OK, you just finished a painting and you figure it’s pretty good. You can’t wait to show it to the world on your website. But what would others think of your work? Would they like it? Would they like it well enough to buy it? How would you know?
Well, you could ask people you know- friends, family, fellow artists, to have a look. If you are lucky you will get honest feedback. But feedback from those close to you may be biased. They may gush with enthusiasm for your work because they don’t want to hurt your feelings or they may be brutal because they know they can get away with it.
It might be valuable to get an outside perspective from people who don’t know you.
If you belong to an art group they may have critiques by professional artists. This is an excellent way to get unbiased feedback. Similarly, by submitting your work to juried shows, your work will be subjected to a fundamental test: is it good enough for the show?
I have discovered that there is another way you can have an unbiased view of your work and that is through online art communities. In these communities you can display your artwork and get feedback from fellow artists around the world. This could help you decide if your work is ready to sell, whether you should go back and make some changes or whether your should gesso the whole thing.
One such art community is WetCanvas. which boasts 200,000 members has experienced 100% growth rate in each of the last 7 years! After signing up (free) you can upload your work for critique to the Critique Centre. There you have a choice of an “Open Critique”, meaning any member can comment on it, or a “Structured Critique”, meaning only selected members can critique. The feedback you get in Open Critique is generally comlimentary, and in Structured Critique more balanced.
Another art community, Art Break, has a novel way of separating the wheat from the chaff. Visitors can vote for submitted works by clicking on the “I like it” button. The paintings with the highest votes move up the queue in the display, so the most popular paintings are shown first. With over 2000 paintings being submitted weekly, you have a lot of competition for votes. It gives you a great appreciation for how your works stand up against those of other artists.
