Do You Believe That Self...

Critical. Its either good or its not. There is little point in praising myself, let others do that for me when i'm done. If you are into praise alone, you may miss things or forgive yourself to easily if it looks bad. Better to be critical but not to the point of crippling yourself.


----Mike Savad

I agree so much with that statement, Mike.

Surly there are others with a different point of view.

Nope. Just mine.


----Mike Savad

Well, lol, that's okay too.

What keeps me going, (and surviving) all these decades is that I think that I'M PRETTY DAMN GOOD in what I do.

And that means, currently, getting a bit slower,... YET,.... Still Getting Better.

I won't allow myself to think Otherwise.


And, back to the basement, once FDU beats FAU


Edit:

DAMN..Now, to the basement

Well, I want to think like you, Roger.

While I'm confident that I am good at what I do, I think part of it is because I'm honest with myself about my work. There's value in being hard on yourself, but there's also such a thing as being too critical of yourself. While you want to ensure you avoid making mistakes in your work, be realistic about how serious certain errors are. I mentored a photographer who has had a hard time learning the balance between self-critique and forgiving yourself mistakes.

To critique or not to critique is not the question my creative-self asks.
That part of me does what it does without question and does it for the sheer enjoyment of it, the making of stuff…

My critical-self I find, has been on vacation for quite a long time now.

Most people won't see the things I see, but they might. And if it bugs me it may bug them but they may not know why. Its sort of like when a barber does that last few snips and it didn't look like anything changed. He knows it.

If I make a mistake I won't loathe myself forever unless it was a really bad mistake. But i'm in the book of - it can always be better, be improved, get better, get faster, and repeat.

Otherwise you may never improve. You can do it for a 1000 years and never get better if all you say is, " I did a good enough job on this, now I will eat ice cream". Always strive to improve so no one on the outside can critique it poorly.

----Mike Savad

I am on vacantation

Viva,

RE:... "on vacantation"


Your recent activity and the ART produced, belies that word

There is NOTHING , "Vacant" there.

Your creativity, and EYE, is as vital as it has ever been

There is a fine line that one has to balance on between praising and being critical of their own work. I think both are equally important to any artist.

If you don't think you are producing quality work that is worthy of self praise, why keep doing it? At the same time, if you can't see where you fell short and/or maybe need a little bit of improvement your work will become stale.

In almost all of my work, I can see what I could have done better and what I feel I really nailed. There are also those times when I completely blow it, but it's healthy to acknowledge complete failures too.

Why do we think of failure as a bad thing?
We can learn great things from it if we are open to it. Read on:


“I’ve missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.” – Michael Jordan.

There is no such thing as success without failure.

As a matter of fact, since failure is a brick on the road to success, failure is success in itself.

There is an old practice in Japan of repairing broken pottery with gold with the result that the repaired pottery is even more beautiful after it broke than before. It's called Kintsugi. Just saying

Be critical of your own work.

Critical. There are times when I got "the" shot. The one that I knew when I clicked the shutter button it was going to be more than good. Those I can look at over and over and still love what they are. But the rest. often I can still work them to become something I'm proud of.

But the best thing is to cull everything from a day or week of shooting, try some ideas on the best of what's left. Then walk away for a few days, or even a week or more. I work on something else that's older. When you come back to it you can end up having a whole different perspective of it and it's easier to be more critical and see the flaws and if it's even something useable.

I stopped judging my own work once I saw collectors responding to them different than what I expected. So when I am post processing a photograph I have learned there is a time to stop tweaking and let it 'sell itself'. My photo mentor Joh H. White always said 'there are some pictures for your soul, and other pictures are for sale, I have to determine which they are'. So in short, I have found there is an overlap to this. ......



Another great question, Lisa, and great feedback as well. Thank you!

I guess I think like MIke - it is either good or it is not.

The medium I use doesn't matter, I feel the same about everypiece I create - the creating was fun and the result needs to be evaluated, and then maybe re-evaluated for the level of good or bad, and the why I feel that way.

Thinking about it now - I guess I like to be critical of my own work.

I don't really critique the end product itself. Usually it's my effort or intentions that I critique. Or just the overall process. Did I do enough to get the best result from that image? Am I 'forcing' the end result just so I have content to upload? I don't know if it's possible to truly look at your own art objectively.

Like others have said, you have to be self-critical in order to evolve and improve. But you have to not be so critical that you think an image is not good enough to add to your portfolio, if it is technically good . You have to remember that your buying audience often sees things differently that you do and buys because it is pleasing to their eye. You can be happy with your self when you nailed something and you know it. I periodically go through old files and find images and think, why didn't I upload that?

I'm critical with my work as I create it, then generally let it go once it's complete (some old, cringey stuff aside). Also, I've been doing what I do long enough to know that I'm good at it, so there's a small modicum of self-praise in there, too.

Don't know about other artists, but by default, photographers have to be critical of their own work at some point. Unless they keep and upload all those 1000plus shots on their memory card regardless (sometimes I think some do)

I do of course critique my work, however I believe one must have a good amount of self-confidence to be able to develop and maintain a creative career.

I am critical of my work at a stage when I'm choosing which ones are good enough to be uploaded to this site. After the upload, I only spent a little time evaluating the work.

I'm confident that I am good at what I do, but there are people doing better than me. There is always somebody better than you at what you do. That is just a fact of life. And that fact is not discouraging or encouraging for me.

Great responses. I almost feel that what makes an artist is the act of critical thinking.

Thank you for the question and opportunity to answer. :) I tend to have a critical eye when I am feeling my painting when it is towards the end of being finished....I may hang it on the wall for a few days to just look at it and feel it out, then I start asking critical questions, so by the time I post/share publicly, I feel confident without the need or want to ask what people think of my art. If they like it, great, please buy it, and if not, then that's cool, too. All I do know, is that there is so much space for all of us artists, in all of our unique styles. :) I do feel that in order to improve, in any field of passion, it's crucial to subject ourselves to criticism, starting with how WE feel about our own art. If we feel confident and excited, others will, too, and if we feel low energy and self-doubt, others will reflect that. I love your art!! Thank you so much and have a great day! :) Brandy

I can be too critical of my work. Sometimes it is necessary to make an effort to embrace the imperfections otherwise I'd never get anything finished.

Self-critique? No...I don't do that at all. I let the rest of the world do it for me and I need at least one voice on my side, so I do that for myself. I'm thinking that, if I put on my psychologist hat, there'd be a behavioral strategy with a name for that.

Any self critique comes when I just decide what to do, whether to bother with an image....the little voice doesn't speak to me because I already know what it will say....don't waste your time on that one.

@MM. “ Sometimes it is necessary to make an effort to embrace the imperfections otherwise I'd never get anything finished.”

Sculptor David Smith said,”I will not change an error, if it feels right, for the error is more human than perfection.”

This is somewhat of a tricky question IMHO.

There are people that want to create the very best art in the world, or at least to their own capabilities. Then there are people that need or want to make money selling their art. They are not necessarily the same thing.

Dealing with artists over the last 50-plus years I have found that an artist being too critical can leave themselves with not enough art to sell. The buying public is not nearly as critical as artists.

Not everything that an artist can sell is going to be a perfect 10. But those 7s, 8,s and 9s will never sell if you don't offer them for sale. But they will sell quite often if and when they get seen by the right people.

Following up what Floyd said, I think I've sold several of my 7s, a few of my 5s but not that many of what I would consider even close to a "10".

I HAVE gotten more selective in what I upload - more than I used to be, but I think that's because I've gotten much better in assessing the so-so stuff from the "that's not bad" and "that's pretty good" stuff. Maybe.

On the other hand, I probably have no idea what the hell I'm talking about.

I'm critical of my work but I'm finding a balance: instead of thinking of leaving twice a week, now I think of leaving only once every 2 weeks

Oh Lucia, I feel your pain.

I do, then curate. Others can judge.
At that point I have moved on by many paintings.

What it comes down to is. Do you want to improve? Or just stay where you are?

I want to improve so I will do it myself. I can't rely on others to point stuff out, you have to be honest with yourself. But its not like I will toss it out if it isn't perfect. And my level of perfect changes over time. If I see a better way i'll switch to the new way. To see mistakes in your own, you should be able to critique others because its a lot easier to point out flaws in other people's work (it doesn't have to directly at them just do it in your head). Ask, what would I have done? And you'll find that you may be making the same mistakes as that other guy, but you overlooked it because you were too busy complimenting yourself. Or forgiving yourself for something.

Like I remember when I broke my camera, but I insisted on trying to get photos. But they weren't really in focus, but I tried it anyway, and after looking at it. I couldn't bring myself to sell it because it didn't look good. Every image I make is a representation of all other things I currently have. If that is the one that looks bad, few will click on it. And less will look at the rest of the store.

So when I take a picture, i'll try to stand in a place that has the fewest obstacles, then remove those distracting things at home. If my eyes land on something that isn't the main subject I try to figure out a way to get the eyes to land where I want it too. But there is a point that I will stop pecking at things and just let it be.


----Mike Savad

It's been many decades since anyone has found it necessary to offer criticism of my work

I don't really critique or praise my own stuff. I just paint and enjoy what I do.
The real critique though comes when I am running short in canvas to paint on. I go thru some older works and some of them get a white Gesso coat and I paint over.

I am critical of my work but I don't feel like I've done a bad job just that the next piece will be better.
The work is never finished till I stop working on it. The process and creation is always where the joy is.
Getting into the zone planning it out and getting done is always fun. Doing a show of my work is hard,
what work to display is tough. They are all special to me, but sharing and giving other people joy is nice.

I don’t “believe” in self-critique of my art. It’s not something I intentionally think about. I only know that there are times I’m not happy with the end result, and often I’m not even sure WHY I’m not happy. I just know that something is not right, or something bugs me but I can’t put my finger on it. Husband will say at those moments that I’m too critical of myself. But I don’t think so. Cause usually I am happy when I finish a painting or computer design. I’m happy, but don’t sit there afterwards praising myself, lol.

I want to improve, thank you Mike Savad for all your help. And encouragement, maybe!

I'm critical of my work and always critique myself. I'm often too hard on myself. I've learned that even if I'm not super happy with an image, someone else my like it as it seems the images I love don't sell or have sold few of, and the one's I'm not a big fan of is what has sold. It can be hard for me to post those too sometimes. I still go back an re-edit some of my older images when I can as I have worked hard to improve and I feel my older images need some extra love lol. It's just hard to find the time as I have 1,000's of more newer and better images that I need to get to and post.

When it comes to other types of photography, like Real Estate for example, I've had a couple realtors tell me recently that they can see how much more I care about my images then my toughest competition. Those other photographers don't take the time to make the photos look good. They leave cords out, pillows laying down, ect. I not only want to help the realtor sale the home, I also want my photos to look good all the time even if I'm taking photos of an unattractive home. It's my name that gets attached to the photos so I want to keep a good reputation.

A few of the pieces of art that I enjoy most from my personal favorite artists are complete with quirks.

I see them, and embrace the whole piece. Those quirks do not seem to bother me at all, in fact I can "see" the artist even more in that piece.

Would I accept those quirks if they were my own? No, and that is a shame.
I would love to just create more and be more expressive than getting a detail exact.

I have ruined beautiful pieces trying too hard, and I have also learned some new techniques along the way.

Most of the pieces that I paint are of scenes that have an important memory to me - so I am painting the feeling I had at the time.
Painting is journaling to me, in color.

I do step back and look for obvious distractions or "holes", things that would distract away from the subject.

Knowing the rules by now, I think I would rather just enjoy, a be a bit more playful.

I feel the same way, Janine!

I am enjoying what you all have to say, so I won't close just yet.

A young man who plays the piano on Facebook told everyone the other day that he learns best when he plays a lot of junk. I tend to agree with him, he's only five, but I'm only 60 and feel that a lot of junk needs to be what I do to learn how to be very loose.

"Do you feel in praise of your work or are you super critical of it. Just curious"

Basically, it is viewed as a continuum: lots of individual stand alone pieces that fit together to describe a personal temporal journey. The incorporation of many disciplines and mediums into a historically creative echo in the ethereal existence of an idea.

"Do you feel in praise of your work or are you super critical of it."

For me, I think it's a balance of the two.

First thoughts: mmmmm, this could be something good!

While I am in the creation phase of it, I am trying to execute the ideas that I have for the image, so I am critical to the point of meeting the current goals.
I find it helpful to wait until after I have finished, live with it a little, then re-visit the image, which often causes me to adjust the way I see the image, & make final adjustments.

Then I can look at it, knowing I have done my best.

With all of that said, I find the most fun when I am drawing from life and it's a one shot deal, with no edits or adjustments. I have a basic composition in mind, then just draw what I see. It's a happy place, where I always prefer the end result to be great, but enjoy the process either way.

If i like it at the time i created it, i upload it, promote it then forget about it Lol.

I do both self-critique and self-praise. Since I am finishing out my first year I only want the best I can possibly do. So I am a harsh judge of my art, but when things go right I am all the more proud. It is my goal to make anyone of my fans be able to look at any picture I post and go, "Yep, that is Kaos." It has to tell a story, and when zoomed in the "noise" must be minimal so it looks good as larger sizes.

Granted I have only sold one piece so I could be way off, but it works for me. I have taken thousands of pictures so when I pick what I want to represent my brand and my name it must be perfect. Simply, it must be me. Tells a story, and brings out the beauty of the animal even if the animal is frightening.

Drew, that is a very nice description of a work of art.

I am seriously critical of my own works.

The need for the artisan has been systematically diminished through mechanization, automation, an mass production.
The primary industry for the artisan is aimed at the hobbyist. Art serves very little purpose within modernity other than individualized entertainment and mass entertainment.
Anyone can be an artist. Artists manufacturer images and they tell stories.
Can't take what artists do too seriously when creativity has been absorbed through modernity's overwhelming influence.
Now, traditional art techniques are no more than experimental archeology. A method of understanding our ancestral technologies and the human innate desire to create.
Modernity's legacy IMHO is the reduction of the individual to the least common denominator. Elimination of skilled artisan has been part of the emerging Modern Art Philosophy pushed by the powerful via Academia and to bolster their collections and also for propaganda purposes.
Now, the artisan has been attacked via modernity's emerging technologies using the artisan's own work to undermine their unique abilities.
So, no I don't put much emphasis on self critique. I create because I can. So what? Anyone one can create! Nothing special about creativity for modernity's systemic efforts has diluted what it means to be an artist.

I critique my work as I'm creating it - and since I use the computer - I can sometimes back out of what I just did - or even perhaps go back a few steps. I am critical only to the point of do I want someone else to see my work - IF I think it isn't working - the good thing about what I do - it disappears forever and only I saw it. IF I put it up - then I am pleased enough with the result to show it to anyone who might be interested. I used to worry about what would happen to my creations after I'm gone - I no longer have any concern - like smoke - they will just disappear. rd

I'm hyper critical of my art.

Right at this moment I'm working in my mind on how to resolve the aspects of the work I spent all day yesterday on, that I'm not happy with.

Eventually I'll have to go down to the basement and deal with it.

For me, it's both.

I'm confident in my ability but I'm even more confident in my ability to learn and grow. In order to do that I have to be critical of my own work.

My art wouldn't be better than it used to be without self critique. I am my own worst critic and my biggest cheerleader. I critique, improve, praise myself for learning from my mistakes, and then move forward.

@ Drew: It seems to be true what you say until I see Instagram, Facebook and tictoc with so many reeally talented people. Sometimes I feel a bit inadequate when I see what others are doing in spaces way larger and more techie than mine. I have the worlds smallest studio ever.

@Roy, I take all my paintings to the computer and I feel like I should stop doing the digital work on my paintings and let people see what they really look like.

@Genevieve, it gives me so much comfort to read what you wrote. I see your masterpieces all over social media and they rock!

@Roger, I had a hideous day yesterday as well. I worked all day on an epic failure.

@ Shana, I think that what you wrote is a very healthy perspective.

Thank you Lisa! It's not that I don't have my bad days, because I certainly do. But I try not to let them hold me back, because in the grand scheme of things, it's all just part of the process for me.

"Sometimes I feel a bit inadequate when I see what others are doing in spaces way larger and more techie than mine. I have the worlds smallest studio ever."
IMHO, the only person who truly has control over how one feels is the person doing the feeling.
There are many who have no studios yet that seems to be a non issue in their creative endeavors.

Excellent point of view, Drew!