How To Comment

How To Comment

The Art Commentary Tutorial:
If a picture is worth a thousand words...

If you frequent an online art gallery and want to leave better comments than "Neato," this is for you. This article is primarily about making comments on non-animated visual art such as painting or drawing, and it's phrased to address them particular. Nevertheless, you apply most of its suggestions to photography, animation, sculpture, and so on, possibly even nonvisual arts such as writing.

Expect continual revisions to this article. I'll be checking out a few books on formal art criticism and art appreciation. If you would like to give me ideas on how I can improve this, I'll appreciate it.

Reasons: Why Should You Leave Good, Interesting Comments On Art?
Art commentary results in benefit to yourself, to the artist, and to many other people as well.

1. For the artist.
The artist worked a long time on this picture, but usually people just judge it in a single glance, say "Neato," and then run off to look at something else. At first this seems pretty cool to the artist, but then she/he gets tired of it, because the comments all seem the same, and don't prove that anybody really looked at the picture... one "Neato!" can be just as readily applied to one picture as to the next, or even to another artist's work. If you actually talk about the picture a bit, the artist will learn that people are really looking at his/her work, and she/he will feel very happy. Happy artists will make more good artwork and put it in places people can see it and comment on it.

If you go so far as to leave real critique, the artist will benefit from your objective viewpoint and learn from mistakes he/she wouldn't have noticed on his/her own, and he/she will learn and improve. How to write critique like that is explained later.

2. For the viewer(s).
If you write commentary that's strongly relevant to the picture, you'll look at the picture longer, and you'll notice more. For example, you may never have noticed (for a random example) the mysterious spectre in the girl's handmirror, and it completely changes how you perceive the image and what you think it means. You get more out of each image.

Other viewers can benefit by your comments, too. "Huh? What spectre? Oh... I see it! Cool!" You'll be guiding other viewers to things in the picture they might not have noticed, either.

3. For social status.
In online galleries where all commenters are registered users of that gallery, you'll be more involved in the community itself, and other users will notice your outstanding comments. Then they'll go to your gallery, see your own pictures, they'll comment on those too, and you'll be a bit better-known and better-appreciated. On the other hand, a "Neato!" comment won't attract any particular attention. (Unless if you have an attractively peculiar user icon, which gets attention even if you have nothing interesting or clever to say.)

On some online art gallery communities, such as DeviantArt, users who have been promoted to being Senior Members usually seem to be people who aren't so much exceptional artists as they are exceptional at leaving comments, having discussions in the forums, and otherwise contributing to the social community. They are articulate, helpful, and kind. Basically, they're role models for how people in that community should be.

Content: What Shall You Talk About In Your Art Comments?
Ask yourself these questions, and write the comment as if you're answering them.

Does the picture convey an emotion? A personality?
This is especially important in portraiture... although landscapes, abstract art, and so on can also convey an emotion or personality, in some cases.

Does the picture tell a story?
A picture that tells a story is one which (although being a static image and only representing an instant in time) indicates a little bit about what just happened right before and how things got that way, and/or hints at what might happen in the next instant. This is especially important in illustration.

Is the picture well-researched?
Was reference used? Does it look like the artist really understands the subject on a deeper level? This is where you consider all the technical accuracy issues that might be involved... historically accurate costumes, accurate anatomy, ships with the right number of masts, and so on.

What does it do that's new?
There might be something about this picture that you've never seen before. Creature design. Costume design. Building design. Shockingness.

Questions of technical skill...
This is how the artist executes the picture. How well is the media (paint, pencil, etc) handled? Does the perspective look okay? Remember, you can still have a genius work of art even without such skill. Many artists are regarded highly primarily for their originality and creativity.

Questions of true artsy-fartsiness...
Most of the above questions can be eyeballed and answered by any observer. This one you can only convincingly pull off (or even think of) if you've studied art yourself. How does it fit with color theory... is a limited palette used? Or complementary colors? Are you familiar with a little-known trick with acrylic paint that it looks like the artist was trying to use but still needs help with?

Tact: How Shall You Give Your Art Commentary?

Read other people's comments.
Have a dozen other people already said what you were thinking of saying? You can agree with other commenters, but try to say something that hasn't been said yet. Strive to be original and insightful.

Criticism is more than negativity.
Don't just point out all the mistakes, and all the things that you dislike. This isn't about complaining. Art appreciation is about seeing the image as a whole.

Put it kindly while keeping it real.

Consider the order in which you present the positives and negatives.
Serge Kahili King's Urban Shaman, page 94, discusses the pattern of compliments and criticism, and its effects on people. You have a few ways you can present them. The most common way is to present the positive first, and the negative second. King says that this pattern increases people's stress level. You can also do it the other way around: negative, then positive. That's more like having the spinach and then following up with ice cream dessert. He then suggests a third way: a compliment, then a criticism, finishing with a different compliment.

Describe what you see.
It's as simple as that. With a very detailed picture, try to notice as many things as you can, like you're playing "I Spy." At a glance you might only notice that (say) there's a warrior standing in the foreground, but only when you look carefully do you notice the other warrior's shadow, or other details that bring it from a mere portrait to a whole story.

Describe what you think it means, or what it means to you, or what it could mean.
If you're experienced with Tarot and the various books about interpreting it, you'll find this to be much the same discipline. Consider all the individual symbols within the painting, what they might represent, and what they signify when considered as a whole. If you can, come up with a few different interpretations.

Don't expect the artist to change the picture because of what you said.
A commenter might suggest a lot of huge changes that they think should be made to a painting, but you shouldn't anticipate the artist going along with those ideas. This especially applies to paintings that the artist feels are finished. The exceptions to this rule are if you're paying the artist for the image, or if the artist has actually asked for help with fixing the image.

For the Artist: How Shall You Respond To Art Commentary?

Analyse the comment.
The comment was made to analyse your painting, and now you will analyse the comment. Think carefully about all its parts, what hidden meanings they may have, and how relevant to you they may be.

Consider the sources.
Before you respond or take them seriously, look at the commenter's user info page. Do they have authority and experience with this subject? Or not? Your abstract painting might be getting bashed by someone who just doesn't like abstract art in general and has never produced any... or you could be getting tips from someone who is a fine abstract painter themself. Find out if the commenter actually know what they're talking about.

What parts of the comment are mere opinion?
There's a big difference between someone complaining about the light angle and someone complaining about how they don't like paintings with wolves in them. The light angle is something you can learn from and correct in future paintings. Disliking paintings with wolves in them is the commenter's problem, and nothing for you to worry about.

Don't be crushed by a comment.
When you're used to "Neato!" comments, sometimes it can be a little shocking when someone actually says something. (I've felt that way.) Don't take it too personally: art commentary is about the picture, not you. Constructive criticism is supposed to help your art skill improve. It's beneficial.

How to take a compliment.
In Dave Ellis's Becoming A Master Student, a few tips are given on how to respond gracefully to a compliment. First, you accept the compliment, rather than using the traditional response of putting down the subject of praise. You're deserving of the compliment, and there's nothing egotistic about that. Gratitude is appropriate. Then you let the compliment stand, rather than questioning its integrity ("you really think so?") or fishing for more compliments. Return compliments to that person at a later time, because an immediate return of a compliment can seem incinsere.

-----
Bibliography, Further Reading, and Sites of Interest.

King, Serge Kahili. Urban Shaman. New York: Simon & Schuster, Inc. 1990.
This is a book about Hawaiian shamanism and traditional psychology, not art. However, on page 94, it has an interesting point about stress and relaxation in response to commentary. I felt that was relevant enough to summarize above. It was part of the original inspiration for this article.

Ellis, Dave. Becoming A Master Student. New York: Houghton Mifflin. 2000.
This is a book about improving study skills and so on, not art. However, on page 297, it discusses how to take a compliment. It was part of the original inspiration for this article.

-----
This article originally written by Orion Sandstorrm. If you have comments of your own on this article (complaints, praise, suggestions) you can email the author here. This article originally located at http://orion.lostweyr.org/comment.html and will soon be mirrored elsewhere. Please do not use, quote, present, or distribute this article without attribution to author. Creative people dislike plagiarism.