What exactly is good criticism?  It’s something we’ve been learning how to do since elementary school, but fairly easy to forget how to do.  The best forms of criticism is making comments that should motivate the creator, show what it is you like about their work, and suggest improvements that would make their work even better.  In the Army after doing an exercise, training event, or even a fun activity such as a holiday party, we do AARs, or after action reports which gives good criticism for the event. It’s this type of system that I base my commenting on, which includes giving positive, sustaining, and improving comments.

Positive Comments:  These comments are the ones everyone likes to see, ‘great art,’ ‘can’t wait to see more,’ and ‘like the story,’ etc., and luckily, these are the types of comments given the most on TP.  (A good thing-I haven’t encountered any real jerks on this site…)  They are what motivates people to continue to work on their projects, and are a great way to start your criticism.  By making this type of comment more useful, write what exactly what you felt was their strongest part was in their art, writing, or manga.  For example, ‘I think your artwork is perfect for the type of story,’ or ‘I really liked your writing style.’

Sustaining Comments:  These types of comments are similar to positive comments, but go more into depth of what you think they should continue to do.  For example, ‘I love the inking and line work,’ or ‘I really liked how the characters interacted.’  These comments go into depth of what you think their strongest elements are when they create their work.  Most common example, ‘The story is really interesting, and I would like to read more!”

Improvement Comments:  These comments are actually kind of rare on TP, but are the most useful in helping a manga-ka, artist, or writer to improve their work.  However, these are not mean, dissing, or out right saying, ‘artwork sucked’ kind of comments.  These comments are to suggest what you fell the artist/writer/manga-ka could improve on.  For example, ‘the legs look a little awkward,’ or, ‘I think the characters might act a little differently in that situation.”  However, these comments are more encouraging when you follow them with another positive comment.