Finding Critique: A Moby Dick of Text

Gaining a constructive critique for your art is certainly a hard process. Generally we are exposed to sticker comments, ‘Awesome!’ or ‘Good Job’ that offer no specific outlook on your work. Eventually we become exposed to impersonal formats like the Internet or a College course, places that typically esteem to vicious comments that are not meant to help the artist, but rather show the grand intelligence of the reviewer. Both forms of feedback may be lacking, yet they can retain truth regarding the work in question. However these crude forms of critique tend to not help the artist in question…why?

Why does an artist ever want a critique? Is it to improve their work, to expand their general sense of talent? Yes, and no. This question is too general. All an artist really wants is to better communicate with their audience. Communication. An artist in theory tries to bridle raw emotions; they want others to feel what they are feeling. They must in a sense successfully transplant their heart into the body of another being. Some donors simply will not match other needing bodies, but in the case of a match it needs to be in healthy working order.

I liked how the writer referred to finding an honest critique to the pains of finding a mate. I feel it may extend further than this. It is hard finding someone you can love forever, but it is even harder making sure that love lasts. The only way it will remain compatible is if you are willing to adapt and change as you live your life. As an artist we have to be open to this dynamic exchange. You may have a certain audience, but you need to make sure you are doing your best to meet their needs. A critique will most likely not change garbage to gold, but rather raise decent work into fully appreciated art.

As far as writing goes I think it can be quite hard to get a worthwhile critique. You can have people critique grammar, sentence structure, and screenwriting structure. This is all technical stuff that should be addressed to help the viewer. Then there is the artistic, emotional spacing of dialog and action. People will not identify with your motivations with certain elements and may hand you suggestions…all of it is pure opinion. People after all critique professional work; at some point you have to do what you feel is best. The reason outside views are so great is it gives your work a new perspective, and you need to weigh whether that perspective needs to be addressed. While you may have the final edit in your own work it is probably best to remember that your own words are your own stated opinion. Your opinion in the end will always be right for your work, but that doesn’t make it true. It is within these grounds of uncertainty that outside opinions are worth considering.

It is incredibly hard to be rebellious and daring with your work while still retaining the viewer. Modern art demands the viewer to come to the artist’s understanding. Commercial art demands the artist to come to the viewer’s understanding. I feel that great art seeks the turbulent ground found somewhere in-between. It is something that both the artist and the viewer may struggle to grasp without serious, meaningful consideration to the body of the work.

With that stated, obviously it would be hard to find others willing to really give you great critique. You have to find someone that has an understanding of the medium and also has a personal ability to sense real emotion. Sometimes these are other artists, in other cases they are analytical geniuses that have an eye for greater communication. The general public lacks this talent, and so do many artists.

I would like to relate this to a class structure, whether this is found in church or school. Most classes are filled with facts, and safe thoughts. The instructor provides truth, and then asks for pat/seminary answers. This is ordinary and impersonal. It becomes the learner’s responsibility to make the information personal by creating inner dialog with their mind or spirit. A greater class structure provides discussion, volatile expressions that do not find answers but simply urge extra effort between everyone involved. My mind is invigorated; my spirit enlarged; when people refrain from giving answers, and rather give me their thoughts and feelings.

It is hard enough to find art among students that seem to hold nothing back, how can I expect them to provide meaningful critique? A real critique makes that person feel just as insecure as the actual artist.

Last Fall I posted a 9-page short story in a general e-mail to my fellow animation students. I had been working on this story for the previous four months. Out of this group I would guess about half of them actually read it. Reading is hard after all. Of those that read it a handful said they liked it. Two gave nice story suggestions. Then out of the blue, one student the following week handed me a print out of my story with a considerable amount of hand written notes. It is the most tremendous gift I had ever received and it was from someone I had barely said anything to beyond mere daily salutations. He had put a few hours of thought into my work and I took almost all of his suggestions seriously and made the appropriate changes. He helped my work reach the threshold of expression I had been seeking.

People generally won’t do this for you. They just want to eat your sweet things, and sit around accruing any additional fat provided to them. They don’t want to explain why they enjoyed your baking, how it could be better, and heaven forbid they do the dishes for you! That is what a critique requires. Good luck finding it.

As the reading suggests finding a person to help you critique your work before passing it on to an editor or publishing house, perhaps it is best to also pass it through your own mind several times before shoving it on to anyone else. After all this schooling and media consumption I would hope I could have a fairly clear objective eye when going over my own work.

-Nephi Hepworth