Rant of the day.

[lionkingcmsl]

People are upset that I'm leaving the NCD. Well, tough noogies.

One of the reasons I left is because of a lack of feedback on my creations and/or photos.

People say, "My artwork (writing) is ****. That means I can't critique others." That is a load of bull****!

I believe the above comment is a copout.

Although you may not be able to get what is in your head to the paper, you still know scale and a sense of porportion. The same goes for writing. You may not be J. Minchner or Shakespear, but I'm certain you know when writing "flows" and when it is "choppy". If something doesn't "feel" right, it is your job, especially if the creator of the piece asks, to tell that creator what is right, or wrong, with what you are seeing.
Anything else is shirking your duty as a viewer of the work.

I know I'm not the greatest writer in the world, nor the greatest artist in the world, but I need to know, as all "artists" do, what is right, and wrong, with my works. It is only through feedback that I (we) can improve our works.

I have many artist and writer friends, and I provide feedback to them, as they, although not as vocal as I am, need it.

Granted I tend to moderate the bad news, with some good news, but I do tell them what is wrong, in my eyes.

So people, if someone asks you for a review, please do not hesitate to give it to them. If you don't feel up to the task, then tell them that also. It is hard on a person when s/he feels that they are being ignored. Sometimes we feel that it is being done (ignored) on purpose.

Comments

[dewhitton.livejournal.com]

Lack of feedback is why I practically stopped posting stories in some newsgroups.

[the-gneech.livejournal.com]

Bravo! Well said. -TG

[lordstone.livejournal.com]

This is something I already knew a long time ago. Truth is, many people do not like giving critiques, because they feel they take down the person with that, and even if they know they don't, they still feel like that when writing critiques, and therefor do not *like* writing them, because it makes them feel bad.

[torakiyoshi.livejournal.com]

Well, FWIW, *I* really like the stories I've read. I think you are a great writer.

I understand all to well, but

[silverfoxmzdm.livejournal.com]

I have found out that no matter how you try to please everyone, someone is going to find something ***** about. You can not please everyone all the time. You can write or draw and art is something that comes from the heart, the soul. You give good advice and that is better than bad advice poorly given. As I have told others, give good advice to those who have drawn or written something and tell them what you have found works for you in the past. To give harsh critism only turns them away from what they love and they will never do it again for Artists and Writers love to get advice and have others tell them what to do to make their work better. :)

Know that true friends never turn their backs and will be there no matter what.

Re: I understand all to well, but

[lowen-kind.livejournal.com]

Silver,

I understand what you are saying.

I'm not rip the creator a new one, even if the work deserves it. Be tactful, yet let the creator of the piece know that there may be room for improvement. Something liks, "I like the colors you used, but I feel that the eyes may be too large for the head." Or. "You wrote a nice story, but you may need to polish up on your sentence structure a bit". BTW, I havde recieved that las comment myself. My reply? "Thanks. I'm constantly editing my work to get it to flow right."

See. It's not hard to compliment the creator, yet let him/her know that it could be improved somewhat.

Saying, "Your work is the most worthless piece os *** I've ever seen", does no one any good. Explain what you see as the problems. It could be, with the visual arts, that the creator was going for an effect and you missed it.
The same goes for writing, but to a lesser extent. The writer may have been trying to convey a persons speaking, or thinking, style. I actually had that happen with an English teacher. He had neverread any of the Star Trek - Original Series books and I was writing a fan-fic. When he came to Scotty, he told me later, he was ready to mark the grammar/spelling as wrong when it occured to him that I was doing a Scottish accent. It then made sense to him and he said, "Good job."


I hope this clarifies what I was "ranting" about.

[mooncat.livejournal.com]

*comforts*
It's a shame you had to leave something you seemed so enthusiastic about, but in the end, one has to do what's best for them. :)

Lack of feedback would seem a definite problem in something so large as "the Dream" (I peeked at it a few days ago, after you showed it to me at your house. I'd never be able to keep up with it.)