a**holes on an art site

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Recently I uploaded a piece of artwork onto an art-themed message board asking for critique, and one poster said that I needed to work on basic drawing skills---but the thing is he didn't specify exactly what was wrong with my drawing so I could fix or at least avoid making the same mistakes again. I asked for a more substantive critique, and while one other poster was kind enough to give me that critique, everyone else was like "you have to figure it out for yourself", and one jackass even called me a "snot-nosed kid". Apparently they think critiquing a beginner's artwork is spoon-feeding drawing skills.

f**k them.

I think asking for critique gives trolls an excuse to trash your work than being nice about it when giving out criticism. But it's hard to tell if someone is trolling or not because they may not be trying to be mean but they just don't know how to say it and I also think it's laziness to tell you what parts were wrong with it so they don't tell you the specifics.

^ But these were supposedly professional and more experienced artists. I suspect the problem with them is arrogance more than anything.

I wouldn't worry to much about it. I work at a comic book shop part time and people constantly talk crap about professional artists. It is one things to have personal likes and dislikes in art styles. If I were you I would listen to those who give you advice and ignore those who are just putting down your art.

If there's one thing I've learned about posting artwork on the Internet, it's that it's really difficult to find people who are willing to give an unbiased critique of your work. Less-experienced artists will think everything you do is awesome because they don't know how to spot flaws in artwork, while more-experienced artists will call your work garbage because they went to art school and think that means that they're better than everyone else.

For the record Brandon, I really enjoy your artwork. You have a knack for drawing dinosaurs and your humans remind me of old-school cartoons, which is a good thing.

It wasn't that people didn't like my artwork that pissed me off, it was that they didn't want to critique it in depth and expected me to figure it out all for myself without providing any kind of direction for my studies so I don't make the same mistakes over and over again. How the hell am I supposed to improve if I don't know what I'm doing wrong in the first place?

I haven't seen the comments but i can understand where they are coming from. If you want to draw you will constantly have to be your own drill Sargent. Nobody can teach you how to draw but you, At first i had no clue how to practice but after doing research it all became clear. What i mean is that you have to Google for a couple of hours and just read discussions of people already giving advice to each other/blogs and youtube videos. This is more effective then asking for advice yourself. People are just annoyed that they have to say the same things over and over to artists who are still learning a lot.

^ But what if you keep making the same mistakes over and over again without someone telling you you're doing it wrong? As an example, even though I've done many leg studies, I would keep getting the knees wrong, but I wasn't aware of that until someone was kind enough to tell me exactly why they didn't look right. It is possible for someone to misinterpret what they're studying and render it incorrectly, and only specific feedback can fix that problem.

You're not doing it wrong unless you think you are. Do what you do to please yourself. That's my approach to my music and my other art. If people are a**holes about it, f**k 'em, I'm just as happy haunting them with an unsettling memory.

I was going to suggest ConceptArt.org but I scrolled through a sketchbook and found a post by you.
I don't know if this is the "art-themed message board" but listen to the good advice and discard the negative ones.

MatthewHD gave some good advice in his last comment. Slide over to a toy shop and get some dinos and action figures, small and large.

Study the basics. Anatomy, take your time on details and use the toys to experiment with scale and proportions of the build.
It looks like you know what you want to do and how it should look but the lack of training in scale and depth compromises your work. screw the shades and the muscles for now, get the size right and take your time always. When you get the hang of the scale and proportions of the anatomy and build the muscles, veins, shades, depth will follow and fall in place.

And keep making block figures, no need to shade them yet. (the size looks very good on the last block figure you posted)

Keep the pen lose and light. No determined lines are needed. The best work is born from lose shapes and clutter.

Keep going Mr. P. Repetition, repetition, repetition. It is the cradle of progress. Ones you are sure of the dimensions move on to textures. One study at the time.
The hands and feet study looks good, but disappears in the finished work. Maybe your rushing it a bit, maybe... ~shrugs~

No rush. Have fun.

There is always the danger of posting on a public forum - especially one full of professionals that make art their life. If the board is geared towards professionals, its probably not the place to find kinder, gentler beginners critique. But, even a 'bad' critique can be helpful if you read into the point of it. I did go to art school and nothing that described is any different than class critiques that many artists have already endured. If your anatomy is off - it needs practice. There really is no other way to improve. Drawing is a skill, like any other and it only gets better with time and practice practice practice.

There is a fairly well known book that many people turn to - it's nearly a text book in art school; Drawing On The Right Side of the Brain

Perhaps looking for a site geared towards your skill level would be more helpful.

It seems to me that these days good teaching is a rare skill.

In music for example people might get good at Guitar but be terrible at teaching it. An enthusiastic novice may approach them and the Guitarist just whips through a few chords and says "Now you do it.".


As for comics that reminds me of how people used to criticize Rob Leifeld for his weird perspectives and tiny feet but it seemed to be a distinctive look that worked for him.