce what you liked earlier.

It also depends on how far along in the schooling they are. First years, I try to give more general tips. Work on Silhouette. Your work needs more overlap or other animation principles they are missing. reference reference reference. Stuff like that. I find the further along in their school, the harsher I am. If i have time, that's when i start ripping apart their shots, frame by frame if time permits. I know that's more animation side than modelling and such, but i think it would be the same for both.

But ya, in person crits, I definitely give more broad crits and try and push them into the right direction, as opposed to telling them what specifically they should fix on their shots. Chances are they arent writing anything down in person anyways, so detailed stuff is a bit of a waste, especially if you`re spreading your time between students. Portfolio layout / setup is easier to be more detailed. "Don't use wix" is pretty common. haha.

Online is much easier to give detailed stuff. At least, that's how i see it. Seems to be working so far. If they seem really interested in my crits, i`ll give them my email and tell them to send me their stuff to give a more detailed crit.

Mask_Salesman

Yeah their ego's are pretty fragile as students, it's also best to assume they know nothing, ignore they may have just graduated etc.
As I've found alot simply don't know what are good resources to learn from. So just pointing them in the right direction can be a big help even without going into an indepth critique; All the foundation basics etc, perspective, lighting & form, anatomy books, basically telling em to pickup a Loomis book lol. pipeline tuts, Polycount

Emphasizing how important and useful being part of a community can be for not just your artistic skill improvement but your communication skills aswell, not to mention the networking aspect.

Telling them that it doesn't matter that Feng Zhu is amazeballs, drawcrowd has a terrible interface as a portfolio site lol.

pior

You can also start by asking them to give you their *own* critique on their work, what they think needs improvement, and so on. It can be a great springboard to a productive exchange.

Also, make sure that they are taking actual notes !

Eric Chadwick

Good advice above.

I also find it helps to be generic, at least in the beginning until I can get a better sense of how fragile this person's ego is, whether they're actually open to critique or not. Most students sadly are not.

It's a big waste of both our time if they just want a pat on the back, and shut down when they start to hear constructive criticism.

So, looking at their face it's usually pretty obvious which way it's going, no matter how nice I pad it. That's when I know whether to continue or just wrap up and move on.

kanga

Just a quick general note between us (not for students). You really dont have to be a master craftsman to be able to give good direction. Some of the best art directors I have worked for couldn't draw their way out of a wet paper bag. I think your director buddy nailed it when he said to find something good to point out first.

In general students have a lot of energy which is a fun thing to be around!