How to Give Constructive Criticism and Judgements

[Lightning]

This guide will help you give fair Criticism and Comments on tags. So that you know how to judge which is the better tag overall in competitions such as Sotw or a battle. It will also help other people give better Criticism in showcases overall this will help members improve. And finally let people get votes for the better tag not the one which looks coolest.

All tags have these:
A concept
Depth
Flow
Composition
Focal points

Some tags have:
Text
Renders
Stocks
Borders

When Judging a tag you have to realise each tag is different whether it be the composition which is the placement of a render or a picture within the canvas. The composition can help with flow and a good focal point so it is good to first have a good composition in theory but sometimes a tag may be unique such as a typography tag which theirfore makes it hard to give criticism.

[Example of a typography tag which can be hard to give CNC]

A typography tag or piece is when its focal or theme is text wheter or not how much is used depends on the maker. The best way to give criticism for composition is to judge if it helps all the other attributes such as if it is in the center it may be distracting and hard to see giving flow or if a tag pointing to the left is facing towards the right. Theirfore its best to take in the fact of how the creator has tryed to place it in accordance with the direction the stock or render is facing and what their body language is like.

Next is the flow carrying on from the composition flow is very important the flow is meshing in effects in a direction which the render is facing or pointing here is an example of a good flow tag

Notice how the effects are coming from the bottom left and rising to the top right?
this is a good example of flow its creates the ability of making it look as if the effects are coming from the ground and are flying diagnolly in the air i made this woman face the left as her body was facing down left this is a good example of composition.

Next im going to explain focal points and concepts
Sometimes most tags are centered around a concept and that is the area which most focal points are place The concept of this tag below was to show how the effects were going diagnally to the left and how it looks like he has a spiritual essence.

It has decent flow coming off his shoulders but the background in purple has no decent flow so its best to make background effects also try to flow in with a tag the main focal point is his left shoulder area it glows if you notice helping the fact that i wanted a nice flow of effects and to create a good unique tag.

Next is depth:
the theory of judging a tag for its depth is the use of sharpened areas and blurred areas to help create a focal point also in some pieces it is used to help improve its class such as a novice tag to boost it to moderate it can make a big diffence in your work and if you can help others notice this it will make them improve notice in the tag below its to sharp and this doesnt create depth for the focal.

the tag is to sharp in parts and none of it is blurred and the composition is horrible as the effects have no flow it is best to improve it by doing another version so its best to give constructive criticisim then so they can improve their work and improve the composition or depth.

Here is the biggest flaw in graphics text:
it is probabaly best to avoid this unless your entering a compeititon or you need to add it. dont add logos for a show as they may be relevant but not fit in at all such as this below tag

i tried copying the font for the program but its placement was horrible it had now place and it distracted of the focal point of the render and smudge. this is a bad tag to place text its better to place it in a area where it helps flow and that what improves certain tags the text blending in with the flow. But it is best to avoid it as i said.

lastly judgeing a tag in a compeititon here is an example of 2 tags!!!!

Tag one is good for its flow while tag two has a decent composition and depth as well as a nice colour scheme unlike the first tag. In this case its best to go with the one which shows nice colour schemes and isnt low quality and doesnt have horrible negative space which creates no focal points for the tag.
In this case its best to go with the second tag in a battle as it is the more likely best out of the two. A good way of also judging is a tag with better composition quality and flow will always be better than one which isnt.

following the rules of creating a good tag will help overall give yourself better work but giving the criticism to others will help them as well as make it more fair in compeitions to those whose work is more complex and which is the best.

Finally dont vote because a tag has your favourite something in it as then its biased and the better tag has no chance !!!!

[leezy97]

Nice work creating this. This should be a sticky thread.

[Lightning]

Thanks for the enthusiasm