Welcome to my guide to critiquing. You'll find this broken up into three sections: terms; art forms; and etiquette and tips. I hope you'll find it informative and helpful. While this guide may apply to critiquing in general, I have written this very much for the purpose of deviantART. While most guide-writers like to precede their guides with long paragraphs explaining the nature of art and all that sort of malarky, I'll just be getting straight to the matter at hand.

TERMS
Let's begin this guide with a list of thirty-eight terms that you may want to understand to be able to properly critique and comment upon work at deviantART. Some are literary, and some are visual. In the art section, I will be listing specifically which terms apply to which art form.

This is a very cursory list; a verbose list would be five times this size. I tried to just include that which immediately pertains to a wide range of art. If you are particularly interested in critiquing a certain art form, you may find dozens of other terms for your liking (for instance, assonance and consonance for literature, shade and tint for traditional art, etc.)

   Alliteration
       This is a literary term in which successive words begin with the same consonant sound, or letter. It serves to function as an accent, and an additive to the flow of a literary piece. The repetition may be as little as two words, or as many as fifteen, or more.

   Allusion
        Allusion is a device used in literature, with which the writer makes a reference to something which the reader has an assumed previous knowledge of. This concept may also be applied to visual mediums, where the artist places something within their art to make reference of something external.

   Antagonist
       The antagonist is a literary device, often used in narratives to describe the character causing conflict. In a visual and metaphoric sense, the antagonist is any entity, real or implied, which lends to conflict within a piece.

   Background
       In any visual medium, the background is the scene that is furthest away from the viewer. It may function as a setting, like in a landscape, or it may function as a backdrop to floating images in a piece.

   Balance
       Balance is a visual term used to weigh upon the general symmetry of the piece. Is more focus placed upon the right or the left, the center or the outskirts, the top or the bottom?

   Color
       Color manifests itself in three forms: hue; intensity; and value. When critiquing on color, you can note the general color of the piece (like how everything is very close to blue in Starry Starry Night), or you can note how people use the contrast and blending of colors to convey a certain feeling or emotion.

         Hue: This is the color itself. Red, green, blue, aqua, all of these are hues.
         Intensity: Intensity refers to the purity of a color. For instance, a red color that is diluted with yellow would be a less intense red, whereas a color that is purely red would be a more intense red.
         Value: This refers to how light or dark a particular color is.

   Composition
       This is a term to regard the placement of objects in visual art, usually with regards to photography. How each object interacts and plays off each other all have a bearing on the composition of a particular piece.

   Contrast
       Contrast is regarded as the perceptible difference between objects in a piece of art, generally objects that differ widely in color. It can be used to great affect to place certain emphasis on portions of the work, or it can be used detrimentally to annoy the hell out of viewers.

    Depth of Field
       The depth of field is a photographic term referring to the distance into the picture where things fall into focus, and objects both before and behind the depth of field will appear out of focus.

   Diction
       Diction is a literary term used to describe the choice of words used in a piece of writing, also known as vocabulary.

   Emotion
       This is used to refer to either the emotion put into a piece, or the emotion drawn out of the piece. It is a speculative and subjective sort of concept, but a valid way to comment on a piece of art.

   Flow
       Flow in a visual medium means how the piece of art drags your eyes around the page. Artists who know how to exercise their talents to create a solid flow will have an almost fluid pattern that most viewers will go through with their eyes.

       In the literary sense, flow (also known as meter or rhythm) is used to refer to the beat of a poem, how fast or slow a poem is read. Syllable counts and accent have a play in the flow of an individual piece.

   Focus
       The focus of a piece, whether actual (as in a photograph) or simulated (as in a painting or graphic) is where the light converges to make a crisp picture. Pieces out of focus will be seen as blurry, as pieces in focus will be seen, as they would be in real life. Focus is used to bring attention toward and draw attention from certain objects in a piece of art.

   Form
       In visual mediums, form is used in reference to objects that have a 3-dimensional appearance (most often being shaded,) like a ball in a painting, or a face.

       With regards to literature, form (also known as structure) refers to how the words in a poem are pieced together. Free verses, sestinae, sonnets, limericks, haikus, are all forms.

   Frame Rate
       This is a term strictly for animated works, referring to how many frames (movements) per second. Oftentimes you won't notice the concept until it noticeably fast or slow, but not necessarily detrimentally.

   Iconography
       This is a specific sort of symbolism used to reference the use of certain icons or symbols to convey a message. For instance, a heart may be used to represent love, or two fingers may be used to represent peace.

   Imagery
       Imagery is symbolism that caters specifically to one of the five senses. For instance, The boat was like a demon in the fires of hell wouldn't be imagery, but The freshness of the air made it like honeydew on ones tongue would be.

   Lighting
       Lighting usually refers to the angle of photography in concert with the angle of light (usually artificial, such as lamps or flashlights) on objects in a piece of art, such as how the rays of light strike a particular object at an angle.

   Line
       As a literary concept, lines are words preceding line breaks, several of which may make up a stanza in poetry, or a paragraph in prose. In so far as visual art, lines may be real (drawn) or implied (the division between two objects). Lines can show agitation, fluidity, calm, and a myriad of other emotions due to line thickness and angles.

   Medium
       The medium is what the art is made of. If it's digital, what program was used? If it's paint, did you paint on canvas, use oil or latex? Et cetera.

   Metaphor
       Metaphor is a type of symbolism, usually literary (but sometimes visual), that makes a direct comparison between two dissimilar objects. Simile is a type of metaphor using the words like or as.

   Movement
       Movement is a rather intangible concept in visual mediums, the use of lines, blurring, and otherwise to portray movement in an unmoving piece.

   Personification
       In literature, personification is a technique used to make non-human things have human characteristics, like giving the walls eyes. With regards to visual mediums, this term is usually called anthropomorphism.

   Perspective
       Visually, perspective is used to refer to the 'point of view'. For instance, looking down on a building as opposed to straight at it, would be differing perspectives. From a literary sense, perspective comes to mean the writer's view on things pertaining to the piece, or the narrator's view on things in the case of first person narratives.

   Plot
       The plot is a literary term to mean the flow of events in a narrative, yet symbolically a plot can refer to the happenings of a piece without any solid chain of events.

   Proportion
       Proportion is another concept of comparison, showing the differences in size between two objects (whether they be similar or dissimilar).

   Repetition
       In a visual medium, repetition is a technique to place emphasis or imply movement on certain objects in a piece, whereas within the bounds of literature repetition is used (sparingly) to place emphasis on a certain word or concept.

   Rhyme
       This is a function of poetry, where portions of lines rhyme with other portions in a consistent or inconsistent pattern. A rhyme scheme is most often represented by a series of letters that match the line; matching letters represent rhyming words (ex: AABBA, the first, second, and fifth line rhyme, and the third and fourth lines rhyme.) When rhyme occurs at the beginning or middle of a line, the rhyme is considered internal.

   Shape
       Shape is like form, however shape refers to 2-dimensional objects, such as circles or squares. Shapes may not be shaded.

   Space
       There are two types of space in an artistic endeavor: negative space, and positive space. Positive space is the 'foreground', it is all that is filled with objects and the actual subject matter of a project. Negative space, on the other hand, isn't. With a ball on a black background, the black background would be negative space, whereas the ball would be positive space.

   Stanza
       A stanza is a unit within a piece of poetry, consisting of a number of lines (couplet for two, tercet for three, quatrain for four, quintain for five, sestet for six.) Stanzas aren't a requirement in poetry, but they can be used to great value.

   Style
       Style is perhaps the most subjective art concept. Personal variations in genres of art and literature are considered 'styles', including certain trends.

   Symbolism
       Symbolism is a figurative device that uses symbols (anything can be a symbol, really) to abstractly represent concepts that are dissimilar or similar. This is the umbrella term that all things along the lines of metaphor, simile, and imagery fall under.

   Symmetry
       Symmetry is the concept that when a straight line bisects an object, both bisections will be equal (yet opposite) halves. Both symmetry and asymmetry can be used effectively to convey meanings, and express thoughts and concepts at the artist's will.

   Texture
       The texture is the feeling that a piece of art gives off or appears to give off; not feeling as in emotional, but feeling as in physical. This can be implied, or actual. For instance, how paint feels on canvas.

   Title
       Title is an often-overlooked element of art. This is used to refer to the piece, and oftentimes lends itself to the effect of the art itself.

   Theme
       Theme is a literary and visual term used in regards to the overlying concept of a piece of art. For example, with a collage full of stop signs, the theme might be Controlling Society or something like that. Rather subjective.

   Tone
       When speaking of literature, tone is the overall mood of a piece, with words and dialogue that supports and propagates that mood. With regards to visual art, the tone of a piece is supported and propagated by the use of color and contrast, as well as styles of line.



ARTFORMS
With all of these terms in hand, you may be wondering how to properly apply them in your day-to-day critiquing on deviantART. I'll be going through each art form in alphabetic order with tips on critiquing. Terms in bold are important for the art form (like focus for photography), and terms in italics are situational, depending on what the specific piece is (they may or may not apply). Terms without modification are merely normal.

Please note that style, title, medium, and theme won't be included in art form-specific terms. They apply for all of them, or very closely to all of them.

   Digital Art
       Digital art is any art done in a digital medium, usually through an image editing application. There are various types of digital art, including abstract, surreal, modern, and others. Traditional art that has been heavily modified through a digital medium can also be considered digital art.

     Terms: Allusion, Antagonist, Background, Balance, Color, Composition, Contrast, Emotion, Flow, Form, Iconography, Line, Metaphor, Movement, Personification, Perspective, Proportion, Repetition, Shape, Space, Symbolism, Symmetry, Texture, Tone

       I don't really have any genre specific tips on critiquing digital art, it's a rather straight-forward thing. You may want to look at the general feel of the art. Does it look like it was digitally crafted? Is it supposed to? For instance, a portrait that's supposed to be photo realistic but looks very plastic and synthetic might be something to comment on, but if it's a vectorization and looks like it, it wouldn't be something to comment on.

       When critiquing digital art, you're going to want to take difficulty into account. If it looks a bit flat and blocky, but it's done in an oekaki program, it may be wise to step your critical eye down a few (dozen) notches.


   Flash and Animation
       Flash and animation is a unique art form in that it is the only one (at least here) that is moving, and occasionally interactive.

     Terms: Allusion, Antagonist, Background, Balance, Color, Composition, Contrast, Emotion, Flow, Form, Frame Rate, Iconography, Line, Metaphor, Personification, Perspective, Proportion, Repetition, Shape, Space, Symbolism, Symmetry, Texture, Tone

       Flash and Animation can be critiqued in the same way digital art is. You're going to not only want to critique it frame by frame (each time the picture 'moves') artistically, but you're also going to want to critique how well each frame goes together. Pay attention to how things flow by frame-to-frame, do things seem overly jerky or stop-motion? Remember this sort of thing when you're critiquing.


   Non-fiction and Tutorials
       Non-fiction is any non-creative writing centered on the detailing of factual information, and tutorials are any non-creative writing centered around teaching something to the reader, at length. For the purposes of this, I'm going to be using non-fictional essays and the like. For non-fictional stories, refer to prose.

     Terms: Alliteration, Diction, Flow

       When critiquing non-fictional essays and tutorials, you first want to ascertain what they're trying to teach, or what point they're trying to make. After that, go point by point and assess the general validity of what is stated as a teaching tool or persuasive dialogue. Don't be afraid to critique their logic and the fluidity of their tutorial, but don't use this as a forum for being belligerent and argumentative.


   Photography and Photomanipulations
       Photography is any medium of art where light is exposed to a photosensitive medium (like film) for a period of time, capturing a picture on that medium. Photomanipulations are modifications of photography done in a digital or traditional medium.

     Terms: Allusion, Antagonist, Background, Balance, Color, Composition, Contrast, Depth of Field, Emotion, Flow, Focus, Form, Iconography, Lighting, Line, Metaphor, Movement, Personification, Perspective, Proportion, Repetition, Shape, Space, Symbolism, Symmetry, Texture, Tone

       When critiquing photography, you first want to discern whether or not the piece is conceptual (trying to portray some concept or theme) or visual (trying to portray some beauty, or lack thereof).

       Usually, if it's conceptual, the photographer will tell you this, or you may feel free to speculate as to what the concept may be. If the photographer tells you what the concept of their piece is, you may critique on how well you feel they did in conveying this concept. However, don't speculate as to what a concept may be and then say they did a bad job of conveying it, because that's rather silly, no?

       With regards to visual photography, you're going to want to figure out what the photographer is trying to showcase. If it's a lawn with one tree on it, it's safe to assume the tree is the topic. Focus the bulk of your critique on what you have discerned to be the topic, ask yourself a few questions: Is it blurry when it shouldn't be? Does it stand out? Does it just plain look good (or bad, if that's the intent)?


   Poetry
       Poetry is a form of creative writing consisting of metrical verse (the simplest of which is just line breaks). They can be rhymed, or unrhymed, scattered or formatted prettily. It's a rather open and expressive art form.
   
     Terms: Alliteration, Allusion, Antagonist, Diction, Emotion, Flow, Form, Imagery, Line, Metaphor, Personification, Perspective, Plot, Repetition, Rhyme, Stanza, Symbolism, Tone

       Poetry is an emotive art form, and many people mistakenly believe that because of its emotional roots that it can't (or shouldn't) be critiqued; this is incorrect. Poetry is less about the emotive concept, and more how you convey that emotion with words. That is why it is important to always critique the words, not the emotion.

       Flow is an inherent part in poetry, whether it be free-verse or sonnet. As an inherently lyrical art form, poetry was made to be read out loud; if you can, read the poetry you're reading out loud. Does it stumble at places, or seem too awkward to say? Keep these things in mind when you're critiquing the poetry you read.


   Prose
       Prose, as opposed to poetry, is a form of creative writing that doesn't consist of metrical verse. It uses story-telling aspects to relate some chain of events or ideas.

     Terms: Alliteration, Allusion, Antagonist, Diction, Emotion, Flow, Imagery, Metaphor, Personification, Perspective, Plot, Repetition, Rhyme, Stanza, Symbolism, Tone

       Prose isn't nearly so emotive or lyrical an art form as poetry, so it wouldn't be as beneficial to read it out loud. However, you do want to note where the prose piece fails in its flow, with sentences that are either too long or too choppy. When I'm reading prose for the purposes of critiquing, I read it twice. The first time, read it just like you'd read a story. Get comfortable, and try and mellow into the story. If you start out in hyper-analytical mode, you're going to tear apart a story that might not need to be torn apart.

       Note some problems, character inconsistencies, flow problems, in this first cursory run through. Now when you read it again, be a little more analytical on the parts that were problematic when you were reading it. If you discover new problems when you're analyzing it, try and think back to whether or not that bothered you when you were reading it the first time. Remember that most readers are going to be reading a story for enjoyment; there are some mistakes that will be overlooked or will even add to the style of the writer.

       As a last tip on critiquing prose, keep on a look out for empty phrases and repetition. Adverbs like usually, finally, occasionally, that don't specifically lend to the story can get a bit tired if they're used too often. Some writers also have certain key words that they tend to repeat through a story. This can be a common phrase (like "for instance") repeated many times, or this can be an uncommon phrase (like secular dissonance) repeated just a few times.


   Traditional Art
       Traditional art is any art (barring crafts) that takes place in a non-digital medium, such as paintings or drawings. It can be abstract, surreal, photographic, modern, et cetera.

     Terms: Allusion, Antagonist, Background, Balance, Color, Composition, Contrast, Emotion, Flow, Form, Iconography, Line, Metaphor, Movement, Personification, Perspective, Proportion, Repetition, Shape, Space, Symbolism, Symmetry, Texture, Tone

       Critiquing traditional art should be rather straightforward. You may want to do some research into the various traditional mediums (chalk, ink, graphite, various paints) to get a feeling on the difficulty level of certain techniques and mediums, so that you can be informed enough to make a judgment call on how difficult you feel the piece would have to be to create. Please note, however, that doesn't mean if something looks like it was easy to do, that you should bash someone for that, as there is more to take into account than just the medium.



ETIQUETTE AND TIPS
This is a general list of etiquette and tips with regards to critiquing. Now that you have a good handle on the technical knowledge of critiquing, it's wise to get a handle on how to go about the act of critiquing itself; and, moreover, the act of critiquing on deviantART. These are in no particular order, and are just general guidelines, not rules.

   1. Do not create a critique consisting entirely of what is wrong with a piece. A critique is an analysis of the varying parts of what makes art. Some things will be wrong, some things will be right, but you must remember at all times that a critique is subjective, and the people you're talking to are human beings. It is not a forum for bashing people you don't like.

   2. Start out with a compliment. This will allow the person whose art you are critiquing to relax and accept your help. If you can, add in some banter. A conversational (or friendly) attitude will help you to be better received.

   3. Understand that some people will choose not to accept your help or, heaven forbid, accept someone else's help. If you leave a critique and they respond with "Thank you, I will consider it", don't check back five weeks later expecting all your changes to be implemented, much less attack people for not implementing your suggestions.

        This doesn't mean they do not respect your opinion, or that they feel you were wrong, but people sometimes disagree on matters of art.

   4. If you absolutely detest any given art form, don't critique it. Leave your bias against anime, poetry, or whatever it is you dislike out of your critiques, and just analyze it for what it is.

        Likewise, don't critique the subject matter; critique how the artist brings out the subject matter. If you're sick of angsty poetry, don't critique the artist on writing angsty poetry, critique them on how well they write the angst. Critiquing is not a forum for challenging the validity of someone's art form as art. There is nothing wrong with not saying anything.

   5. Do not use 'bad' qualifiers ("This sucks", "That's bad") without offering to help the artist. That's not to say you have to step on eggshells. You may, at your choice, be brutally blunt, but you should be offering tips on how to improve.

   6. In counter-point, don't make fluff critiques. It's very easy to pad someone's ego with a delightful little comment (not critique), but don't throw in some analytical jargon to make it appear more sincere than it is. Honesty, while wounding at times, is the best way to help the person you're critiquing, and why critique if not to help?

        This doesn't mean that you shouldn't wantonly praise people if you want to. Just be honest about it.

   7. Leave an interpretation of what you feel the artist is trying to convey, if it's not self-evident. This will help the artist tie in all of what you're saying in your critique. If they can understand where you're coming from, it may help them better correct their flaws, or accentuate their positives.


   8. Make sure you not only view deviations in full view, but that you read any comments or peripheral information and art that applies. This will help you not only give you a critique that is in context, but it may also answer any confusion you have on certain parts of the art.

   9. If you can't find anything negative about the piece, it's perfectly alright to leave a critique that just analyzes the positive. Remember, a critique is an analysis of the elements of a piece of art, and if you find that in analyzing a piece of art you can't find anything wrong with it, don't feel bad about just leaving a critique on the good elements. Maybe the artist was feeling a bit iffy on leaving in a portion of the art, and your positive analysis of that portion persuades him to leave it alone?

   10. You're not critiquing the artist, you're critiquing the art. Don't fill the critique with comments about the artist (including but not limited to age, religion, political stances, etc.) and don't compare pieces of art by the same artist unless it is to illustrate some technique that you felt was better exercised elsewhere.

   11. Proofread your critiques. The purpose of a critique is to be helpful, and most artists will not read an illegible block of text, which does little to help them in the long run if they never read your analysis.

   12. Be genuine. Don't begrudgingly give them tips of the trade, and give them service with a smile. If you have a question, it doesn't do any harm to go ahead and ask them. It shows you have an interest in not only the art, but also the artist themselves, and will make you better received in general.

   13. Leave jealousy at the door. This may seem like common sense, but all too often a person will tear apart a piece of art analytically merely because of some peripheral emotion, whether it be jealousy or anger.

   14. Keep the fun factor alive. There are as many, if not more, hobby drawers and kids in junior high as there are college graduates and professional designers. There's no need to give a professional and superbly analytical critique to someone that is most obviously drawing for fun. That's not to say you can't help them improve, but you may not need to go to such great lengths to assist them as you might someone who makes a living from art.

   15. Phrase your suggestions as, well, suggestions. "Perhaps if you..." and "Maybe you should try..." go over a lot better than "You need to" and "Go and do this."

   16. It may be wise to segment (perhaps in paragraphs) your critique into different areas; one for analysis, questions, non-analytical comments, interpretation, and likewise. This adds to readability, which lends to the affect of the critique in general.

   17. Please don't overlook the concept of titles. Very rarely do people critique on how the title of a piece applies to it, but it's a very creative outlet, and many artists put a lot of thought into them.

   18. Remember the platitude, "If you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all." To critique is to help, and no help comes from a brutal attack on a piece of art. On top of that, most people will ignore the advice of someone who appears to be attacking them, so even if there are valid suggestions within, it falls on deaf ears half the time.

        Leaving someone bruised and abused does little to make them want to create more art, and if they don't want to create more art, anything they may learn from you is moot.



I hope you've learned something from reading this, if you've read it all. Happy critiquing, deviants.