One of the best things about attending art school is that your creativity and design voice are pushed in ways that you could have never imagined.
One of the worst things about attending art school is that you tend to develop a complex where you think that everything you design is bad. (At the very least, you believe that it could be much better than it is now.)
That’s because, in art school, you are constantly subjected to the critique. You stand in front of your teachers and peers while everyone tells you what isn’t working about your piece. Just the thought of it is enough to give you a nervous breakdown.
And while the critique process really does help you improve in many ways, it does make life difficult later when you’re trying to sell your products based on their positive attributes. (It’s really hard to acknowledge those positive attributes when you’re trained to pick out the negative.)
Regardless of whether you went to art school, design school, or just learned your craft on your own, you could probably use a little more confidence in your own work. Because it’s that confidence in the positive attributes of your work that allow you to successfully sell it to others. (Not to mention helping you value your products at a price you truly deserve.)
So how do you go about gaining confidence in your products (and, if you’re like me, undoing all those years of art school damage)?
By having a reverse critique.
How does a reverse critique work?
It’s simple. You gather a group of friends, family, and people who love you, and ask them to list all the reasons why your products rock. If you can’t gather them in person, you can conduct a reverse critique online via email, Skype chat, your blog, Facebook, or anywhere else you feel comfortable.
But the point of this little exercise isn’t to stroke your ego. (Although that’s always nice.) It’s to help you see your products through the eyes of someone else. To help you get a sense of the attributes of your products and the benefits they can provide.
Benefits you can then use to write your marketing copy, craft your sales pitch, and promote your products with pride.
Your art school teachers would be so proud. (I mean, really, who doesn’t want to see their students succeed?)
love this!…yes, and what professor would not want to see their students engaging in a little ‘creative problem solving’, hee hee!
Love this! Art school is such a catch 22. Couple that with parents that were art teachers…yikes lots to recover from 🙂
Great advice. I know I am always my worst critic.
So true. I definitely developed a complex from all the critiques! I am just now (7 years later) shaking off that way of thinking and becoming more confident in what I create. I feel like the last year has been a more positive form of art school – my friends and family and customers have given positive feedback, which is helping me to break free of the cycle. I wholeheartedly agree to everything you said. Artists/crafters/Artisans need that support network to continue to be positive and create. Don’t get me wrong, art school was great in so many respects… but I have learned so much since then. experienced so much more.
I have never thought about it like that – interesting perspective.
I actually disagree. While we all could use positive feedback from time to time, and we all do suffer from shaken confidence (oh yes, big time over here) I found that while art school critiques might make me more conscious of my failings, embracing that actually makes me a stronger person. And a person more prepared to get out there and share my work, once I can honestly acknowledge to myself that I’m not going to win them all. I wrote about that here: http://cosaverde.com/blog/2010/feb/04/learning-fail/
I think the harshness of critiques actually better prepared me to deal with the confidence-shaking moments: the unhappy customer, the blog troll, the bad reviews, and that I would be much worse off without that learned reality-check.
I abandoned art after high school and went for advertising, because back then, I didn’t have the insight to know that it WASN’T a silly notion to try to make a living through art. I wish I would have, because I am one of those that continually thinks my work isn’t as good as it could be. It’s like having a classroom in my head: I am my own worst critic. I scrap sketches because I don’t think I’m even good at doing that, sometimes, which doesn’t help when you are trying to still figure out what your artistic style is. Surrounding myself with artists I love that are self-taught has helped some. I’ve had people say they really like my work, but never *why*… I think a reverse critique might be a nice step in the right direction.
I agree and disagree. I think that, for some people, you are right. Constant critiquing can be very hard (I know it usually was for me, especially during finals!), but it does strengthen you. I can look at my work from an outside perspective because of all of those critiques. This is invaluable when I’m trying to decide if it really is worth pursuing a particular direction or not. At my school, in both departments that I was involved in, photography and crafts, most of the teachers were very good about pointing out the good and the bad about a piece. Yes, they would tell you about all the things that you should fix, but they, along with the students, almost always pointed out the great things, too. I think it really depends on what school/department you’re in and how they handle critiques. I know that some teachers can make it a nightmare…
I agree with Liz. While I hated my first critiques in art school, I realized that they were designed to help me develop better work. It’s always tough to hear what’s wrong with a piece, but we were also encouraged to talk about our motivation behind the work and why we made certain decisions. This helps you learn to talk about it to other people and to defend your choices.
I understand what you’re getting at with this article, though Megan. We do have to learn to be our best advocate and to be able to talk about what works in each of our pieces. You’ll never sell your work by pointing out what you did wrong or showing where your mistakes are in each piece. You need to emphasize the positive attributes and what is right about them.
The critiques help our design sensibilities and help us grow as an artist. But they don’t belong on the sales floor. We need both the positive and the negative to develop, but we should focus on the good stuff once each piece is complete. I like the idea of the reverse critique to help us get outside ourselves and see the work from other’s perspectives. But sometimes I do miss having those technical critques when I’m unsure about how to proceed with something that I know isn’t working.
Ooo – memories of architecture school. Yes! It took me three years to figure out that no matter what I did, I would be told to do the opposite (in my critiques which were often 3x a week!). Then I realized that was the point, they weren’t trying to bully me or ruin my confidence, but open my mind to possibilities. Kind of like that quote:
“The test of a first rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in the mind at the same time, and still retain the ability to function.”
F. Scott Fitzgerald, “Handle With Care”, Esquire Magazine (March 1936).
I’m still a little gun shy about design, though, so I really like this idea of a reverse crit. Maybe five years of that will undo my five years of design school?
Oh, boy. After four years of acting school, whenever I do something especially poorly, I hear the head of my acting program, in her Welsh accent, “You know that was sh**, right?”
I was amazed that I didn’t see more of my fellow students graduating with no hope whatsoever – but, then again, hope springs eternal in the mind of youth.
The reverse critique is a good idea. I’ve done it with my fellow actors and with the readers of my site. Good insights – especially from a copywriting and confidence building standpoint.
What a great article!
Although, my experience at design school was a bit different. In school you are expected to be very creative and when I left school I was told my designs are not good enough for the commercial market because they are not commercial. Hmm…I guess that’s where I picked up my initial “my products are not enough” mentality…
I might try the reverse critique suggestions from time to time just for confidence sake. 🙂
This is how I feel about everything I learned in fiction writing classes, where my formal training is. Thanks for boosting my confidence.
Brilliant post. My mom and I are always wary of art school mentalities that value one particular style of art over another.
More reverse critiquing!
i’ve been working on my art school ‘damage’ for years, but more along the lines of struggling against the voices of my fine art professors and peers shunning “crafts”… you see i was a sculpture/metalworking major, and later found myself drawn to jewelry making and design. but those voices from the wonderfully creative, intense formative college years still pop up from time to time, along with the critiquing mindset you’ve talked about- geez- no wonder self confidence is a daily battle! but i cannot forget all the great things that i learned also!
i like the idea of the reverse critique, but i am not usually comfortable taking compliments, so i don’t know which kind of critique would be harder for me!
I went to theatre school. I know exactly what you are talking about.
With my art though, I wasn’t trained at all. And I’m super hard on myself because of that. Can’t win. Just gotta stop the negative self talk.
I confess I am sort of jealous of all of you who went to art/design school. I’d love a detailed, technical critique of *any* kind, positive or negative! Or the skills to look at my work objectively. All I really hear from people are “ooh, pretty!” or “this is not my style.” Both are totally fine, but I want to know WHY!