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MakarovJAC

Age quod agis
18 Watchers111 Deviations
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I'm so but so relieved that in this modern days where seemingly any idiot can call herself an artist and brag about how many pageview and likes she has is what matters instead of her own skill prowess. 
All over the world, critics and professionals alike are slowy calling out these self-proclaimed "geniuses" who go around the museums, galleries, and internet communities talking of how great artists they are despite the fact that you need to: 1) get an explanation of what are you supposed to see; 2) and stare at the shit you have in front for like a week or two to finally "get it".

When I read Avelina's Lesper last talk at college students, I recall all these times I have seen here whatever hopeless, celebrity-wannabe get his ass kissed over and over again by pretty much horny, or stupid kids. And acting all high about it. If you don't worship their shit, you´re branded an idiot for not spending that much time looking at something trying to realise what the guy meant.

I have got to be honest, I do know what real art is and what real art is not. I have drawn myself things that makes me feel proud when I look at them, because I can do look at what makes them great. Managing to get the right shade of blur after hours or days of hard work to make something look a little bit more real, and a little less amateurish doesn't need to be explained to people. You can see it. You can see it in Hyperrealist artist creating genuine life in picture which leave you breathless without the need for the guy to stand next to them explaining to you why should be breathless.

I have witnessed works of art made by genuine professionals who leave me astoniushed in awe because of how well they handled what they were trying to do. Look at a Expressionist paint where the colours mimic the real shades of light and shadows while on a surrealist, simplistic version of a church is what I can tell is art. And not one shitty picture of yet another bastardized version of the same stupid animal mix many a kid will have to tell you what is in the it to get it. But in the end, it all looks like the same Don Bluth Ripoff with the same snout.

It's weird, when you take something, and successfully manage to mold it into something truly yours, using the intelligence and knowledge you are meant to display, you can actually make something which looks different to whatever person can do. So, to use a burned-out example: Warhammer 40000. There is a template, a single armor design allowing people to customize them in such endless ways where you can hardly see a lookalike design when you put a bunch of competent artist side. Despite pulling the first sip from the same dwell, you will find that they will flavour with uncountable amounts of themes and references from all over the world. Or they can create brand new ones out of sudden.

But that's the point. On one side, you got the people with the knowledge and the skills. On the other side, you got a bunch of idiots using the same 3D-render, with the same textures, and the same templates to make hundres of lookalikes and then get their asses buttkissed by the lowest common denomiator, a.k.a. a horny loser who will worship his spank-fodder source thinking that it will either grant him special priviledges, or at least be part of something. Besides furiously fapping to the pretense of boobs. Or dicks. Or the chance of passing up as a smart person because they "can" see what the secret message that feeble peasants can´t see in a random spot. So random that not even the guy who did it had any control on where and how was that stain supposed to be like.
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F.M.C.s (Frequently Made Complaints)

 

You are reading this in case you received a critique for your art, and are not happy with it. Yes, xomplaints (a.k.a. excuses) are so repetitive you can actually make a how-to guide to respond using common sense. 

A.-You are hurting my (their) feelings.

Please indicate with quotes where there are straight insults, disrespectful use of sarcasm, or simply a mock to the offended person.

Note: notice that any lack of compliments is by no means a form of offense. It’s just a lack of compliments.

B.-It’s my (their) style.

Style, in arts, refers to a series of features which identifies the work of a particular person from the work of other people. Such features are under complete control of the artist, so they can freely manipulate them at will. Issues with anatomy, finish, organization, or pretty much any other technical aspect is very unlikely to be a form of style.

C.-You are not a pro. You can’t criticize me/others.

You don’t need to be an expert chef to tell people the food doesn’t taste good because the steak is raw, the potatoes are burnt, and the milk is spoiled. Or do you?

Answer: No, you don’t.

UPDATE: I read what TD-Vice said about being a “connoisseur” as a pre-requisite to give “constructive” criticism. Guess what? I do know what I’m talking about. At least for low, low level amateurs. Such as you (them).

D.-That’s how I (they) learn/everybody learns differently.

Although it’s a correct statement, your (their) methods is not adequate since it doesn’t bring all the necessary information you (they) require in order to master the skills necessary for your (their) pretentions, as well as fixing up the issues at hand.

E.-Art is not my life/It’s a hobby/I don’t look forward a career in arts.

AGE QUOD AGIS: Anything you do, does it right.

Otherwise, if you are not putting the necessary effort into it, you would be better practicing any other activity you (they) deem as important; or where you (they) perform better. I guess you know the right direction to the TV and the bag of Cheetoh’s.

 

F.-Your English is not good enough, your argument is invalid.

The porpoise of the critique is to point out flaws in ART. Unless critiques and advice are made unintelligible, it’s unimportant whether English is not good enough. 

G.-Art doesn’t have standards.

Although there are no words written in stone, depending on the subject you engage in, there are generally perceived standards, or expectations. Just watch around for the actual best there is. Not what you perceive the best is.

H.-You are not being constructive/you should give constructive criticism.

Re-read the critique I made to find actual, easy-to-do, exercises, guidelines; or advice on how to improve. If you can’t find them, either you are stupid; or you don’t get them well. Notify of grammar and spelling issues to fix the aforementioned indications.

I.-I (they) have improved over time.

Generally, improvements are easily noticeable, and quite often, they are made on important issues. Small improvement over short time is a good thing. Small improvement over long time is actually stagnation. Especially when there are more important issues left unattended for so long.

J.-Nobody asked you/it’s free/don’t like, don’t watch it/you can’t judge me (them)/nobody can judge anyone.

If you (they) don’t like feedback; or prefer positive feedback only, you (they) shouldn’t be displaying this publicly. Feedback, good or bad, is a common happening in social interaction with other people outside our inner circles of friends and family. Otherwise, you should keep it from the reach of other people to prevent “negative” feedback; or “trolling”.

Note: Constructive criticism as it follows is not negative feedback. Refer to point A and G.

K.-I’m self-taught/I learned by myself

If you (they) have issues (See point I); or your performance over time has been lackluster (see point G), then your chosen learning methods are not working out (see point D).

L.-Adults don’t always know best.

Although there are child geniuses, they are a rare occurrence. And more importantly, IF they are right, no adult will contradict them. Or the adult will admit they did wrong. If that doesn’t happen, it’s very likely you (they) are not the genius (es) you (they) think you (they) are.

 

M.-There are other people which also does bad, why don’t you go after them? /other people do worse than I/others do wrong as well, go after them instead.

Everybody’s got their turn. None excluded. Guess whose turn this is.

N.-You don’t know me (them)/I’m (they are) a good person/what have I (they) done to you?

No personal feelings. I won’t object that you may be a good person, but my interest here is not your, but your actions regarding art. Mostly, for the ART. So, for all I care, you can be a saint or a murderer that all I care for is the stuff you have drawn or painted.

O.-You are jealous because I (they) have more page views/I (they) have page views, I’m (they are) better than you (anyone).

You don’t need page views when you can provide with facts; or constructive criticism. Besides the only thing affected by listening to constructive criticism are page views. And only positively if you (they) follow advice. Otherwise, bragging about having page views is like bragging about being millionaire in Monopoly.

P.-It’s the best I (they) can do/I’m (they’re) doing my (their) best!

I won’t deny it. Anyways, I’m pointing out where did they do wrong; and how can they fix it. Otherwise, see points A, B, G, F, and I.

Q.-At least I (they) have done something, what about you?/ I’m (they are) better than you.

Re-read point C, O, and P.

R.-I am (they are) my (their) own (best, most strict, etc.) critic(s).

If you (they) have got issues for so long, your (their) critic haven’t do their job.

S.-You (Nobody) can’t define Art.

Actually, you (they) have no idea of what you (they) are doing. And you (they) are trying to reflect that ignorance on their critics in order to make them feel guilty so they quit. If they do, they gave up on trying giving you a hand (Read Point A over again).

 

Exceptions:

This goddamned place has a GODDAMNED user's Terms and Policies. If you thought this place was a fancy photobucket, you pretty much deserve every time you got your feelings hurt. And maybe more. Keep it up with the "Ah doo wadevah Ah wan'". Meanwhile, I'll ask a quadriplegic guy to help me count all the fucks I give.

The other exceptions are the lazy fucks with a bloated egos who think they are above everything. Those retards DEMAND to have their inferiority complex kicked in the balls.

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...But one thing.

DA & tartlet bullshit aside,  there is one of these tips which should be expanded for the sake of people not going and screwing it up like a moron. Again, this won't stop genuine morons from screwing it up. But if one person is willing to think twice, it's one person less to worry about.

www.deviantart.com/journal/Don…

Basically, the last point "Don't copy people's works" leaves the window open for plenty of misinterpretation any moron can use to try getting away with their skill issues. I like to use the word"inspiration" instead of "copy". 

Inspiration is something you will notice if you know the source. The difference is that inspiration just means that something had some influence on what you do. The best example of it is almost every piece of fiction which has proved timeless for decades, even centuries. If we talk about Warhammer 40K, we pretty much are talking about something inspired by every work of science fiction and tidbit of history of mankind in the world. One could argue they just "copied" it, but that can't still explain all the artwork which has inspired so many people for almost 30 years.

However, when I like to mean "copy" I always point towards things like "animu". Pieces of work which make use of every cliché face expression used in anime for the last 15 years.  Difference? Simple, when the guys from Warhammer 40K re-told the story of the "God Emperor", first connoited in Frank Herbert's God Emperor of Dune (1981), probly first connoited by the first Emperor of Qi Ying Zheng; and most likely connoited by the Egyptian Eighteenth Dinasty a millenia before, they rebuilt the concept of an all-mighty ruler of all mankind and made another story off the same idea. Copying anime cliché concepts can also be used the same way. But just "copying" stock faces, and characters is just a poor short-cut which convinces fewer people that one might believe. Specially if these "copied" clichés are used for a myriad of different situations. They start looking repetitive, not fresh. That's boring, not edgy.

Experimentation is possibly one of the most valuable tools one can have in arts. After all, you have got the freedom to let your mind fly. You can't simply go and waste it copying "line-by-line" what another person did. Specially if you have got no clue of what you are doing.
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...regardless. Fucking tittle limits.

Recently, I found on Cracked that a card game depicting overly-sexualized nazis, re-imagining world war 2 in the most absurdly offensive manner possible got backed up in Kickstarter within a few hours. It then comes into my mind when a year ago, another card game dipicting tentacle porn ALSO got kickstarted. AND I also remember the shitstorm there was when porn disguised-as-romance novel Twillight got called up for depicting an abussive relationship between a stalker, and a character so bland and uninspiring, that people seriously agreed it was nothing but a shamefully public avatar for whoever wanted to "feel" they were so important, despite not doing anything in particular, that they had a 140 years-old paedophile watching them in their sleep.

From this angle, if we also sum up things like rape-fandom, gore-fandom, and many other questionable, or outright sick stuff, DA included, we could think that humanity is stuck in a downward spiral into decadence. The world is about to end. Sin will be acceptable. And we better be born dead than having to endure this shitty reality; or we could join the resistance, and fight to get things back to normal until we either die, or succeed. 

Here's the thing, I'm of the people whom believes that history is nothing but an endless loop. History repeats itself over and over again, only with a few minor changes. This means, that this bat-shit insane tendency of trivializing despicable acts every time will continue to build up until a point shit hits the fan, and then, the process resets back to the beginning. In simpler words, this will continue to happen until it becomes normal. Then it will continue to escalate until people starts to get fed up with it. Then it will keep like that until the great mayority has had enough with it, and decides to turn the table. 

It might not happen overnight, maybe we get to live long, plentiful lives watching this going on and not even grasp the development of it. Maybe our children neither. Maybe, in a hundred years, or even a thousand (remember the Inquisition?), it will finally end in a chaotic clash of ideas, complete with lots of deaths, blames, history books, and what else.

It has happened before; before World War 2, rascism and segregation was completely normal. Before the American Civil War, slavery was completely normal. Before the French Revolution, human rights were non-existant. And before the Renainssance, being completed ignorant, and burning people for reading a book was acceptable. It's the way things have been for since the beginning of Mankind.

So, I did recomend either to sit back, and enjoy the moral-decay espectacable for as long as it last; or start from now to take action on the matter.

Gutten Nacht!
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...before you start, read this: www.cracked.com/blog/the-6-gre…

Seriously, this place reeks with the extreme opposite to that in a way it woudn't surprise me if this place is regarded as a one of the reasons for the problems of the world in future books.
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