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Art & Photography Reviews



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Thu Sep 02, 2010 11:40 pm
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Elinor says...



Art & Photography Reviews
by Elinor Brynn (Edited by the Literary Misc. Crew)


Many of the young writers on this website have another hobby in common, that of visual art. Whether it is snapping photos, drawing, or both, the website has catered to these people with the Art & Photography forum.

You may find yourself wandering around the forum and viewing some of the works that these artists have to offer. You might love a piece, or you might hate it, but either way, once you hit reply, you have no idea what to say. Critiquing Art & Photography is different, right? You can’t comment on characters, plot or pace. What you'll find is that although you're critiquing different things than you would if looking over a story, a lot of the basic principles are the same.

First, scan over the picture as a whole and decide whether you like or don’t like it. It’s the former, than explain why you like it. Then, for either, look over the photo or drawing and see if you notice anything that seems a little odd or like it could be fixed. Here is a general checklist:

Art
- Shading: Does the shading look natural? Is it consistent, have they thought about their light source?
- Scale:Is everything in proportion or is the nose too big, the eyes too small?
- Color: Do the colors compliment each other? If not, what colors would work better?
- Background: Does the background look good? Is it cluttered, could it use something extra?

Photography
- Lighting: Is the picture too dark or too light?
- Focus: Is the focus good? Is there too much focus on too many things? Is the photo blurred?
- Subject: Is the subject of the photo interesting, is it something you would want hanging in your home?
- Cropping: Is there too much space at the sides? Is there anything that should be cropped out?

You’ll find that reviewing Art & Photography is very fun, but not necessarily easy. Like with regular critiques, you’ll learn to master it soon. Just put in the effort and remember that while the things to look for may be different, all types of reviews are written with the same basic principles.

All our dreams can come true — if we have the courage to pursue them.

-- Walt Disney
  





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Fri Sep 10, 2010 2:32 pm
Jenthura says...



True, But I would place a much larger gap between story reviews and art reviews. There's more to art than simply looking at it and wondering if you like it or not. For me, there's a sense that combines all what you mentioned (Shading, Scale, Color Background) that is more spiritual than physical (the over-clichéd 'sixth-sense'). Art is designed to imply and inflect an idea born in the mind of the artist and conveyed to the viewer. If the artist was good, this conveying of the idea is nearly perfect, and the idea (or ideas) gets across very well (or it incites ideas, if that was the purpose).
Thus the structured and stable rules (I almost wanted to say mathematical) of grammar are a poor comparison for art.

IMHO
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