“A picture is something which requires as much knavery, trickery and deceit as

the perpetration of a crime....The artist does not draw what he sees,

but what he must make others see.”

Edgar Degas

Use your camera & computer:

- Shoot your art and put the image into a photo editing program.

     -     Flip the image check its composition. Flip it horizontally (mirror-image) and vertically.

     -     Crop to find best scale or focal point.

     -     If it is a color image, slide the saturation line to the left to check B&W value. Artists used to

                      check value using an amber glass to check value.

     -     If the artwork is large, a smaller scale image allows you to take in the composition

                       as a whole. Renaissance artists used a reducing glass to do this.

1. Analyze the visual elements of art:

     shape       space       volume       value       line       texture      color

2. Evaluate use of the principles of design:

     balance     unity     contrast      movement      rhythm      pattern      scale      emphasis

3. Study compositional devices:  Pay special attention to the lower right corner.

4. Determine concept or ism:

     realism              expressionism                surrealism              symbolism

     minimalism       deconstructionism         classicism               cubism

     fauvism              Romanticism                 abstraction              narrative

5. Read work for meaning that is implied or visually represented by:

     - attitude       Does the work demand a response from the viewer?

     - sensuality    Does it stimulate the senses of sight, smell, taste, hearing, or touch?

     - emotion       What mood does it create?  fear, anger, calm, etc.

     - intellect       Does it evoke questions or communicate ideas?

     - imagery       What do you actually see?

6. Evaluate for overall completeness:  

                   Does it work?     Is it fresh?     Does it have something to say?

Critique Guide

1/3, 1/3, 1/3

symmetry

asymmetry

centered

filled

scattered

sequential

repetition

triangles

divided

insets

shaped format

pushed to the edge

perspective

focal point

golden mean

grouping

overlapping