Toth critiques...

Over yonder, beyond the tall grass and past the river styx lies a lovely little place. Kept by a lovely lil goblin by the name of Markus Kennedyus. Mark likes to tend to his garden and write a fun little blog about the animation industry called "seven camels a'humpin" (or something like that....I'll set a link at the bottom of this post).
Fun, thoughtful and full of interesting lil tidbits.
In his latest entry he wrote a little diddy bout' 'jack and diane'. Two 'merican kids growing up..in the heartland.
In another reality, "jack" would be Alex Toth and "Diane" would be Steve Rude.
Waaaaaay back in 1986, A young NEW comic book talent-Steve Rude- asked Toth for a critique on a 12 page johnny quest story that he (rude) penciled. What he (Rude) got back was a written critique about every panel. The critique is pretty scathing. Although it reads pretty tongue in cheek you can still tell that Toth was rather bothered with rude. Mainly because he could see alot of talent in young Steve Rude...but what REALLY bothered Toth was that he felt that Steve Rude was faking (and faking badly) alot . And I mean ALOT!
He felt that he (Rude) wasn't taking it seriously enough. Wasn't putting the time into it that it deserved. Toth is someone that loved what he did. REALLY REALLY loved it. It bothered him to see young talented people -piss away at the work.
When you look at the pages that rude did...it is shocking. Really really shocking, so much so that you actually sit back in your chair and say.."THIS is Steve Rudes work??"
It is so incoherent ..Absolutely NOTHING reads. You actually feel embarrassed for the guy..Especially since this is posted all over the internet and is listed as the "infamous critique".

But what should be important to note is that Steve Rude has come a long way baby! Easily one of the most acclaimed artists of today. Award winning, fantastic painter, and a master in his craft.
Perhaps due to having such amazing teachers that wont pussy foot around with you.
I have very VERY similar views to Alex Toth. In art. And probably in many other areas as well. Now I am in no way comparing myself to Toth. Just that our opinions about many things are very very similar. The ONE thing that just makes me crazy is when a person will make excuses for something that is just plain bad. Or that he knows he cheated on. "OH no! Its supposed to be like that. I meant it to look like that".
Or when universal RULES are broken. And yeah...there are "UNIVERSAL RULES". Such as having a head TURN the CORRECT way when its being PUNCHED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
WHAT THE &^%&_^)%(#@#@#!.
I mentioned that to ...someone. And he/she immediately got defensive. Sorry..that just bugs me. I mentioned that He/she is too good for that. (huh..kinda similar to what Toth told Steve Rude)...and that he's just being lazy or making excuses.
Other than that ...I try to cypher my crits. Probably shocking to some, I know. I don't want to overwhelm them too much and I don't want to be TOTALLY negative and crush their spirits.
Critiques are like 'drunks'.
There are 'Mean Drunks:

"YOU &^%$^$"ING STINK ASS! YOU SMELL LIKE A PIECE OF %^$%#! AND YOUR FACE LOOKS LIKE MY %$%^#@ AFTER A GOOD HELPIN OF BEANO!"

AAAnd there are 'nice drunks':

"dude...come..come, come here..(leans cross two stools). hey....don't...don't take this the, (hic) the (hic) the wron' way. Wron'...WER-ONG way. But I..I don't thing..think that your boddudy is coming off.. coming off ...do...do...TWO! (holds up two fingers), coming off TWO...well.
Its just a little shhhtrong, ok? You work dat out...maybe gets rid o' dat puss tie and...and you know what? I might even set you up wit..wit..wit muh (hic) (hic) sis (hic) (hic) sister".

Both ways get results, but me personally, I am more the build up and encourage type. (the 'nice drunk')
I am. I know that there are those that are rolling their eyes at that. But I really really am.Unless you try to lie to yourself and your audience, then I lose my patience..because your wasting your time, and more importantly, wasting mine.

I would also pick a handful of things rather than the entire piece. I would have split the critique up and have him ( IF this were a class) work on points for just the first 6 pages. And most importantly, encourage him on his strong points. Toth really doesn't do any of this. He just constantly kicks him in the hangy bits, repeatedly. I think thats kind of a crappy way to do things, and yet...I can sympathize with him and why he did it. And why he did it is outlined in the VERY last paragraph of his critique. He loves what he does THAT much to let any youngster hack his way through it.
Still not my way of doing it though. Still too nasty.

Reading Toths critiques (over on markus Kennedyus blog "Camels: why we're fascinated with their toes" or something like that), It reminded me of when I gave my two cents to 'countsy' and 'robo'. They were pointed, yeah. But no where NEAR what Toth put into his crit to Steve Rude. The amount of crying that 'countsy' and 'robo' did with MY crit...
MAN!Can you imagine how they would have done with a crit from Toth? They would have drowned in their own pee and tears!!

They'll say..."Handel...WE'VE gotten several crits that make THAT look TAAAAME".
Sure ya have.
IF you have, then why cry about my lil small crits? Pansies.
Oops..did I say that out loud? Pansies. OOPsies! Did it again!

Getting BACK to 'crits' :
Crits are an interesting monkey with a colorful ass. You can look at it..take it in, and say:
"nope..that really doesn't do anything for me"
OR you can take it in..give it a gander...ponder it...and who knows...maybe it'll stay with you for the rest of the day and before you know it, WILLEMENA!! Your talkin' about it at dinner time with the wife and kids in front of a plate full of mash potatoes!
How the yellow made the red POP! And how the green, even though its just a bit of poo remnant, It nonetheless was just the right color that pulled it all together. A happy accident!:)

Seriously...You will receive crits from all spectrum's of life. I've found that I have gotten as many good ones from just your average man on the street as I have from the 'schooled'. And I have gotten some pretty crappy nonsensical ones from the so-called 'fellow artist'.
You have to be YOUR OWN best friend by being your OWN worst enemy. (Yes Robo, You may quote me!) In short...be objective. And that ain't easy. Because its so much MORE easy to be defensive. And...make excuses.
There are times when I will make a suggestion or a crit, I will hear their response..and I have to step back and say..."OK, now do I see his point? Yes. Do I agree with him as the best way to go? No. Do I let this slide? Yes."
In other words...I MYSELF have to approach it with the knowledge that there are a zillion ways to tell a story (or do something) I have my preferences of the way I like to do things. THIS is the way HE chose to do it. Fine. And what the audience responds to may be exactly what he has here! (Or to my way).
An example of a "nonsensical" crit might be where Toth craps on the way he (Rude)drew a tripod. He really craps on it. I thought that this was just silly. I've heard other comic guys do similar things. Erik Larson slammed John Byrne on how he (Byrne) drew a wheel chair. I mean...who the hell cares???
I know I didn't! I mean its just not THAT important. Certainly not important to dwell on, compared to all the other things that were terribly wrong with Rudes 12 page story, to be picking on a tripod seemed pretty ...well...petty and trivial.
Look! bottom line, as long as it looks cool. Thats it.
But as I said before...there ARE UNIVERSAL RULES. If you choose to ignore them, then you are either being lazy or hacking it out with disregard for the art form and your audience, and yeah...I'll say it damn it! YOU AIN'T BE REPRESENTIN' YO MAMA VERY WELL, BEEE-AHCH!!

In getting a critique I can usually tell the ones that are sincere about it. That doesn't always mean that I'm going to agree with them, and thats fine. But I'll come away thinkin': "hmmm...ok..that didn't connect with that person".
I"ll analyze it..And roll it around in the soup.
I'll sometimes find that while I wont agree with that crit for THAT piece, that sometimes JUST SOMETIMES- it will pop up in my noggin, and help me in a totally different piece I'll be working on!
Lastly:

A crit from a fellow industry person should be looked at in different ways. Yes, you will get some good feedback, but you will also get alot of silly feedback (such as criticizing a wheelchair or a tripod). You really have to sift through it every bit as much as a crit from an 'earth dweller' (average man on the street). And keep in mind that your not doing this for your peers as much as your doing it for your audience. Your audience doesn't give a ratatoui about how many spokes are in a bike wheel or how many legs are actually ON a tripod. Visually...as long as its cool lookin'. Thats bottom line. Art types tend to get caught up in EVERYTHING. From the REALLY important stuff to the dumb stuff that don't mean caca.

So in closing I'll just say as far as crits from pros, and crits from average earth dwellers: sift through that caca like any other caca and hopefully there will be some nuts and choice corn in there to pluck out and save. If not, fine....move on.
But know that the very best of suggestions wont mean squat if your automatically getting defensive and dismissin it due to an overinflated ego or insecurity.

Again:

Be your own best friend, by being your own worst enemy.

HaNdEl


Kennedy's blog: Toth critique
http://sevencamels.blogspot.com/