No offense, but this is deserving of a personal blog, not a news page. This is not news, its your personal opinion. If you formatted it as an interview, you might argue that it belongs here.
I encourage people in the furry fandom to hold artists and writers to a higher level all the time. The fandom accepts low quality, unprofessional work constantly, encourages it even, by the despiration to get commissions, putting much more value on quantity than quality. Fantastically skilled artists are allowed to flourish in the fandom while still stealing people's money, skirting deadlines, etc. Of course, artists are not always to blame, since the fandom has created a commissioner/artist culture of low cost, low quality. Even in the best artists, you see this, and its simply because a low cost for a sketch deserves low attention to details and little time spent on each. We can't help that commissioners are not made of money, but personally I will never understand the FA accounts where people post dozens, sometimes hundreds of shit commissions when they could have had half a dozen pieces of really amazing stuff.
However, criticism is not always something people want on FA. Lots of people just do art for fun, or do commissions for an extra buck, and are utterly incapable of taking your criticism as anything other than insult. It is a very close-minded opinion to think that the artists or writers' world begins and ends in the furry fandom, or to think that furry art is so important to every artist that improving is their goal. Artists who do seek improvement CAN certainly learn something from an uninformed crit on FA, but it is not common. The value of a crit on FA typically goes only as far as whether or not the artist is interested in revisiting the completed and posted piece. Artists interested in improvement find the appropriate places to get feedback. This article assumes the average FA browser or furry fan knows a thing or two about analyzing art, and they don't. They may be capable of pointing out a flaw in an already completed piece, but it is foolish to believe that pointing out an anatomy mistake or a perspective issue in one piece significantly helps an artist grow. Did you play an instrument in school? When you're young, you could -possibly- get a constructive criticism from a parent, another student, etc. When that same musician is in college for music, I can promise you that their non-musician parent or used-to-play-clarinet friend cannot offer much of use...they must go to orchestral performers or virtuosos for useful criticism. As both an artist and a professional musician, I feel entitled to use this example. You may occassionally help a bad artist (only if truth they're a "growing" artist, only bad right now) by offering a crit, but the vast majority of bad artists are not actively looking to improve (aka, not "growing" artists). Those that have achieved some level of skill...sure, you may be able to point out a flaw or even 10, but you're kidding yourself to think that pointing out flaws is synonymous with helping an artist grow.
Encouraging people to criticize is LOOKING for trouble. People who enjoy doing it will do it, and people who mean well will put it in a way that is constructive. If the artist is welcoming to it, they will respond positively. If they respond negatively, leave them alone, they (and possibly their art) are not worth it. Encouraging people to push crit at someone who has shown repeatedly to be unreceptive, or doing it yourself, is trolling. Whether or not you are wording it obnoxiously is irrelevant. If you, from experience, know that someone responds in anger or stupidity to a crit, and you choose to do it some more, you're actively seeking that reaction.
No offense, but this is deserving of a personal blog, not a news page. This is not news, its your personal opinion. If you formatted it as an interview, you might argue that it belongs here.
I encourage people in the furry fandom to hold artists and writers to a higher level all the time. The fandom accepts low quality, unprofessional work constantly, encourages it even, by the despiration to get commissions, putting much more value on quantity than quality. Fantastically skilled artists are allowed to flourish in the fandom while still stealing people's money, skirting deadlines, etc. Of course, artists are not always to blame, since the fandom has created a commissioner/artist culture of low cost, low quality. Even in the best artists, you see this, and its simply because a low cost for a sketch deserves low attention to details and little time spent on each. We can't help that commissioners are not made of money, but personally I will never understand the FA accounts where people post dozens, sometimes hundreds of shit commissions when they could have had half a dozen pieces of really amazing stuff.
However, criticism is not always something people want on FA. Lots of people just do art for fun, or do commissions for an extra buck, and are utterly incapable of taking your criticism as anything other than insult. It is a very close-minded opinion to think that the artists or writers' world begins and ends in the furry fandom, or to think that furry art is so important to every artist that improving is their goal. Artists who do seek improvement CAN certainly learn something from an uninformed crit on FA, but it is not common. The value of a crit on FA typically goes only as far as whether or not the artist is interested in revisiting the completed and posted piece. Artists interested in improvement find the appropriate places to get feedback. This article assumes the average FA browser or furry fan knows a thing or two about analyzing art, and they don't. They may be capable of pointing out a flaw in an already completed piece, but it is foolish to believe that pointing out an anatomy mistake or a perspective issue in one piece significantly helps an artist grow. Did you play an instrument in school? When you're young, you could -possibly- get a constructive criticism from a parent, another student, etc. When that same musician is in college for music, I can promise you that their non-musician parent or used-to-play-clarinet friend cannot offer much of use...they must go to orchestral performers or virtuosos for useful criticism. As both an artist and a professional musician, I feel entitled to use this example. You may occassionally help a bad artist (only if truth they're a "growing" artist, only bad right now) by offering a crit, but the vast majority of bad artists are not actively looking to improve (aka, not "growing" artists). Those that have achieved some level of skill...sure, you may be able to point out a flaw or even 10, but you're kidding yourself to think that pointing out flaws is synonymous with helping an artist grow.
Encouraging people to criticize is LOOKING for trouble. People who enjoy doing it will do it, and people who mean well will put it in a way that is constructive. If the artist is welcoming to it, they will respond positively. If they respond negatively, leave them alone, they (and possibly their art) are not worth it. Encouraging people to push crit at someone who has shown repeatedly to be unreceptive, or doing it yourself, is trolling. Whether or not you are wording it obnoxiously is irrelevant. If you, from experience, know that someone responds in anger or stupidity to a crit, and you choose to do it some more, you're actively seeking that reaction.