Critiques 101 - How to write a good critique.

I'm writing my second article concerning critiques, since my last one received very positive feedback. This time we will look more in depth on how to write a good critique. Hopefully if you read my last article about How to properly ask for critique (Which can be found here: Critiques 101 - Do you know how to ask for it?) you have received some valuable critique and you may be wanting to give some value back by writing some critiques yourself. But how to you do it? I prepared some simple guidelines to help you out. 

1. Undesired/Unwarranted Critique
You should not give people critique if they don't ask for it. In ideal world this wouldn't present a problem. But we don't live in ideal world and we have to deal with strange human rituals like not being rude and others. I mentioned this in my last article, but this is really important. Think of it this way, why writing a critique for someone who is not interested in it. When you can instead write a critique for someone who intentionally reached out for help. 

2. This is not a critique.
"I don't like it."
"I hate it."
"It's bad." 
"Everything is wrong with this piece."
"It can be improved."
Sadly there are too many people posting this sort of "critique". If it's one sentence long and doesn't give you any meaningful feedback, it's not a proper critique.

"You need to learn more anatomy."
"It could've been done better" 
"There is something wrong with face."
"You need to practice more."
"You need to brush up how to draw human."
This more elaborate than last examples but still far from critique and still far from being useful. This are general statements, they are short and never talk about what is actually wrong with the piece. They don't tell you where the issue lays or what caused it or how to fix it. No useful advise what so ever.  

"Critique" like this won't help anyone. It will only make things worse by discouraging artists and making then feel bad about their art.

3. Listen to the artist. 
Listen to what the artist has to say about their work. Read the description. Find out what they already know is wrong, find out what they need help with in particular.


4. Explain what's wrong. 
If you find something wrong with the piece, explain it in detail. Say why is it wrong, what's the cause. Just saying what's wrong is often not enough. If you can you should also include some tips on how to improve their work.  

5. Grammar.
I know, I know. English is not our native language for most of us. Especially if you are not that great english speaker, you should take time to double check your grammar. Also things like proper word choices and word order may be decisive factor for proper understanding. Look my grammar is not perfect too, but I always make sure to check afterwards to avoid any misunderstanding.

Bottom line. If you write critique in order to help out, people will appreciate it a lot. On the other hand if you write "critique" in order to poop on someones work, you are just gonna get more poop in return.