Dear Bubblers, by aciddream

Ai un punct …. in rest este doar o orientare diferita pt. o cultura diferita (anglofona si nu neaparat europeana). A long and rough way to interculturality.
Numai bine si-ti promit ca voi fii sincer.
Cristi.

Do you know and judge sincerity for sure? I commented on your work today because I recognized your talent and highly valued the beauty you had captured! :))))))) A so called pleasant comment can also be constructive and point towards a direction that you can choose to go. It is not necessary to always look at what is negative to improve. As a matter of fact, just like a photo-positive space can reveal negative space! It’s about knowing how and what to see! _Elaine

constructive criticism? I will very much like to see more color in your creations.:) Hope it helps…

Bravo! I do agree with your sentiment, however I don’t know that you are going to get that much honest critiquing here. Most people either don’t feel qualified to actually “judge” a piece of art, or are afraid that it will possibly open the door to others criticizing their work. For instance: I personally don’t think the polka-dots in your one photo add to the image in any way, but others are going to say “I love that picture. What a jerk!” Art appreciation is a very subjective thing. I happent to think that your straight photography, and even your montages, are quite extraordinary. Your “sensuous” photos are some of the best I’ve seen. But now everyone seems to think that they need to add “special effects” for their art to remain relevant. Would a Cartier-Bresson photo somehow be better if it had a field of yellow daisies superimposed over the top of it? The problem I have with so much of the art on Red Bubble is that you no longer seem to need a creative instinct, you merely need to be technically proficient with Photoshop. Your best works are the ones that started out as good photos. You may have tweeked the contrast, blur, and hue, but the original concept and shot are still primary. Leave the photoshop crap for the people who can’t take a good photo; like me. No one can turn out a masterpiece with each picture (though you wouldn’t know it by reading the comments). I can’t remember the last time I personally turned out something that I would consider exceptional, but most of my work has been in the T-Shirt category, where that doesn’t really matter that much; t-shirts are meant to be humourous, or decorative, or statements, but not necessarily art.I seem to have lost my train of thought here, and am just prattling.At any rate, there is nothing wrong with experimenting, but do not come to rely on filters and textures to make your art. In my opinion, “PolkaDotLove”, “Kaleidoscope”, and the “Pop Art” pictures are decorative, but little else; whereas “Silk” and “La Petit Cadeau” are two of the most sensuous pictures I’ve seen, and pictures like "края на пътя " and “Fly Above…” are not only excellently composed but also quite thought provoking. If a picture doesn’t touch someone emotionally, spiritually, or intellectually, then it is mere decoration. Fortunately, the majority of your work is Art.We’ll just have to see if your plea for honest criticism has done any good. In the meantime, be well, and keep creating; you are so very good at it.

a refreshing perspective miruna, personally I think the RB comments section is mostly a social aspect of the website, a place where niceities are spoken, and often comments may be more social than critique. I myself don’t leave a lot of comments, when I do, I always try to include why I bothered to do so. When it comes to in-depth critique, I prefer to bubblemail the artist and dialogue with them privately. The is nothing wrong with a disscussion over improvement and change with a fellow artist, [when requested.] Hopefully we can find others here with similar interests and talents that inspire our own work. Open forums are difficult places to conduct debates and open critique just because people can easily misconstrue what may be said. Even if that is done by a third individual reading something else into the discussion …

RB provides several tools which can be used effectively. The comment section is probably the least serious, (and most abused! How often do you find comments are merely others self-promoting their own groups, galleries, etc.?) A new trend seems to be if you submit your work to a group they insert an image or banner almost as large as your work in reply?

In my own perception of RB ranking, I find that others favouriting or watchlisting you as an artist, is a far higher compliment on your work than inserting a quick comment. After all that individual is willing to share your work on their own gallery, and that seems to reflect a quite a compliment since RB is a retail site, selling artwork. Of course, buying another artist’s work is the highest accolade you can offer. If an artist here wants feedback in the form of critique, then bubblemail is a good way to dialogue without impacting on that artist’s sales abilities. Of course, if you are not interested in the retail side of things, I don’t see why you can’t include the same in the comments, but for others, they may want to keep their galleries more neutral because they are trying to promote the sale of their work? Everyone may and probably will, have a different agenda in what they want from their art.

Well said.
This one is similar.

Hi Miruna
I understand what you’re saying here, and I agree with a lot of it. The thing with Redbubble, however is that most people aren’t after “constructive criticism” as they see it as a personal attack. (I’ll have to check the guidelines) but I’m pretty sure that it is against the site to give criticism unless it is specifically asked for. I know a lot of artists who would only want to get good comments because it makes them feel good (and they feel that they can improve when people tell them what’s good about their work), but if you’d like constructive criticism, don’t forget to specify. Then people might be more inclined to leave honest feedback :D

Miruna, ai spus aici ceea ce am gandit de-atatea ori…dar am lasat gandul doar pentru mine!

I have to agree with you for the most part. We are here to engage in constructive criticism which helps the artist ( we all artists here ) grow and learn. It can get a bit tedious at times when everyone is trying to nice and say nice things when in fact the truth is rarely conveyed. Truly great art is a rare animal and there are many exceptional pieces in RB however there is a lot of
Mediocre Work being elevated to masterpiece status. It gives many artists here a false sense of hope and belief.

I know what you are getting at, Miruna, and understand why you have said it, but as SashaC has indicated, RB rules actually ask us not to offer criticism, unless it is specifically requested by the artist – and very few do! Like others, I will occasionally BM someone to make suggestions, but even that is rare. I wrote this a couple of years ago, which, while not saying exactly the same thing as you, is a general statement about brief and effortless commenting. Nobody has commented on that piece though, LOL!

eu cred ca asta nu e doar pe RB :D daca vrei critica la sange, intra pe forums romanesti :)) acolo e intotdeauna chef de cearta :))) glumesc bineinteles, well e bine ca macar ai zis ca vrei critica, in sensu ca sunt sigur ca sunt destui care vor sa faca critica (ai vazut cate commenturi ai primit) :) Eu unul nu sunt in categoria asta, nu-mi place sa fiu critic, am o personalitate destul de critica nu vreau sa-i dau apa la moara sa se dezvolte :))) oricum, sunt sigur ca esti destul de inteligenta sa-ti dai seama dupa cateva zile/saptamani, ce e bun si ce nu e bun :)) dar daca you can handle critique :) e bine pt tine, eu accept 90% din critica, dar aia care sunt rau intentionati imi sare tandara rau de tot, oricum, nu ma deranjeaza daca nu primesc, pt ca sunt foarte critic cu mine, si intotdeauna simt cand sunt pe loc :) si nu-mi fac idei gresite din commenturile pe care le primesc, stii cum e, intotdeauna tinem minte ce-i rau, ce-i bun mai greu :))

Bravo! Couldn’t have said it better myself :-)

AMEN!! Well said and I totally agree with you! :-)

I agree and I disagree. Empty comments are better than nothing, because at least you know the person took the time to say something about your work. I don’t mind them in any way.

I definately agree that criticism should ONLY be offered when requested. That’s not only an RB rule, but a standing rule on most art sites. On DeviantArt, there is a box that lets the artist select whether or not they want critique, or even if they want comments at all. I think that’s a useful took. Because, let’s face it: art is for sharing, and not everyone wants to be told what is wrong with their work. I send my poetry out to select friends before I post it, and everyone likes and dislikes something different. It can become very confusing. So, with a newbie, it could really distract them to see a bunch of different opinions on something they liked enough to post in the first place.

I like your ideas, but I still think that critique – at least thorough critique – shouldn’t be offered without the artist’s request.

Also, most importantly, most people are not trained to give a proper critique. There are rules and manners that a lot of people don’t understand, and to open those doors to those people would be unfriendly and unconstructive.

Anyway, thanks for your blog – as I said, I both agree and disagree, but mostly I think it should be up to the artist. :)

Lily

It’s a common law to be nice, people just love to be easy and go around the subject, that’s why it’s unique to be a thinker ;)
I know you for a long time, I’d love to have students like You Miruna, you’re on your way!
I’ll be the first who dares to make a critique :D
(horns and trumpets)
Sometimes I have a feeling you care about the feel but not necessary about the technical challenge the subject opens to my eyes, then some of your pics are more ideas, but that unfinished style is your own spirit too :)
Sometimes you create the beauty to destroy it with the pain, using many dirty textures to hide reflections like they were words visible straight on the picture. I would focus more on the visual beauty the pain can be in art technically instead of how to emotionally hurt a dream.
My advice is to work longer with images, keep your great spirit far ahead the skills but don’t let the spirit cover for technical blanks – your ideas are worth to be done with more patience and time if you aspire in photomanipulations as surreal-fantasy-kitch style. I know you’ll take up some of them again when you’ll be ready :)
Through your works I see a trouble to focus on one thing or to keep all things in focus at on time – that makes me easily distracted ;)
Sometimes in awe of creation we loose an eye – harmony to match the perspective (not its reality, but a skill to deform it right), lights and shadows on the right side or we think the idea makes the pic. In reality it looks flat, you can easily mark every element (I like when it’s not obvious what was pasted or deformed and how it was done)
That examples happen to everybody, when we are tired or fresh in subject or too excited ;) To eliminate this I leave my works sometimes couple of times during a year or two, because I still feel it has not been finished yet ;) It doesn’t mean anybody would notice why I do so, but I am just honest with my artistic soul. I need to look at it after years and still be content of my fun&effort ;))
I think my work just begins with the good idea and every image need to be a conscious trip into millions of feelings, hours of technical experiments with the light, form, style, colour, second meaning between the lines.. unless I do surprise myself . I never surprise myself so well as it does to my viewers ;)
Be focused and more cold eyed, take a technical glimpse, than a challenge – be a requiring judge when you cut an item, when put the light, when decide about placing it in the strong point and why.
Leave the work for a week, don’t look at it. Let your eye rest and if you look again and don’t feel like having an idea what you’ve missed and what to add to make it even better – I wouldn’t believe You ;D
I like your style, it’s messy but some portraits and nudes are exeptionnally brilliant and stay in mind for years
For me you’ll be always an artist and my soul sister, no matter if you’d like to achieve a master level in photo editing :)

kisses!

i think RB is a bit like a Mutual Appreciation Society and a Massage Parlour for the ego.
Most comments are more like compliments and tend to contain words of praise that are sometimes too exaggerated, sometimes for work that is at best ‘nothing special’
It’s pointless to favourite a piece of art and yet not leave a comment.
If people do not comment on my work, I assume it does not interest them or they are indifferent to it.
I would much prefer to give an opinion of a work of art based on whether i like it or not and give my reasons but nobody really does this (it may offend people)? None of us are art critics so we should only say we like or don’t like honestly in our own opinions. Some work on RB is far too overrated, giving gullible artists a false sense of importance. I would like more content in comments between artists, telling each other constructive things about each other’s work. Drop the awesomes! and the genius labels! blah blah blah….