A gripe I have with 3D forums in general

[hyphen]

GA seems to be the exception, but there seems to be a trend in a lot of the art forums I visit (usually with the critique/wip sections.) I see that people tend to only want to critique or complement art work that is above the beginner's skill level. Almost as though someone would rather post a "Great job!" to an awesome piece rather than give advice and critique someone whose skill is still in the beginning stages. Now, I don't have a problem with complements or kudos to people who have awesome skill, you have to give credit to where it is due. But I'm of the mentality that more focus should be given to those who need help rather than to boost the egos of those that are already good at what they do.

I usually see this on the bigger forums, but it seems like the great pieces get upwards of 2-3 pages of "Awesome!" and "dude thats badass!" while the people who are genuinely looking for help may get 500 thread hits with only 1 or 2 posts, sometimes none.

Am I wrong in thinking that this sucks? I mean, some people have limited access to artists in their area and their only resort to get good critiques and help are online forums. But even this seems to be a failing avenue for them. I have to give credit to the mods here as they seem to be pretty indiscriminating in who they critique (which makes for a great site). But am I wrong in thinking this way?

[retardedmonkey]

I don't think that you're wrong at all. I remember when I first started, I was crazy for critiques and help with my models, but everyone on other forums never critiqued my work. I think that was one of the main reasons I went towards vehicle modelling rather than organic. I was asked to join a mod team making vehicles, once I joined I took off. I had focussed crits on my models, they were torn apart, which is what I was looking for.

I think something that is a huge factor to this phenomena is the actions of the actual beginners. I know for myself and plenty others, that we are more than willing to offer whatever knowledge we can to help people improve. But I have offered crits, and spent a decent amount of time critiquing a model to have the beginner give an excuse as to why they don't think they have to do it. Tbh that is a major pain, most of us don't really have massive amount of time to give critiquing models as we have our own busy lifes. When half an hour or more of our time is spent critiquing, only for it to be disregarded, it seems pointless to even crit. The problem is that there are people out there that really would like to learn and are just waiting for someone to come along, rip their models apart and offer a solution.

I think the best answer for that is for people to seriously listen to crits that come in. And of course for people to critique work they can help improve. No matter what it will only help to make the community stronger. Since everyone wants crits and no one wants to waste their time.

My thoughts about some of the beginners attitude is that when you first start off you can get tired of a model quite easily. It is almost as if the main skill that needs to be built up for an aspiring artist is patience and the ability to stare at the same model until it is right. The want to see a finish product right away is what I believe is the cause for disregarding crits. I know the feeling though, of wanting to see your model done...it really is awesome seeing your completed model, it just needs to clicks that if you just keep pushing on it will look tons better.

Lastly remember you are posting your model up for crits. If you get annoyed at the first decent crit that comes your way, you shouldn't post it up.

Either way guys its a good point, if you have something to offer take the time and offer it. And the same goes for the poster of WIP's remember why you are posting and that people are giving up valuable time to help you out. All in all, as I said, it will only make the community a better place.

Now I'm done rambling on

[latinmessiah]

This site strongly encourages and supports the beginner game artist, which is why I became a supporting member in the first place. Other sites tend to be a bit snobby, but this one is more down to earth and open minded. The moderators and regulars here are talented, knowledgeable, and very courteous, which is why it's such a cool place to hang out and post your work.

As for the lack of critique in other sites, nothing I can say about that. It's true what you said about those sites. But if you work hard on your projects, ask the right questions, and post your personal best work at Game-Artist.net, then I'm sure you will begin to receive some helpful and motivational critique in no time. Good luck!

[Reverenddevil]

Just my 2 cents, but you also have to remember not everyone knows how, or what to critique... So, they may want to critique but one might be afraid they are wrong, or two not know the proper way to have someone fix something.. Critiquing properly is not an easy task. It takes knowledge, patience and the eye to know what needs to be fixed in general and one thing that is just an opinion etc.. I think this site does a great job at helping.. I have learned a lot from people here and love reading at what others are doing.... So, to everyone on here that is actively participating in any capacity, I say thank you.....

[DaveW]

Originally Posted by hyphen

GA seems to be the exception, but there seems to be a trend in a lot of the art forums I visit (usually with the critique/wip sections.) I see that people tend to only want to critique or complement art work that is above the beginner's skill level. Almost as though someone would rather post a "Great job!" to an awesome piece rather than give advice and critique someone whose skill is still in the beginning stages. Now, I don't have a problem with complements or kudos to people who have awesome skill, you have to give credit to where it is due. But I'm of the mentality that more focus should be given to those who need help rather than to boost the egos of those that are already good at what they do.

I'd say it's the other way around. The most replied to topics are usually beginner art where it's far more obvious what to critique.

[benclark]

I've noticed a lot of new people posting and getting very little help, but I have also seen hundreds of WIPs from new members that get one post and then dissapear forever

I think the way a wip is posted has a lot of effect, some background info, specify where you need crits, decent presentation of the model you are working on etc etc

Its not hard to build up familiarity with guys on this forum. If you are around a lot chipping in ideas then people will help you back.

[sarge mat]

I found this site after being directed to it by Lost Irish Boy and since i started posting here I have found everyone very helpful and i don't think i would have improved as much had I not started posting here.

But i do know on a lot of other forums its very hard to for people starting out to get good advice at times. But thats not to say there are not a lot of helpful people out side these forums.

[chris89]

The bigger the forums become, the more sucky they become i think. Also, most skilled modelers hate giving attention to others (it's like that with most people who excel in their industry, i notice it with photography as well). It's just how they are.
The biggest problem with the big popular forums is that there's a bigger chance of bumping into the asocial dogs.

But then again, game-artist.net is the exception. There are some good artists here and they don't suck (a miracle!) which is why i love it

[Talon]

I think GA is quite newbie-friendly and newbie-heavy when compared to most other forums. Oddly, I have a feeling that one of the main reasons for this may be because the site is quite bright rather than the mostly black or dark colour schemes of other forums.

I'm guessing this keeps a fair bit of the more veteran/old-school artists away from the general bustle and commenting, which is a bit of a shame... however, we still have our share of skilled artists and mods to keep things in check! Just not so many grizzled vets as other forums, I guess

[doylle]

Personaly, I think there are alot of reasons why a beginner does not ge the same amount of critism as an mediocre or advanced user. For those who have been around long enough, I'm sure you've been in a situation where you've written a decent crit, and then get yelled at for being harch, and in the end your valuable crit is ignored completely. Things like this are very frustrating.

However, there are new people who expect to receive crits, while they don't want to do anything for it. If you see 3 people give crits on the same issue, then I'd expect that issue to be fixed when the next update comes, or at least a note to tell that it will be fixed soon.
I know this will sound harch to some people, but personaly I'm more inclined to reply to someone with an acceptable post count and an "active" status in a forum, than to someone who's asking for crits on his in his first post. Doesn't matter how skilled they are, nor does the fact that I'm a staff member here and that I want to make this a great community. To me the active status is simply saying that he's willing to add something to the community, and that's reason enough for me to spend 15 minutes writing crits for his work...