{"id":42954,"date":"2026-11-09T10:37:57","date_gmt":"2026-11-09T15:37:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wading-in.net\/walkabout\/?p=42954"},"modified":"2026-11-09T10:37:57","modified_gmt":"2026-11-09T15:37:57","slug":"tip-jar-43-feedback","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wading-in.net\/walkabout\/2026\/11\/tip-jar-43-feedback\/","title":{"rendered":"Tip Jar 43: Feedback"},"content":{"rendered":"

So, one of the trickiest parts of doing anything for the consumption of others is feedback, and it’s something I struggle with from time to time, while I admit that I seek it far less than many others might – I developed a tendency, long ago, not to worry too much about what others think, and this may be good or bad – don’t know yet. But let’s look at this topic anyway.<\/p>\n

The first thing I’ll say is, don’t rely on it<\/strong>, and don’t let it shape what you do. Pursue your art or calling or creativity, first and foremost, from what you like<\/em> doing, and please yourself, foremost. Social media has produced a culture where we expect to constantly receive a superficial (and night meaningless) response to our work or habits or activities, etc, which places an undue value on such. There are too many variables, too much uncertainty, from thinking this is an accurate or adequate reflection of our works’ value or appeal. Some people feel the need to click their approval on everything, sometimes just in the hope of receiving such in return, while some (most, perhaps) simply view things and keep any commentary to themselves. It’s actually hard to get someone to enthuse<\/em> about something, but this bears no reflection on whether our work actually appeals to them. <\/p>\n

There are also qualifiers to such things. If we’re young, or just starting out, or an attractive female, the proportion of positive feedback is generally higher than average, and certainly higher than if we’re perceived as a working professional, where not only do many people feel we’re used to positive commentary, but also that we now have a much higher standard of performance and will be viewed more critically because of it. And a certain amount may also have to do with how we’re perceived as a person, period. The playing field is far from level, which means we can’t develop a baseline of responses to derive anything meaningful from.<\/p>\n

\"nandinaThen there’s personal bias, touched on lightly above, but much more insidious and hidden in far too many cases. On my first real gallery showing (of which there have been too few, but that’s my fault,) a friend looked at a print of the image at right and said simply, “Ugh!” in disgust. I was a little startled, since I not only liked the composition, I was using it routinely on gift certificates during the holiday season, but I’m always ready to hear criticism. He explained that it was simply because the plant is nandina, a popular ornamental but apparently a royal bitch to tear out once established – his previous work as a landscaper gave him a different perspective on the plant itself, and he readily admitted that the composition<\/em> was fine, he just hated the association. Such things can happen far more often than we think, and we have no idea unless it’s explained. It’s also one of the reasons that I say, never put much stock in singular responses.<\/p>\n

Inviting feedback is haphazard at best<\/strong>, and is sometimes perceived as either insecurity or ‘neediness,’ depending on how it’s presented. I’d recommend leaving the option open, gently encouraging it if the opportunity presents itself (such as any initial comment from someone,) but otherwise don’t try to force or provoke it;<\/strong> sometimes people just don’t feel comfortable voicing their opinion, having their own insecurity or perceived lack of experience\/background\/sophistication that they’re feeling.<\/p>\n

[Interesting sideline to this:<\/strong> art, especially, is subjective and always a personal thing, so everyone<\/em> is ‘qualified’ to express how it makes them feel or respond. On occasion there’s a bit of snobbery that comes up, especially when someone is critical of something that’s personally or publicly approved:<\/strong> “Well, how much do you<\/em> know about art?” I’ve seen this most often with music, but it appears everywhere. I usually point out that I don’t have to be a chef to know if I had a good meal, and\/or that if professional<\/em> (heh!<\/em>) opinions were all that was wanted, then it doesn’t belong in public. You<\/em> are as qualified as you need to be – stand up for that, and treat the snob like a snob. Honestly, there are far too many subjects\/genres where appreciation<\/em> gets intertwined with popularity<\/em> or knowledge\/background<\/em>, as if there’s a correct way to view a painting or something. Don’t ever fall for it.]<\/p>\n

Negative feedback<\/strong> is never welcomed with open arms, but we need to recognize it for what it is. Hearing where we could improve is valuable and provides useful goals, especially when it’s specific, and we need to avoid taking it personally, nor let it crush our dreams. It’s easy to respond defensively, but pointless;<\/strong> while we might say, “Yeah, but I couldn’t<\/em> get that perspective or do anything about the light,” this doesn’t matter at all – the work could have been stronger, and the message is, we need to watch for those better perspectives and light angles, exploiting them when we can. At the same time, one detailed, informative critique, good or bad or indifferent, is still simply one data point – it’s not until we have a long list of such that we can see common perspectives and trends and all that. Moreover, it only takes one<\/em> person to buy that work and it’s justified as far as it needs to be.<\/p>\n

Silence, and the lack of feedback<\/strong> can occasionally<\/em> mean that someone is trying to be nice while personally disliking our work – but that’s far from the only<\/em> reason that we won’t hear anything, so never put much weight behind this idea. It doesn’t help us at all, but we need to get used to that. Treat it as the base state, completely neutral in meaning, and the positive feedback we receive as a bonus.<\/p>\n

It needs to be said, but far too many appreciated and popular artists now hanging in museums or commanding high prices at auctions, were not appreciated at all when they were still alive, and struggled to pay their bills – unfortunate but true. Appreciation and fame can be very<\/em> slow to develop, even in our modern connected society, and if we rely<\/em> on these things, we can get discouraged quickly, giving up when we should be carrying on and refining our work. We ourselves need to serve as the barometer for what’s good, most of the time.<\/p>\n

Our society right now, especially in the US, suggests that anything and everything we do should be monetized<\/strong> – a very capitalistic perspective, and one that won’t help. It’s fine to have things up for sale, but believing that a)<\/em> the sales determine the actual value to us, or b)<\/em> that if we’re not making a living at it, we’re doing it wrong, are both poor ways of looking at it. There’s a difference between a service<\/em>, which nearly everyone needs and relies on, and a talent<\/em>, which has to stand out but, at the same time, is indulged in. We can dance on that line in between, such as wedding photography, but most times, we’re not going to be able to make a ‘return on investment’ and shouldn’t ever aim to – that can push us in directions that quash creativity and turn our enjoyment into a chore. Even wedding photographers that have a unique style will still find themselves having to do the same repetitive packages because that’s what the pursuit demands – as well as losing contracts to the photographers that are less talented but far cheaper. That, in and of itself, isn’t any feedback on their talent, only of the budget that the client has to work within.<\/p>\n

Providing our own feedback<\/strong> is admittedly tricky as hell, and I admit that I have no good solution for this. While we may compare ourselves to the more well-known practitioners in our field, anyone else may be comparing us to the ‘average’ artist\/crafter – meaning we’re being super-critical and having much higher standards than most others, worsened by not having that feedback. Yet it’s also possible to go in the opposite direction and believe that we producing compelling work while most others don’t feel it’s up to snuff – and that same lack of feedback prevents us from realizing it. What to do, what to do? Well, the best I can say is, do it because we like<\/em> to do it, but also keep working on improving. The first part motivates us, the second elevates us, and we can get the feedback for this from looking at our earlier work. It’s okay to look at other people’s work and have goals – just, not to the point that we feel we’ve failed if we’re not meeting those goals and can’t compare. Listen, there will always<\/em> be someone better, especially if we’re looking at very specific works – and at the same time, that<\/em> person that we hold in such high regard may easily look at something that we<\/em> did and be impressed and even envious. Again, personal perspective and bias are at play.<\/p>\n

[Looking at contests is one of the wildly misleading ways of judging our own work. We need to recognize that what won are the best among the dozens to perhaps hundreds of thousands of entries, depending on the nature of the contest. Yet at the same time, the judges (usually only a few, so we’re not talking broad consensus here) have their own biases, as well as particular criteria that they may have to hold. And far too many contests are crass attempts to garner free content and\/or attention anyway. Again, okay to serve as goals and motivation, but not as a value judgment.]<\/p>\n

So what’s the takeaway?<\/strong> That we’re more on our own than we’d like to be, and shouldn’t count on feedback. It’s great when we get it, especially the detailed critiques, which we need to appreciate even when they aren’t as complimentary as we’d like – but we also need to simply pursue our work for its own sake, do what we enjoy, and keep improving as we go. That’s all that we can count on, and works regardless of any current appreciation from others.<\/p>\n

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While we’re on the subject, never be afraid to offer encouragement, and realize that most artists and crafters and creators hear very, very little – as much as that sounds like I’m fishing, it’s said from the standpoint of seeing this with far too many people and situations, including who works for\/with us and even our kids. Offering detailed critiques, when requested<\/em>, are far more valuable than ‘likes,’ even when they’re not wholly complimentary – most creators can handle more than just ‘attaboys’ and appreciate where someone else can see flaws or detractions, because their own perspective can be as narrow as someone else’s, often much more so. While I personally will often emphasize that this is solely one person’s perspective and will avoid being derogatory or using overtly negative terms, I’m comfortable with saying why something didn’t work for me or how it could have been better, and appreciate it when I hear it from someone else because that’s<\/em> real feedback. But again, it’s one data point.<\/p>\n

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Is this a ‘good’ image? Doesn’t matter – I<\/em> like it and find it expressive, and it’s not necessary to hear whether it’s popular overall.<\/figcaption><\/figure>
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

So, one of the trickiest parts of doing anything for the consumption of others is feedback, and it’s something I struggle with from time to time, while I admit that I seek it far less than many others might – I developed a tendency, long ago, not to worry too much about what others think, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,11],"tags":[233,8957,6039,8052,8958,8956,1851,383],"class_list":["post-42954","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-photo","category-reference","tag-critique","tag-evaluation","tag-feedback","tag-judgment","tag-monetizing","tag-negativity","tag-opinion","tag-perspective"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wading-in.net\/walkabout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42954","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wading-in.net\/walkabout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wading-in.net\/walkabout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wading-in.net\/walkabout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wading-in.net\/walkabout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42954"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/wading-in.net\/walkabout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42954\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":42965,"href":"https:\/\/wading-in.net\/walkabout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42954\/revisions\/42965"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wading-in.net\/walkabout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42954"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wading-in.net\/walkabout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42954"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wading-in.net\/walkabout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42954"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}