Self-critique is a pendulum.
On one side of the swing, we have perfectionism. This endless pursuit of “getting it right”. Where nothing you do is ever good enough, and each new piece leaves you feeling worse than the last one.
On the other side of the swing, we have laziness. This “ehhh, good enough” mentality. Where you never push yourself to improve, and you stay stagnant in your creative skills.
Self-critique is an art form in and of itself. Swing too far in either direction, and you’ll be left with a creative practice that is neither fun nor fulfilling. The key is to find the balance. Find that sweet spot where you can acknowledge where your skills fall short, and seek to improve them. Where you can make mistakes and laugh them off. Where you grow in your skills so you can create the art you want to make, not so you can be the best artist in the world. (Let’s face it, there’s always going to be someone out there better than us!)
Whenever I go to self-critique on a piece, I try to follow these three rules:
1) Be honest. If you had a specific goal going into the piece (i.e. improving your color mixing, creating a new character design, etc.), ask yourself if you really achieved that goal. Or did that goal get lost along the way? Does the composition live up to the image you had in mind? Did you take your time with you color mixes?
2) Be kind. You can critique yourself without being hateful about it. Imagine that you’re an art teacher and you’re critiquing your nine year-old student on their painting. What kind of language do you use? How can you make corrections to build them up instead of tearing them down? Now treat yourself the same way. Notice the errors, take steps to improve upon them, but treat yourself with kindness.
3) Find one good thing. Truthfully, this can be a hard one sometimes, especially when the process was frustrating and nothing turned out the way you had in mind. But try to find ONE GOOD THING in your piece. It doesn’t have to be big! Do you like a certain brushstroke? A color choice? Do you like the expression on a character’s face or the way you rendered a prop? Every piece of art has at least one good thing about it.
The next time you’re critiquing yourself on your artwork, give these rules a try!