Starting February 7th and continuing until the end of the month, TDA will be hosting a massive critiquing blitz in order to get people ready for the next round of promotions, and to generally help everyone along with their work.

In the critique area, you will find two topics:

1) Critique-Provider Signup - where people who want to give critique can sign themselves up to help out, and keep track of the number of artists they critique. ALL artists can sign up for this, even Member Artists.

2) Critique-Wanted Signup - for those who want to receive critique, particularly gallery critique. I suggest that Staff Artists don't sign up for this unless you're very desperate (for example, because you're in a graphics slump).


The critique provided will be monitored, so make sure that you are not only thorough, but polite to those whose work you're critiquing. The individual signup topics will explain the process for keeping track of the critique you give in more detail.

February is the month of love, so spread it around! Lets all help one another out with graphics.

So I've noticed... there are a lot of the same artists who are getting critique after critique and a few who aren't getting anything... is there anything that can be done about that? Say maybe only ___ critiques per critique requester? That may not be possible, but I thought I'd ask. I know I would love some critique b/c in member artists I'm on the 8th page, so I don't get a lot of people who stop by... and if they do, they don't leave comments... and I'm sure others would love the same chance. Thanks for the consideration...

As a member artist, you can still post a topic in the member artist critique area. It's very small at the moment, and people could notice you there.

This part is what I was hoping wouldn't be necessary, but it could also work: if you see a critique-giver who has the same program as you, you can always try to PM them and ask if they have the time to critique you. I don't want this happening on a large scale, but it can be done.

I'm also hoping that the critique-givers themselves can see when an artist has like 5 or more critiques in their gallery. It's obvious at that point that all the things that person can improve upon have been said by someone else.

If an artist has already received FIVE or more critiques, please do not give them more! There are still many artists who haven't received ANY, so please "spread the love"!

If an artist has recieved 5 or more critiques is it okay to remove their post from the wanted thread?

I think that's fine.

It seems that this has ended, so thank you to everyone who participated! Having more people critique and get critiqued worked, I think.

What does everyone think about this "Spread the Love!" idea? Should we bother with it again? Should we make changes to the process?

i definitly think it was worth it. so many people were able to get lots of critique from people. um changes? i don't really think we would need any unless there were split catagories like, 'these are the member artists who need critique/juniors...ect' it would be the same thing but maybe those are looking to critique only certain ranks could do so easier instead of having to go through one thread?

I loved the critique blitz! We should definately do it again. I could certainly see an improvement in lots of people's galleries and there were a lot more people promoted this month than the previous two (I think?). The only change I can think of is maybe think of a system so that some people get dont get like a million critiques and some people dont get any. Would there be any way to even it out a bit?

I was thinking the critique mods (and some other mods who could help) could have a list of people who wanted critique at the top of the thread and just update every now and again how many critique that person has got so people can just look down the list and find people with "0" next to their name to critique. And then once a person has gotten, say 5 critiques their post gets removed? Or would that be too much work? If it is, don't worry.

I'd be happy to help with anything like that if needed.

/ramble.

<sub>^ i don't think a list is really needed because people's posts were getting deleted after they had 5 crits, and you could always just flip through the last few posts in the gallery to see if they needed more. that's just my opinion though

i think this would definitely be great to continue, it really worked very well. except the only thing is their were a lot of people asking for critique, and not enough people actually critiquing. tons of people signed up and didn't end up doing any crits. i'm not sure what could be done to help this, since a lot of people are busy and don't have time, or just weren't motivated or something. other than that, the critique blitz was awesome</sub>

Yeah you're probably right Kara

I think people kinda forgot about it a bit towards the end of the month... maybe have some promotional messages every now and again? I dunno..

The Spread the Love Critique was really good and though I didn't receive any critique, I believe a lot of people benefited from the whole experience..
To improve? Nothing much really. People were really busy and even with the busy-ness a lot of people were able to receive lovely critique!

Definitely a keeper..

~~C

_{I definetly think it should happen again. It was a great way to get people motivated to critique. Could there be a prize for the winner whoever critiques the most, though, for more of an effort by everyone? Because I know I didn't get any critique and I know a few other people also didn't. I know some may be harder to critique than others, but maybe if there was more of a motive more people would have gone. Hopefully next time I can critique, too busy this time. Yay for next time!}

I didn't find it that helpful, as I only got a couple of responses. But if others liked it, then it was a good thing. I wasn't feeling the love, but it looks like others were, which is fine. I'm a bit at a loss, however, for direction, so critique would have helped. Oh well.

_{I noticed that some people got tons of critique, while a few didn't get any at all, and a lot got just a little - perhaps we should "assign" critiquers to critiquees? The critiquer can be assigned one person at a time, and if they finish critiquing the person and want to critique more, they can ask to be assigned another critiquee.}

I didn't find it at all beneficial (I was one of the 'few' who received no crit) aside from realising how freaking long it takes to do an indepth critique and then all the worry that the crit might be taken the wrong way or you were 'wrong.' But I digress.

I like the idea of people being assigned to others to critique, maybe it will increase the chances of the crit being spread evenly?

it was a fantastic idea.
i was one of the people who got a LOT of critique, which i'm thankful for, but i really think most of that critique should have gone other places too.
if you give lots of critique to one person, you're bound to repeat a lot of stuff, which i got the feeling was happening to me.
(no offense, guys! <3 i really appreciated it)
and i know i didn't critique that much, which i'm sorry for.
i got busy and tired and recently had a rutty week.
so yeah.
but it definitely inspired me to critique some more, and it helped me out a lot on the receiving end.

Why did you think you and others were missed? Was it just that there were too many people asking for critique and not enough giving it? Or was there an issue with people giving critique to ONLY those people they knew?

It may have been that people were doing those they knew because I was another who received no critque in my gallery. And even though I am a moderator I am also kind of a hermit, I don't really hang out it any of the spam threads..Or it may have been that people find me harder to critque than others..

_{I personally find that its easier to critique people you are't really good friends with, because you can be more honest. That could just be me though. I tried to get a bunch of people, I think I got like 15-20 or so, but tons of people didn't get any. Maybe if it was give a critique, get a critique? I'm not sure if this would work, but it might be a bit better because it would give people a reason to give critique. Either that or what Katie said about the prizes, like categories, most in depth crit, most crits, most honest, and whatnot.}

_{awards to make people critique? going overboard there. why not just make it a rule or something that a person who still needs more critique can pm some of the people who are critiquing for some? you don't want to make the entire thing all that confusing with awards and stuff all over the place.}

I think Rachael hit the nail on the head. If you're not outgoing, being sociable and "fitting in" over the board you are less likely to be noticed in these kind of things. How I feel anyway.

But I am sure not enough people giving critique was a contributor.

I actually found it very helpful. I was also one of the people
who signed up but got no critique, but by seeing all the helpful critique given
to others, I feel it was a success. I was a little dissapointed in myself because
I didn't get as many critiques done as I hoped, but that was all my fault. ><

I think to encourage more people to get critique there could be another critique
month, but through that month, the focus is on a different artist rank. So, week
one: members get critiqued. Week two: Juniors. Week three: Seniors. Week four:
graduates and staff, because not as many of those ranks signed up.

The critique giver list could stay the same, just the critique receiver list would change. Also,
if the delete a post when a member had enough critiquest stayed in place, I think most people,
if not everybody would get some critique.

Maybe reduce the maximum critiques to three before deleting, and encouraging people to
go with the galleries with no critique? That way, the love will really be shared.

I think it's what Cat and Rachael said, but one part of it could also be the rank. I noticed quite some seniors and graduates that asked for critique got a lot less than for example members that asked for it. I only got one crit the entire month. It could be because the upper ranks may be a bit harder to critique, but I also saw quite a lot of staff members that signed up for giving critique so...

Could be lack of time though xD

so yeah, assigning people could be an idea to try, although I think it could be quite a lot of work, while this was easier to execute... except for the problem of course that some received no crit at all. And getting almost no critique didn't exactly motivate me to give critique to lots of other people (plus the lack of time xD)

EDIT: I think Jordan's idea is a good one

<sub>One of the reasons this critique thing could have been unevenly spread is because, as Enya pointed out, it gets harder to critique the higher ranks. But anyway, I didn't receive a whole lot of critique (but it's okay because I got tons of critique before pointing out the same things ) but it was probably very useful for people that really needed it.

And um, no awards. In fact, the one thing that really bothered me was the signing up of people who were giving the critique. I thought that was rather unnecessary; critique should be something you give without expecting anything back. It felt sort of like a contest there. I didn't feel it necessary to list all the people I critiqued.

But all in all, I think it's an excellent idea! Maybe we should have this a couple months at a time?</sub>

I agree with no awards, but if most people are critiquing the more familiar names, then it's hard to make things even. One thing that might work is to set up a schedule ahead of time. Staff and Mods could divvy up those wanting critique and assigning them to those giving critique. That way it's assured that it's even. You could critique anyone else so long as you take care of your assigned artists first. Perhaps people could specify a preferred rank since the upper levels are more challenging.

<sub>i critiqued a lot of people, but i was put off by critiquing higher ranked artists, because either 1. i couldnt find anything useful to say, 2. im pretty sure they know more about what makes a better graphics than me, and 3. if i did critique them, it wasnt very long and it probably wasnt very helpful

i think this whole thing is getting really complicated about spreading out the critique. it needs to be simple but efficient. the thing about a different rank critiqued each week is good, but a lot of MA's and JA's might not participate in critiquing the higher ranks. and people want good critique. not just pointless stuff like 'work on text' or 'work on blending'. that sort of stuff doesnt really help unless people are being specific.

yeah and i agree with the no awards thing. its silly to turn 'spreading the love' into something competitive.</sub>

i thought it was a great idea, but i'd like to disagree with enya, i'm a member artist and only got one critique, and i know others in the same boat... but i would agree that critiqueing higher ranks is hard. i critiqued a few people but stuck to only MA's because that's all i was confident in...

i agree with the no award thing, i think critique should be done instantly, not something you do for a reward. i also like the idea of divying up the people to critique o everyone gets done, but that would understandably be hard to do...

I think it was a really great idea that should happen again. I know when i looked for people to critique i would always go to the last pages cause the were the latest ones to sign up and that way most of the earlier people had already been critiqued. I didn't get time to do loads of people but i tried to be as honest and helpful as i could. I don't think there should be awards and i know it is hard to critique higher artists, i think i mainly stuck to critiquing ma's and ja's because they need the most help on ways to improve, but no one is perfect and everyone wants to improve in some shape or form; so it is hard and because higher ranking artists already know the basics; your sort of in some ways at a loss as what to critique. I just hope that everyone learned from the critique they've gotten and tried to improve cause thats what it was meant for.

i also like jordan's idea.

i didn't get to critique alot because of the time issue with school, but i mainly focused on member artists. i thought i could help them out more than anyone else. but when i went to galleries i noticed people getting critique whether it was because of critique blitz or pimp game or whatever, but i felt like i wouldn't be saying anything worthy besides what they had already heard so i didn't really do alot. and maybe we should have to post at the top with critique blitz or whatver? i got confused between the critiques and the pimps because everyone is different when they critique whether its giving a short list of things to work on or critiquing every piece in ones' gallery.

I also only got one critique... however the one that I did get was very very helpful. I totally think that we should keep this up and it would be amazing if we refined it a bit. I planned on doing many more critiques than I actually did, I started out good... and I kind of forgot towards the end of the month. I don't really know how that could be solved other than my not being a lazy bum.