On that thing they call "Art"

[insomnicon]

FurAffinity has been my guilty pleasure since earlier in this year when I finally signed up. There'd been occasions before where I'd tried but it was seemingly teetering on the brink of desctruction the whole time

Comments

[avylin]

I think Furry Fandom is full of sycophants and you'll have to go out of your way to get genuine, constructive criticism. It is a good idea, though, and I like the idea of different skill levels of artists sort of assembling into classes.

What sort of a system could accomodate such a setup, though, I'm not sure. I guess FA could be used as a front, but all the organization would have to be handled by someone else. I think fchan has a critique board where you might be able to go in the meantime, but I don't frequent it and don't know how much it manages to be useful and not merely flattering.

[insomnicon]

You're right about the element of dishonesty that's kind of pervasive. By definition "asking for criticism" usually means one of two things: "praise me or I'll slap you" or "just say something nice because I know I suck".

Asking for genuine criticism, too, is a loaded subject. If your constructive criticism happens to be too biting then you're trying to make someone feel bad, or if it's too soft, you look like some crazy fanboy.

It still cracks me up when people comment on something by one of the more popular artists saying something along the lines of "Great stuff but you should work on your anatomy more! And your font sucks!"

Taking a "zen" approach to things, there's four basic leagues.

1. Those who don't know how to draw at all.
2. Those that know they don't know how to draw, but are trying to learn.
3. Those that have learned how to draw but are still evolving.
4. Those who actually hit that point where they can be considered 'artists'.

I think I'm a 2. Wah!