YOU PEOPLE need to stop looking at even the most shitty "art" in the section and saying "it's good :D". It is NOT good. It is fucking terrible and there isn't even anything that can be said about it except "improve on everything". And don't you dare call me an elitist. I simply have standards, and so should you. But you don't. Your standards have fallen so far that you now consider stick figure drawings done in flash to be art. It sickens me.

I will quote a fairly concise post on the matter:

Quote from MaxZ

If someone posted a choppy animation of a ball simply moving around the screen in the flash section, you wouldn't expect people to appreciate that either. The same standards should be applied to the arts section. If it can't be criticized nor appreciated because it's actually that awful, it should not be posted in this section, nor anywhere else.

So what is art then?

Maybe you just don't actually know what legitimate "art" is? A key factor is the amount of time and effort put into it.

Let me show you the difference between garbage that I could shit out in less than five minutes, and something that actually had work put into it and is actually worth looking at and commenting on.

This is garbage:

Quote from Red Death

http://www.fileize.com/files/f99b6484/bb9/Dumb_guy.jpg

This is art:

Quote from Drone

http://www.fileize.com/view/71973631-87a/

Now I'm aware that I've been fairly outspoken against "stick figure art", and I am aware that this is in fact a stick figure website. So I can't stop you from drawing your RHGays. However, again, standards should apply. Observe:

Garbage:

Quote from P12323

http://www.fileize.com/files/53dae4fd/43c/Weekly_3.png

Art:

Quote from Stickly

http://www.fileize.com/files/4124d67c/e2a/endurance.png

Then where do we draw the line between art and garbage?

This should be up to the artist. Seriously people, you should be able to tell whether or not you're posting crap. If you spent ten minutes on it, it probably isn't worth posting. If you didn't put any effort into it, it probably isn't worth posting. If you've never tried to draw before and you just picked up a crayon for the first time... it probably isn't worth posting. Practice, develop some skills before you go to the show off section.

Why? Because if you're posting garbage, you don't have anything to show off. And if you don't have anything to show off, don't expect people to not get angry at you for baiting them into your pointless thread, and don't expect people to not tell you that your so-called "art" fucking sucks.

Which brings me to my next point:



Stop telling every kid with a crayon they're the next rembrandt

Quote from Jobet Aguirre

http://i1261.photobucket.com/albums/ii583/dark2311/haha_zps83f29417.png
CnC

Quote from J.Christian

Photoshop? thats amazing :D

Quote from FreakinGecko

Not half bad!

Quote from Jobet Aguirre

Really thanks!

WHAT HAVE YOU PEOPLE DONE? I suppose this all comes back to the fact that none of you have any standards any more, but holy shit. There is nothing good about this picture, and yet everyone decided to tell him it's good for some fucking reason. Not only have you encouraged him to post more garbage, but you've also misled him to believe that his garbage is beautiful.

When you give criticism, you don't do it out of cruelty. You give criticism to help the artist improve, you don't just tell them "you are great". Especially when they're fucking terrible. And especially when they have asked for "CnC" which stands for "Comments 'n' Criticism".

This applies more to cases where the artist has actually tried (unlike the above case). Without legitimate criticism, and people pointing out flaws, the artist will stagnate and find improving to be difficult.

Now I'm not saying that you should tell everyone their work is bad. That's just insulting them. So:



How to give criticism:

Once you've looked at an artwork (please note that i'm talking about actual artwork), start by saying what you thought was good about it, what you appreciated.

Next, look for flaws. Start with the obvious things that the artist might have done mistakenly and then not bothered to fix. Then, try looking for things the artist might have missed, little flaws that are hard to spot but subtract from the quality of the work. Obviously you don't need to list everything that's wrong with it, just point out the things that you noticed.

This will help the artist from making the same mistakes in future, and will also help you develop your own artistic eye.

For example:

Quote from Zaix

A sketch I finished during my livestream today, how sketches turn into this is beyond me!
http://www.fileize.com/files/9e8307b6/250/Scan0038.png

Quote from Scarecrow

very nice work.

only thing i can spot that looks odd is where his legs and torso meet under that strap... something weird's going on there

keep at it

In conclusion,
stop posting your garbage, stop telling everyone their garbage is great, develop some fucking standards, and start providing criticism when you post in someone's art thread.

You're a bit too harsh, although I support your view. There's lots of shitty art, yet even more art that in fair standards would be mediocre. And then there's great art, a somehow rare find, but still exists.

Everybody is too not-harsh. Therefore I must be doubly-harsh.

[edit]
also, excessive harshness and aggressiveness is a tradition of scarecrow public service announcements

ohmygod everything here is true. I was actually about to post a thread about this, but you beat me to it.

If people really are serious about getting better and want help to improve thru criticism posted by others, then they should spend as much time as they can on their piece until they are ready to say that it is etiquette for submission.
Even you beginners should know better. Just because you aren't very good dosnt mean you can just blow up the art section with garbage that can be classified as 4th grade doodles.

thank you scarecrow. im glad you posted this

Quote from Scarecrow

Everybody is too not-harsh. Therefore I must be doubly-harsh.

[edit]
also, excessive harshness and aggressiveness is a tradition of scarecrow public service announcements

^This=Logic.

this is a good post lot of ppl need to read tthis

Agreed.

Though, you never know.

Some could have spent weeks on a shitty artwork. lol

SP art section is like the parents of a 4 year old child.

"That's amazing drawing dear, let's put it on the fridge so grandma can see it when she comes to visit."

"My son is such a talented young artist, he drew a butterfly today."



I hope this works out. If it does, maybe I'll start posting some art again.

Quote from Leokill

I hope this works out. If it does, maybe I'll start posting some art again.

you should post art anyway, everybody loves your art :3

btw scarecrow i totally agree with you on this.
theres to many people posting what they think is good art... when its not.

I found myself extremely happy reading this thread.
I'm getting sick of crap getting more attention than actual artwork.

Im glad you did that...

The majority of the members using the art section need to realize every inch of this as enlightenment.
Maybe now we can get less half assed art, and more art with effort.

Though I agree with alot of what you're saying some flash sticks are fucking excellently done...
Like this:
[spoiler=][/spoiler]

Quik, you still ain't changing his views on Stick figure art, lets just deal with the fact that we can't please everyone.

Scarecrow, this is a great article, I myself don't really care much for the bad art in the section what with not being able to see everything bad, I just stopped caring, but I change my mind after I read this.

Also, not everyone has no standards, its just that we don't post on garbage art threads because it might just be a waste of time for a lot of people.

Quote from subzero1112

Also, not everyone has no standards, its just that we don't post on garbage art threads because it might just be a waste of time for a lot of people.

This is false for the most part.
Lately, out of the majority of art threads created here, these garbage low standard artworks are the one's recieving the most attention while efforted and quality artwork sits alone; ignored and without properly being critiqued for improvement.
What partially contributes to the frustration that is half assed work is that good graphic artists aren't getting the attention and critique the deserve, whereas garbage 10 minute stick threads get flattery for at least 3 pages.
Yes, some people have better standards than that and would rather ignore the thread; however, that's not the majority case.
The majority of users here have genuinely convinced themselves 5 minute "Artwork" is good.