Nice Boots, You Suck, Nice Boots: Revisited

This was the first post I created for the Student Ambassador Blog.  It was the first one, because I felt very strongly about it.  And somewhere between then (June 17, 2013) and Today (November 20, 2013) I have lost my way.  I was getting complacent in my comments and critiques to classmates and recently I lost points for not being very thorough in a critique...  What I lost those easy free points I was beginning to take for granted?  Well needless to say the past couple of weeks my classmates have been getting 3-5 paragraphs of honest, gritty, real critiques from me.  Why?  Because they deserve the truth (even when it's not pleasant).  It's how we grow and evolve as artists.  So please read and heed  my original blog post below:

Guard Inspection

Good morning fellow students.  It's Wednesday and it seems like a good day to  talk about critiquing your peers.  Many years ago, when I was in the military, I was asked to give a briefing to our Captain as a dry run before briefing the Colonel.  When I finished my 15 minutes of talking about our facility the Captain had some words of advice for me.  He started out his advice by reminding himself of the phrase 'Nice Boots, You Suck, Nice Boots'. 

Put quite simply, this format works very well here at the Art Institute when critiquing your peers.


Step 1 (Nice Boots):  Say something positive and specific about your classmate's work.  Don't be vague.  For example: 

"Jane,  I really enjoyed the series of images you posted for this assignment.  I think the expressions that you captured on the faces of your subjects in images 2, 4, and 7 really tell us a lot about their character."

Step 2 (You Suck):  This is where you offer areas of improvement and ask questions to clarify intent.  Be nice, but don't be afraid to tell someone where they could do better. 

"In images 3, 5, and 6 it seems like your images were a little underexposed.  I think if your exposure had been about 2/3 of a stop brighter you would really bring out the colors and the contrast that the rest of your series already has.  In these three images the skin tones all seem a little off color as well.  Did you do something different with the white balance in these?

Step 3 (Nice Boots):  End on a positive note

"Overall I think you have done a really good job on this series of images and with some minor tweaks this set is a knock-out!"


Remember, its through these critiques that we gain valuable, outside perspective on our work.

Works Cited:

Guard Inspection. Encyclopædia Britannica Image Quest. Encyclopædia Britannica,
     n.d. Web. 19 November 2013. <http://quest.eb.com/images/115_882269>.