Good tips on giving and taking criticism

I said on another forum thread that I would post these links here today. Hope that's okay. I think the tips and guidelines here have been well thought out - and as we all know, giving OR taking criticism can be very emotive at times, so some guidance may be useful. I know I found these pages really helpful:

http://elfwood.lysator.liu.se/farp/guides/givecriticism.html
http://elfwood.lysator.liu.se/farp/guides/takecriticism.html

I don't know why but I couldn't open the link..

I'm not sure what to do. They work okay for me, as I tried them both out again. How odd. Maybe someone else will be kind enough to try also? It's quite a small site so it may be that it's slow to upload?

They open up alright for me. Do you get an error message when you try open them, laluce?

finally I succeed to open it thanks,baba,and oakdragon
maybe it was a bit busy..

ah..I have read some.
anyway it was right in point of view that the person who gave me some critisms is not an expert..is not familiar with tarots.
however I was depressed for them which she said to me.

it was too much to say..

Thanks Karen,

I think I have been guilty of a few of those in the past and I have received every example on the list LOL

I don't have an art degree or anything, but I took classes for a while at my local college and the art critique was an important part of every assignment. The critiques were different than what I have generally experienced with my tarot though, they rarely focus on the quality of the art and tend more towards picking apart your psychology as to why you did any certain thing, colors, shapes, etc. Talk about getting personal. I miss those days!

Marie

Yes, it's a good piece isn't it? I can recognise most of her points - and ouch, yes, I have done some of her "don'ts" myself!

the art of constructive criticism

Karen,
Thanks for the link. That article contains good advice on both giving and receiving comments about each others creative projects.

Many years ago I had to take a public speaking course as part of the required core curriculum for my undergraduate degree. I dreaded taking that class and put it off as long as I could. Speaking in public can be so intimidating. When I finally enrolled much to my delight I met a teacher who was in my opinion the most skillful critic I have every met. He managed to put at ease each and every member of the class, and no matter how dreadful our first attempts, he managed to find a sincere, believable, positive aspect of the effort with which to start his critique and a specific suggestion for how to improve at the conclusion. Everyone improved over the course of the semester, and everyone gained a basic skill if not a polished eloquence.

Done badly, criticism is worse than just a waste of time it can be devastating. Done well it can encourage and produce genuine growth in ones creative developement. This article is geared to on-line commentary, but the principles are the same as those I saw at work so many years ago.

Deb

well, i guess one must somehow learn to see everything in different lights; in this case, in a somehow constructive manner. i know, negative criticism somehow gets to you. hurts you. but then, as we grow older, we also become more aware of ourselves enough to temper whatever de facto responses we have to our emotions. (i do not think i'm making enough sense. lol)