Critique Arena: Special Critique Session

[David]

Hey Folks,

Just a heads up that we’re going to be doing something a little different with Critique Arena this Thursday!

The prompt turned out to be way more challenging than we anticipated, so we are changing up our regular format to better help our students!

Instead of voting for the Top 16, we decided to do a special critique session to focus on strategies for developing strong concepts.

While we all love a good competition, we feel like this is a great opportunity to take a deep dive into one of the most important aspects of illustration.

We’ll be critiquing 16 entries (maybe more!) picked at random, and sharing some tips and tricks to take your concepts to the next level. It could be you!

So, rather than narrowing it down to the Top 16, we’ll be opening up the playing field and picking 16 lucky contenders (maybe more!) from the entire pool of 80+ entries. It could be you!

As professional illustrators we’ve all been there. Sometimes it’s just really tough to nail a concept, but that’s what your agents, publishers and clients want. Your ability to translate prompts to successful illustrations in real life is key to your success.

We know you all enjoy our regular format and we don’t make this decision lightly, but we’re sure this is a Critique Arena you won’t want to miss!

Hope to see all of you there!

Will, Lee and Jake

PS: We did choose TWO awesome winning illustrations and they’ll be unveiled on Thursday!

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THE DETAILS

What: Live critiques with the founders of SVSLearn

Date: Thursday, April 14

Time: 2pm MST (check here for other time zones)

Who: Members of SVSLearn

Where: Members will be emailed an event link to attend, or you can watch for free on our YouTube channel

[Blitz55]

Well this is my first time participating in this so I have to admit I was curious if I could crack the top 16 here among this talented group of folks, but I like this idea as well. As much as I like a good competition and seeing where one would place, I'm mostly in it to see what I can learn and how I can advance myself as an illustrator and storyteller, and this idea seems to be in line with that regardless of a step in a different direction from the typical competition style setup.

Looking forward to seeing how it all unfolds.

[KatrinaF]

@David Thanks for the heads up. I'll look for the email sometime today or tomorrow.

@Blitz55 Yeah it's my first time with their 'Critique Arena' style. I participated several years ago when it was just critiques and advise. I always learned so much when I can see the issues others and myself are having. Well, I thought my submissions for Lucky were a bit off mark anyway so maybe this way I'll have a chance at being looked at! LOL

Best of luck everyone and see you tomorrow!

[Asyas_illos]

Sounds intriguing! though I’m not big on surprises lol, it’ll fun and informative though as always! Looking forward to it!

[lizardillo]

Ooooh I like the Critique sessions, was the last one in this format the ‘Fairy-tale Traveller Situation’ prompt last year? That was great and really informative.

I can't watch it live this month but look forward to watching it on replay on Friday.

Good luck with the critiques

[Asyas_illos]

Also I knew you guys were up to something…

[Valerie Light]

@David This is awesome! I'm really happy the instructors are adapting to the group's needs in this way. Can't wait to tune in and learn in real time.

[Valerie Light]

anyone know how to help my friend get a zoom invite? She's a member, but a new one, and didn't get her email.

[LisaF]

Btw here is an updated link for the different time zones!

[LisaF]

@Valerie-Light Can you send her email to me? You can DM me or email lisa@svslearn.com

[Valerie Light]

@LisaF yes!

[Asyas_illos]

Am I the only one who is slightly confused by the “special” critiques? I think they were taking the lucky term way to literal, isn’t that the idea with an open prompt like that, that there can be sooo many views and ideas and opinions on that word? If they wanted to go by the literal definition of lucky than it should’ve stated so in the prompt description instead of leading us to believe it could’ve been illustrated as anything other than.

“ As luck would have it, there are many directions you can go with this prompt: good luck, bad luck, beginner’s luck, Lady Luck, luck of the draw! Just try not to rely on dumb luck for this challenge! Best of luck everyone!” Is a little bit misleading, all I’m sayin’.

I don’t want to sound like im complaining I ALWAYS appreciate every bit of critique and insight the guys and svs offer and I always learn something, but I was just a little confused I guess.

[Valerie Light]

@Asyas_illos it didn't seem too clear, even by the end. A lot of "don't do this" without as much of the constructive criticism of a the draw overs I had hoped for.

[Asyas_illos]

I get the takeaway is concept but I still think the staff didn’t read prompt description very well or maybe I just didn’t understand the prompt description, but If that’s the case I know I wasn’t the only one.

[Griffin McPherson]

@Asyas_illos I think when it comes to literal interpretations the issue, to put it plainly, is that it isn’t very creative to be literal. As illustrators we need to find clever solutions that solve the problem we’re dealt with in a unique but clear way. The literal solution to this prompt is the first thing that pops into our heads because it’s the most obvious and it’s for reasons like this that we often hear "never go with your first idea" and why it’s recommended to do many thumbnails before moving forward with a concept. A lot of work should go into the concept and I think that’s what they were trying to emphasize in today’s critiques.

[Jeremiahbrown]

Haha, I was wondering if anyone else was also confused. Take nothing away from the absolutely stunning @Johanna-Kim image but, like Jake said, in a million years I wouldn't have described it as "lucky".

Also, perhaps this comes down to my lack of observational skills, I thought many pieces they critiqued told the idea of "lucky" in a much clearer way than the piece by @Kim-Rosenlof as incredibly well done as it was (I'm looking at you @Merry-Millergass, @StudioLooong, @lizardillo, and @Cayleen.)

My takeaway is to try to make an image that leaves the viewer thinking about it after they leave, although there is a bit of a, "you'll know it when you see it!" vagueness shrouded in that takeaway. It's a blast to participate in the Arena so I'll keep participating and having fun! It's so great to see everyone's takes! Keep kicking butt everyone

Again, I loved Johanna and Kim's pieces and really admire them so much, just gorgeous! I almost refrained from using specific examples but then I figured there wouldn't be any point to this post if I didn't include them.

[Blitz55]

I guess I should consider myself "Lucky" for having my image not only critiqued but first one on the board! O.o Which was kind of crazy.

That was really cool, and though it was a fairly short critique, it's been a long time since I've had any sort of teacher critique my work so I really enjoyed that and really just the whole process, even if there was a curve ball thrown in the format haha.

[Lee White]

@Valerie-Light @Asyas_illos I'll try to further clarify if I can.

We are sorry that the prompt description was loose, but even using much looser terms, many of the pieces were vague and/or confusing OR un-relatable. Then some had a clever idea, but then didn't push the art side of it enough.

The real take away from this should be that we are looking for a relatable concept that has a unique/clever twist. Combine that unique and clever twist with all the art techniques that support it and you will do VERY well.

That said, at the end of the day there will ALWAYS be a X-factor in a contest. Just like there will be in a job situation where one person gets it over another.

We tried to show process of coming up with an image and also what the snags were in the pieces. Our hope was to give you a general idea of what to THINK about when making the piece. We could never solve each illustration problem completely on it's own in this format in a real way. For example, Will showed a drawing of a guy who narrowly escaping a falling piano to emphasis the thoughts/action of a character in a scene. If you turned in that exact drawing he did, it would not have won because he was just demoing the thoughts behind why an image worked or doesn't work. That image would have been too set up and obvious to actually do well. We just thought it was a great teaching opportunity here.

So even if you didn't totally agree with or get some of the things we said, it's okay because as long as you are asking yourself the questions when making a piece, then we did our job. If making the next illustration you try out all kinds of ideas in writing, then thumbnail a bunch of shots and pick one that is clever and uses all the best in art elements (composition, color, value, etc), then you are moving in the right direction. Our ultimate goal is to give you the process to make better images, as opposed to "do these things to win a contest."

Hope that makes sense! Let me know if you have any questions. : )

Cheers,
Lee

[Valerie Light]

@Lee-White Thanks, Lee, that's a good summary.

[Asyas_illos]

@Lee-White thanks for going over it again, like you said I may not have agreed with some of it but I definitely took things away from it, a great learning experience that I’m definitely applying to my next entry for the next prompt!