Critique & anger, a lethal mix

[Karin Wells]

I love this Forum as a way for professionals to exchange technical and philosophical information as well as offer our help to beginning portrait artists. I think that this is a wonderful profession but I am more and more concerned about the low quality of work that I am seeing.

Here is an old example from our Photographic Reference section. Since few of us paint from life, photography is a very important skill for most of us to master. The photographic reference section of this forum is the one place where all of us - both pro and beginner alike - are pretty much on the same footing.

Taking pictures is just plain hard work. But unlike handling a brush, rudimentary knowlege of handling a camera is simply not beyond anybody's skill level.

To take a poor reference photo and delude yourself that it is OK for any reason will probably get in the way of any artist ever making a quantum leap in their quality of work.

Sometimes when I get critical of reference photographs, it annoys and hurts people. I get emails. They let me know.

Also, in the Critique section of this forum, I have seen the same thing too often happen in that trying to help someone will generate anger.

My problem is this...how do we say what we think we need to say in order to help an artist improve their work? In my experience, the only way I learn something is by the mistakes I have made and eventually become able to see. My best teachers always pointed out my mistakes, thank heavens! In the past I have made a ridiculous amount of mistakes and look forward to making many more.

Offending others and generating bad feelings is not only a crummy and frustrating experience but a colossal waste of time.

Sometimes I feel as if I am picking my way through a mine field. In a Forum like this, is there any way to tell who really wants help and not just a happy pat on the back?

Maybe we should start a list...

[Michael Georges]

Karin:

I think you are dead on.

It is absolutely true that as portrait artists, it is essential that we understand WHAT makes a good portrait, and HOW to get the reference that reflects our vision. Regardless of whether you are working from life or photos, there needs to be a baseline understanding and knowlege possessed by the artist of what works about what you are seeing in your subject and what does not work.

If you are going to paint from photos, you need to be almost as good or better than a professional photographer. You need the training, the skill, and the equipment.

We need to view our reference with the most critical eye because it will be reflected in the painting. A fine art portrait artist lives and dies on their customer's delight with their commission. Satisfaction is not enough, IMO.

Further, this site is primarily for working pros/semi-pros and you gotta be able and willing to take some hard criticism if you want to improve and you have to do it with a professional attitude.

For those on this site doing portraiture for our living, this is the big time and it is deadly serious stuff...

[Sharon Knettell]

Karin,

I have been feeling the same way. I will not comment on many posts for that reason. You and I know how difficult portraiture is and how dearly won are the skills. Far, far too many of the posts trivialize this area of artistic endeavour.

I think it is pointless to comment on someone's first effort or otherwise done from a snapshot or a photo studio. If the person is serious enough about improving he or she should be told the proper steps to take to acheive their objectives.

They should be, in my opinion:

A: First learn the basics of drawing shapes in black and white directly from simple objects.

B: Draw from life until they achieve a modicum of skill in that area, and then only in black and white. Do not use color untill you have mastered this.

C: Learn how to draw drapery well.

D: Get a good tape or take a beginning workshop in portraiture, do simple heads over and over again from life. Find a good atelier or teacher, even better.

E: Learn, master and respect your tools, mediums and skills. A portfolio is not a series of copies of photos.

F: Master the basics of color, there are many points of view here.

G: Develop a point of view about your work so it is uniquely yours and you have something different to say and offer. You are not just another repetitious clone.

H: Master the aspects of photography that best serve your purposes and ends. There is nothing more tedious to a client than to be called back because of your incompetence, lack of vision or planning. Accidents and unforseen things do happen, or you think you can improve on a direction. That sometimes happens.

I: Direct the picture, do not paint the client's vision. Accommodate only when absolutely neccesary. You are the artist.

J: Visit and revisit museums for inspiration and study.

K: Continue to work from life at every opportunity.

L: Make sure your work adds to the beauty and harmony of the world and is not an expression of your neuroses or future landfill.

M: I almost forgot this. PATIENCE! I find so often we rush the process, hurrying to create our masterpieces,instead we create pieces that reflect our anxiety. We often mistake this for enthusiasm. We ignore and the time it takes to master the basic skills that are neccessary. The Japanese do not consider you a master of any art form untill you have apprenticed full time for ten years. I find humbling the idea that the world is not holding its breath waiting for my latest daubings.

Sincerely,

[Mari DeRuntz]

Thank you for posting this, Karin. If this forum is to reach its true potential, critiques must be clear and honest. No sugar-coating from the instructor giving enough to give it; no whining from the student who needs to hear it. Amen.

And if you truly love painting portraits, it should not at all be distasteful to revisit the basics throughout your career. We all need to do more tonal drawing exercises. We all need to do plein air color brick studies. Incorporate them into your routine; it's more relevant to your body of work than sitting at a computer browsing a forum.

[Michele Rushworth]

Perhaps we should create a set of "Recommended Steps", something like Sharon's post, above, that we could direct people to on the forum when their work shows a need to revisit the basics.

This would prevent us from having to repeat the same advice over and over, sometimes to the same person more than once!

(I know that just creating this list could be a source of endless argument between some of the pros, so perhaps we could ask Cynthia to just pick someone to write a list of their top 10 portrait artist skills or exercises. Any of the long term pros on this forum could write a very adequate list that most of us would agree to.)

Karin, to address your question about how to avoid creating resentment in the recipient of a critique: sometimes it's unavoidable. Some folks don't listen to the gentler, subtler tips and sometimes a post like the one you refer to are very necessary for the artist in question to hear. Sometimes the truth hurts.

[Enzie Shahmiri]

I fully understand the frustrations involved when trying to offer critique. We have discussed the two ends of giving and receiving critique in the past, in other words the language to be used, conduct, etc.

We are not only dealing with photography issues, but also with color and image distortions when uploading pictures to the website. The Artists Magazine has a nice article about photography and Digital Reproduction in its April Issue and I would recommend everyone to read through it. I found the Quality Control section on image resolution quiet helpful.

Maybe someone else on this forum can talk about scan settings and upload requirements of images in a separate thread that can be accessed by anyone who has any doubts on how to do it.

I would also find it helpful if someone who truly knows photography could invest some time and post photos that constitute good reference photos and point out why it makes them good reference. There should be pictures taken with frontal lighting and side lighting, so novices can see how shadows need to be defined in the reference. Minute differences in aperture settings can make a world of difference and what one sees as just fine can be quite deceiving when compared to the work of a pro.

It is quite a struggle to get a grip on all these elements at the same time, but with proper examples those giving critiques might be able to save some time and redirect those asking to the proper thread for direction.

Of course that still leaves the old tattered out of focus references from eons ago that are being used. Those who insist on using those references should know they are on their own when it

[Michael Georges]

B: Draw from life until they acheive a modicum of skill in that area, and then only in black and white. Do not use color untill you have mastered this.

Sharon:

As one who is now having to catch up in this area, I definately have to agree. If I had started going to life drawing classes when I started pursuing portraiture in 1998, I believe my art would be much better today. It's tough to do and it's really humbling but it is worth every drop of sweat I put into it.

[Mike McCarty]

By either angels, demons, or both, I have been driven to succeed at this work. My training has been fashioned by my own logic.

I stumbled around for years trying to create art from what I thought were interesting photographs. It almost angers me when I think where I might be today in my work had there been an artist forum at my finger tips years ago, if there had been someone who could have hammered into my head a few simple truths.

It never occured to me to try and copy the old masters or even photos from magazines. I think it was mostly ego, but I wanted to point at my work and say that it was mine and mine alone.

After so many years it just came to me like a brick against the side of my head. If I was going to create art from a photograph (and this seemed completely legitimate to me) I was going to have to create an artful photograph.

I then set out to photograph everyone that came into my view. I would find interesting faces and coax them into a photo session. For their trouble I would give them a nice (even if not great, usually nicer than they had ever had) 8x10 photo portrait.

I have taken thousands of bad photographs, and I would not like to calculate my expenses.

What then came to me, also like a brick to the side of the head, was that it is all about composition. All is secondary to the composition. Whether I mix cad red medium or cad red light is just a manageable detail.

I know my path through this work has been different, and I don't suggest that this way is better than others suggested. But my point is this: if composition is "King", and if the camera is the greatest compositional teaching tool I have ever found, and it is, and if every photograph is an instant study in composition (if you will view it as such), then why not take some time off and take a few hundred rolls. And by the way I have never taken a photography class but I would never discourage someone from doing so.

Maybe my journey has put the classic approach on its head, I don't know. I hope someday to study with a great teacher. I hope someday to paint more from life. I do believe that my efforts to date have prepared me to begin.

[Chuck Yokota]

Sometimes I feel as if I am picking my way through a mine field. In a Forum like this, is there any way to tell who really wants help and not just a happy pat on the back?

Maybe we should start a list...

If you start a list, put me down as really wanting help. It is wonderful that talented and experienced professionals will take the time and trouble to post a critique of my work. I value your comments and advice like gold. I have already gained a lot of understanding about what I need to improve and how to go about improving. Reading other critiques has also been valuable in understanding what goes into making a good portrait.

It is only human to remember an argumentative or ungrateful reaction to your critique much more sharply than acceptance and gratitude. I try to express my thanks and want to show that I've taken the advice to heart when I next post for critique. So please don't feel that you are "casting your pearls before swine."

[Michele Rushworth]

Karin Wells started this thread off with this paragraph:

I love this Forum as a way for professionals to exchange technical and philosophical information as well as offer our help to beginning portrait artists. I think that this is a wonderful profession but I am more and more concerned about the low quality of work that I am seeing.

What do folks think about making the critique section juried? People who don't make the cut to have their work critiqued could be gently advised to implement some list of basic skills to master before resubmitting.

I think many people would benefit from seeing a much higher level of work being critiqued.

How do others feel?