Critique - This needed to be said

[Medicman71]

I agree! I don't get all butt hurt when someone points out a mistake or the like. As long as they're not rivet counting.

[BlackSheep214]

Since returning to this hobby after 20 plus years away and the willingness to try new techniques, I'm scared to death in trying my hand at pre-shading and post-shading. I'm always afraid I'm gonna make a mess of it all and not have it come out as I liked to see. So JimD, what would you advise me to overcome this "fear"?

[mostrich]

For me it's easier to write down some critisism in this familiar forum we have here. I think I know the skills of most of the members here quite well and can classify them from rookie to pro, on that basis I build up my constructive comments.

Another important point for me is that English is not my first language. So I'm a bit worried sometimes that people could get me wrong. Here on SPAM I know a Fermis, Jim, Stik or whoever would come back to me and asking "did I get you right" before starting to throw a bucket full of digital hate at me.

And to be honest: Most of the builds shown here are so high class, that I'm often forced to write worn out comments like "wow, very well done" or "this is awesome". So in the end it is your fault, Jim. Your models are too darn good. You HAVE to live with all those praise.

But all in all I'm with Matt. Too much Cindarellas out there.

[Manny1943]

Most of the builds shown here are so high class, that I'm often forced to write worn out comments like "wow, very well done" or "this is awesome".

Thanks...

[BorgR3mc0]

I tend to be carefull with my critiques. The language barrier is one thing. The other is that I just do not know who is on the other side: how old, how much experience, how serious are they with the hobby, etc. So I always feel I have to get to know someone before I critique.

[Manny1943]

I have a policy of trying to be as constructive as possible in my feedback (I call it feedback, not criticism, by the way...).

For example: If a model tank is sitting on snow that looks like someone accidentally spilled a bag of flour on the model, I'll say so...

[Stuart]

Hi Gents,

Can I add something to the debate…?

And I say this with maximum respect to you all, because you are one of the nicest group of modellers on the internet and I love this forum – but in some ways you’re talking bollocks.

I agree that it would be much more useful to get a proper, considered and well written critique to your work than a simple ‘well done’

BUT

Are you seriously telling me than if you’ve gone to the trouble one evening of posting up pictures of your latest and greatest build, the one that makes you go ‘Yeah!’ and then go to bed – only to discover in the morning that you’ve had 37 views and no comments – that you’re going to accept it and say ‘that’s ok, I don’t need the praise, obviously these 37 people have seen my build, liked it, but had no constructive critique to add’’…

…Bullcrap

What will really happen is you’ll get the major arse, and probably chuck in some kind of ‘BUMP’ post and or moan and complain about the point of posting up pictures if nobody bothers to comment – and I can think of serval times I’ve seen this happen on this forum (possibly due to the low member count) – and I can think of at least two threads were we’ve discussed this subject at length.

At the end of the day we are humans, and humans like praise – a ‘well done’ is always better than nothing. At least that tells us that someone has liked what we’ve posted and actually gone to the trouble of saying so.

As I said, yes I agree that getting constructive criticism is useful – If I had some issues with my paintwork, and somebody posted up a suggestion of how to make it better, then great – I’ve learned something and hopefully my next build would improve.

But as somebody has already stated, a critique is not always an option for a few reasons…

- A lot of the time when I look at pictures of models (and I suspect it’s the case for a lot of people on the internet) - I’m just enjoying the model, I’m not necessary thinking of critiquing it or picking out the faults – I’m not marking your homework or doing a peer review (I get enough of that at work).

- Not everyone has the skills/time to write a full critique on every build they see.

- Some people don’t actually need the critique – I know a few modellers who consistently build models to the same standard that have no desire to improve or change their skills – they enjoy what they do, and just like building models and sharing them on the internet. At the end of the day this is a hobby and most of us are just into it for a bit of fun and relaxation.

- It depends on the levels of skill of the modeller and the person looking at the post. For instance, if I pick on Manny (sorry Manny), this is a guy who knows how to build models (how many awards did he walk away with at the nats?) and I have to say I was blown away by that F/A-18. How on earth is a guy like me who’s builds are mediocre at best, supposed to offer a constructive critique? I’m more likely to ask how he actually built the thing!

- And to further the comment above – the level of builds on this site is so good that sometimes all you can say is ‘awesome’. Even if you pick up one or two features you like about the build, though better than ‘well done’ – it’s still going to become formulaic after a while.

At the end of the day, what I’m trying to say is – if you especially want a critique, then maybe it’s better to ask for one – but if all you get is ‘well done’ or ’Awesome’ - be gracious enough to just accept the fact that people have looked at your build, liked it and have been bothered to say so…

…Because a pat on the back is always better than silence…

(…and in the long term, constant bitching about your work not getting the praise it deserves tends to make you sound like an egotistical arse – which is not needed – as EVERYBODY on this forum produces seriously good work (myself excluded) and has the deepest respect from their peers.

Cheers

Stuart