Reviewing your art: 3 tips to get clarity

LOOK BACK TO MOVE FORWARD

Everyone critiques their own artwork — or at least they spend a lot of time criticizing it. Any rough review can be discouraging. Adding a pinch of strategy when reviewing your art will take it from negative self-talk to constructive ideas.

Today I’m gonna give you three big tips for analyzing your work so you can move forward and progress instead of wallowing at your current level of artistry.

It’s time to move forward.

It’s time to make better art.

1. ASK BETTER QUESTIONS

Your brain is like a computer.

When you ask it a question, it will answer that specific question.

When you ask, “what’s wrong with this painting?” your brain will come up with answers to that. It will immediately tell you five things wrong with it. If you ask, “what’s great about this painting?” it will tell you five parts that make it great.

That’s why we need to ask more specific or pointed questions to receive answers that will actually be useful.

If you want to feel like shit about yourself, ask negative facing questions. If you want to feel good about yourself, ask positive facing questions.

Neutral questions are useful too.

“What makes this painting different from my others?” is a strong neutral question. I find neutral questions to be the most constructive when reviewing your art. 

It works with statements as well. 

When you say, “I’m bad at art” your brain will work to confirm that statement by looking at examples of times you messed up, times someone had a negative comment, or times you sold nothing at a show. Making statements like this is ruining your confidence. They also discourage you from practicing and improving your skills, keeping you actually bad at art. 

Saying “I’m good at art” forces your brain to look for examples of when you gave something a touch of beauty, enjoyed your process, and received compliments on your creativity. Your problem-solving computer brain works hard to try and prove the statement. You’ll make a drawing next time and it’ll say again, “yeah see, that’s pretty good.” 

Your brain WANTS to validate itself. 

Automatic self-validation is also why it’s tough to break out of thinking patterns or beliefs you’ve been holding for a long time. 

I actually learned this trick not from an artist, but from a mental health advocate. 

But it applies to everything: scarcity thinking, such as “my prices are too high” can be remedied by changing your questions and statements as well. Sounds fake, but it works.

Anyway, back to reviewing your art.

2. MEASURE BY THE SAME METRICS EACH TIME

Have a set of qualities that you use to measure your success every time. It’s the old saying, “what can be measured can be improved.” If you don’t measure it, how will you know if it’s getting better?

Of course as artists our measuring sticks aren’t always as simple as how many sales we’ve made or how many shows we get into. Numbers aren’t always the best measuring stick for us. It’s great for the business side, but for the creative side, it’s not like that. Because all art is subjective. 

Instead choose to measure your pieces by scales.

On a scale of 1-10, how likely am I to hang this in my own home?  

On a scale of 1-10, how emotional does this painting make me feel?

And repeat these scales for each painting you make. If it doesn’t hold up to a standard of at least 6, maybe it’s not your best work. 

If you ARE running an art business as well, I’d also look at the numbers because it usually reflects how OTHER people are reviewing your art. Numbers on social media show you how long people watched the reel based on how it does in the algorithm. Number of sales reflect how likely others are to hang it in their home. 

Using both of these measuring sticks together can be a strong strategy. But never rely solely on exterior measuring sticks. What YOU think about YOUR art is of the highest importance. 

3. VIEW MULTIPLE PIECES AT ONCE

Look at one at a time, and also look at a group of your paintings together. They should be able to stand alone AND as a group.

Here’s the reason why:

Imagine this. You’re getting ready to present at a gallery. It’s opening night for your exhibition. You’ve got your best outfit on, you’ve brushed your teeth, you got to the venue. You walk in and the curators have already hung all your paintings on their crisp white walls under bright white lights. Everything is according to plan.

EXCEPT. 

Your paintings don’t play well together as a whole body of work. 

Each on their own, they look good. They pass the scale tests. You feel good about them.

But together? It looks like a group show. Like there could be 10 artists in this gallery. That’s how different they all look. Are there a couple artists showing tonight? Whose show even is this? 

The exhibition isn’t going to be as memorable for the people attending. It’s not going to hit the same. It loses its wow factor. 

Your artwork needs to be critiqued altogether as a complete body of work, such as you would look at a portfolio in a binder. 

To do this, I recommend adding this measuring stick into your routine: On a scale of 1-10, how well does it fit into my art style? To answer this question, lay a few recent pieces on the floor in front of you and compare them side by side. 

In Elements of Art Style, this is exactly what I do for you at the end of the class. I take the paintings you make during the last assignment and measure them based on how well they sit together in a group.

It’s an essential part of critique that a lot of artists miss but it can seriously set you apart. It can give your work that oomph at an art show. Literally the last show I was at I heard the other presenting artist say about my work, she said, “now THAT’S a setup.“

That’s the standard. Wow factors only.

REVIEWING YOUR ART CAN YIELD RESULTS

I hope you take these strategies to heart and learn to look at your art differently. 

Critique with kind, positive language as much as you do negative language. Most of all, ask neutral questions. 

Use subjective scales to measure your work just as often as you use external numbers. Your opinion matters too.

Look at your art with a singular lens AND as a whole body of work together. 

I promise it’ll help you move forward with your art at a faster speed! Practice makes progress. Evaluate your progress regularly.