Constructive Criticism
Published January 30, 2009 | 
If there is one thing I really dislike it’s when people try to sugarcoat their opinion of something. Whether it be an action I am about to do or have done, or a piece of artwork I have made or even my sites. If it sucks, just say so! Granted I would like to hear it in a tactful way and it might make me a bit emo at first but I’ll get over myself and move on. If you think it has some issues just say it but don’t do it in a mean way and make some suggestions to me as to what I might be able to do to improve.
The art of constructive criticism seems to be lost on this generation. Most don’t understand what it is and end up making it a bash, or just forgo their opinion completely and go with the flow saying nothing but pretty things or nothing at all. On the flipside, if you say anything slightly negative and critique a personal site, drawing, piece of music etc it seems that 85% of the time it’s taken personally and insulting, when in all reality it’s just an unbiased opinion.
Though I must say I hate when someone gives me an opinion but doesn’t give me any suggestion as to how to improve upon what I have presented. Saying that such and such drawing sucks because the angle is crappy doesn’t help me much. I’m probably already aware of the fact that the angle is off, but I need suggestions as to what I could do to fix that. Rarely do I get such critique. Same goes for my sites. I really appreciate when people make suggestions and give me their opinions about my art or site, granted I may not always follow them but they give me ideas for the future of it.
Keeping the youth from hearing critique like this is only hurting them because when they grow up and hit the real world they are going to be faced with it constantly in the work arena. I have seen so many teens online that the moment you say anything about how they might need work in a certain area get very offended and often times will delete your comments, hide them or send you the ever popular flame. If it’s a very net popular person they might even send their hordes of fans after you because they got butthurt by your crits. I often wonder how these people act in real life and if they are just as sensitive to it in the real world as they are to it online.
Friends are notorious for keeping their real opinions to themselves, family as well. Regardless of whether you have the skill to draw, design a site, compose, etc you still are entitled to having an opinion. It is very nice to know what you are talking about though and back up that opinion.
I don’t know if this long ramble has made much sense, but hey it’s out there and overall my whole point is this: Just because someone says something negative about something you make and gives you critique doesn’t mean it’s bad necesarily, it just means you have room for improvement. Listen to their suggestions and maybe impliment them. You might be surprised with how much this will help you grow as an artist or web designer etc. And in regard to those who leave the comment, make sure you don’t do it in an offensive way, make suggestions and give pointers to the person on how they might be able to improve.
Ok That’s all I have got for today. I’ll see if this new auto plugger plug-in works now… Yes I AM that lazy.
*edit* Aw sad day it didn’t work…. T.T Oh well I’ll tinker with it later.
Writings!
Published January 23, 2009 | I really didn’t plan on updating again so soon but after thinking about ti for a while and getting a few opinions from friends, I have decided to upload my old writings, and maybe I shall add new ones to them in the future. 
I used to really love writing, I just lost my muse for a couple years. I shall blame it on school…it ate it. Lately though I have been getting back into the swing of things and keeping this site updated. I might just start out with a couple articles and go from there. Anywho please feel free to check them out and let me know what you think. Most are just silly things I did for the lolz.
Friday five just cause I actually blogged on a Friday…well not really blogged but without this it’s a very boring update.
1. What would you do right now, if money were not an issue? Find a house to rent out in the country, probably high up in the Colorado mountains, and buy all the Dr. Pepper I could drink. lol
2. What would you do for the next three years, if money were not an issue? Live off my freelancing completely and totally. I still have that as my future goal/dream job. Whether it be web design, flash animation, concept art, or illustration, or maybe some artsy fartsy thing I didn’t list yet.
3. What is bringing you the most joy right now that requires little or no money? My drawing and being able to have my guy around to talk to and do things with.
4. What types of things do you find enjoyable that require no money? Drawing, well it does require some money if you need paper and pens etc, but those are cheap SO! Also enjoy going out for walks when the weather is nice, playing with the kitty, just chillin’ with the bo.
5. Is there anything you’ve been meaning to do for a long time, but put off because of money? Yes! Several, one big one is a laptop. Another would be to get a car. Third would be a ticket to go visit a couple friends and …probably a couple more just don’t feel like thinking about them hard enough to list all of ‘em.
Hmm now my question to you peeps, if money was not an issue what would you get that you can’t now? And what brings you the most joy at current? It can be more than one thing too.
Just Some Stuff
Published January 20, 2009 | Apple you sell some of the cheapest ear buds ever for your ipods. I had mine less than a year and they fell apart and the bass sounds atrocious. I bought some $8 ones off of ebay that have some bass capability and actually stay in my ear. They were cheap but they sound nicer, and keep out more of the outside sounds. Anyways, enough about that. 
My friend sent me this article this evening and it made me chuckle a bit but at the same time I want to ask…What were they thinking??? I think they need to start finding better toy designers out there. Lately I have seen some really horribly designed toys. Like Dora the Explorer water pet. Or french kissing lollipops where the lollipop is actually a tongue inside either a plastic person’s head or animal’s head.
I have lately been playing with more web design and I must say that sometimes validating my code really can piss me off. I tried to get my code on thegreykitty.net to validate and after about an hour or more I did, but I had to redo parts of my css and html coding. XP Then after I did all that I found out the css for my image viewer wasn’t valid. XDDDD Coding can be so frustrating at times. I think the worst was when I couldn’t get something to center with a background. To this day I still don’t know what was wrong the code was valid too.
It’s Obama’s inauguration day, we’ll see how well he does. I get annoyed that so many people think he’s some kind of god. He’s just a man and he will make mistakes like any other human being. Some are better leaders than others but they have to prove this. Campaign promises mean nothing until they are actually applied. People already are expecting miracles from Obama and he has proven nothing yet that shows he can pull off anything he has said. I’m not judging the man yet or anything, just saying I find it stupid so many are expecting him to be a miracle worker. He is a man, nothing more nothing less, that was given a huge responsibility. Is he capable of leading? We shall see…
I think one of the other things that annoyed me so much this year about the elections was the amount of teens and twenty somethings just blindly tossing their votes towards him because he’s black, liberal, and anything that is opposite of Bush must be good. I talked to one and asked why exactly he would vote for Obama and he replied the policies he supports. So I asked him what policies were those and he could not tell me.
Please people make an educated vote! I personally didn’t care for any of the candidates much and my vote was for Ron Paul but it’s too bad he dropped out. I won’t go farther on that topic since the election is already over, but this is just something I thought I would throw out there. I also noticed if you say anything even remotely negative about Obama even if it’s not insulting or you have doubts, the uber Obama supporters get extremely butthurt over it, yet they can say anything about anyone else and if you get offended by that then too bad, it’s ok for them to be that way.
Ahhh politics, how I deplore them.
One final note, I been thinking of coming up with a layout for this site that is totally designed by me but I dunno what I want to use in it. Photos of my pets, nature, my art? Any suggestions and maybe a color theme?
Newest Art
