This is just a rough outline more or less on critiquing. If you happen to like it, need it, or need parts brushed up on or expanded, please just comment below.
Hope this helps any, if at all. Enjoy.
Critique:1. A critical discussion on a specified topic.
2. To review or discuss critically.
3. To analyze, review, go over.
The Goal:When we critique another’s work, our main goal is to comprehensively go over the selection. This may be a written work, such as a book or poem, this may be a painting, photograph, or sketch, it may also pertain to a selection of work as a series of paintings. The range of things you can critique is relatively unsustainable, in such a case; you could even critique this piece on the Art of Critiquing. The goal, therefore, is to point out things that work, things that don't work, ways that may improve the flow of the work, or perhaps a different technique to use to achieve a better result. This is about drawing on your ideas, and creative potential, to improve the authors work. It's a collaboration of sorts, to try and better all involved.
General Outline:The form of your critique can follow a general outline.
1) First, write about a few things you enjoy in the piece. Try to be specific.
Pick out a line you found particularly gripping. Perhaps a rhyme was used uniquely. Or the overall mood was strong and really resounded inside you. Or the composition of the picture is nearly perfect.
Remember, a critique is an analysis of someones work, but you cannot be completely cold or the person you are critiquing will shut down to your comments and become defensive. So, this is the first step in letting the artist become comfortable, and open to the next parts of your critique where you start to take their work apart.
2) This next part is where you find the parts of the piece that need to be reworked, and brushed up on. Remember, be specific.
The picture may be beautifully done, but the edges are smeared. Or a line or two is confusing or doesn't fit in it's current form. This is where you start to take their work apart into its basic parts so you can discuss and analyze them. Keep in mind, that while it's great to look at the parts of the work, you need to keep in mind the full picture and idea. A sketch may be comprised of choppy little lines, not neat, not pretty, but the full sketch could be wonderfully sculpted and the style just lends to the affect.
Remember, this is where you are taking apart someone’s hard work. They poured time, sweat, maybe even blood into their poetry, or painting, or sculpture. They are sitting aside and letting you tear into it. So, be polite, and as nice as you can be. It isn't easy to stand by and watch some of your favorite lines reduced to gibberish because people didn't make the same connections between the imagery as you did. So, keep that in mind. Don't be needlessly harsh. But, you do need to get your point across. This is one of the hardest parts of a critique, balancing the critique so that the author or artist doesn't shut down to your comments and really takes what you say to heart.
3) More or less, this is the end of your critique. Just touch up on the loose ends. It's always a good idea to end with a few more things you may like. Just to ease the person you're critiquing out of the hard second part. Mix the good with the bad, a line might be beautifully written, but not fit where the author has it. A background character may be wonderfully drawn, but takes too much away from the main focus point of the piece. Remember, be specific, and don't be harsh.
Also, grammar isn't of particular importance. So don't spend too much time on it. If they simply need to run their work through a spell check, tell them that it'd be better to do that before they post their work. Rarely are the spelling problems so glaring as to distract from the piece. However, just commenting on the grammar and spelling isn't a good critique, because you are not digging into the meat of their work, just scratching the surface. You may, however, tell them how to reword, or rewrite a particular line to convey the meaning better/ easier, or so that it is less confusing.
Practice:I'm going to use one of my own poems, and critique it. Remember, this is a personal view. You don't have to agree with the critique, and the author doesn't have to agree with you either. This is a coming together of minds, to try and improve all who is involved. To share creative ideas, and view points. We all see the world just a little different.
So, without further with holding,
the poem:Tomorrow and YesterdayI use to know the future,
a template of yesterday.
But as the days start to shorten,
the sky takes on a darker tone.
And suddenly I'm wishing
for something else than a repeat.
The Critique:The tone is dark, and even in such a short poem, it conveys a looming atmosphere. The imagery is good, even if there aren’t many descriptive words.
(Write a few good words about the piece.)
However, I am not completely sure of the intent of the poem. Obviously it's dark. Is this about someone dying, or perhaps, just someone falling into depression?
(Raise some points about the piece that don't make sense, or don't work. Be specific.)
I would also use, instead of "/for something else than a repeat." Write, "/for something other than a repeat." It seems to read better.
(This is an instance of grammar, word use, and spelling. Keep in mind; you don't want to write the piece for the author. Just point them in a direction you feel may better the piece. However, it may be benificial to the author, to see how another may script the poem or story. So, something that the author didn't think she/ he could change, suddenly has more options. I still want to caution you on this, different authors may take this form of critique differently so, don't be afraid to use it, but be conscience of the response it produces.)
Even though, I can feel the emotion in this short of piece, I feel as though you can lengthen it to make the imagery sharper, and create a better picture.
(And to end things off, mix some of the good and bad. Remember; try to be polite throughout your entire critique. You don't want to anger the person. This is to try and further their own work, bringing your creative thoughts together with theirs. A single mind can become stagnant, so you sometimes need to reach out to others. Don't make them regret doing that.)
Ending Notes:As stated in the beginning, a critique is an analysis, to analyze is an abstract separation of a whole into parts in order to study the relation between the parts and the whole. To critique, is to look at a piece, how it flows, what works, what doesn't work. The goal is to try and better the piece, or those to come later from the creator.
Be polite, not everything is wrong with the work. And remember that, because the creator is doing something hard, putting their hard work out in front of you for you to tear apart. Be honorable in this, and don't forget to try and soften the blows you'll be dealing to them. Get your point across, but don't be harsh. All your points may be valid, however, if you say it in a voice that is harsh, they may not listen, and all of your insight will go to waste. The creator will also be put into a dark, and defensive mood, that is closed to the input of others. That is the exact opposite of what we are trying to achieve.
And remember, it is only polite curtsey, to critique the work of those that critique yours. Don't just try and get your work critiqued and not repay in kind. Sometimes the hardest thing is for someone to just comment on your work. The worst feeling is to see your work, day after day, week after week, be disregarded. Not even knowing if anyone has paid attention to it, and not knowing what they thought if they had.
I've left out, mostly by accident, a very common word used when talking about critiquing. And that would be, constructive. A constructive critique or constructive criticism is supposed to entail what I've already said before. This is to mean, that a constructive critique not only discusses what you think can be improved on, omitted from, or moved around in the piece, but make sure your comments actively help. If you tear a person a part, or don't make recommendations, you are not constructively helping the person become better; you're simply destroying them and their work. We're not here to troll each other; we're here for creative inspiration and improvement, and hopefully some recognition of our hard work. So, simply, be constructive in your answers.
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