How to Give Feedback

*clears throat* Hello, for those of you who already know me, you know that I normally don’t write and draw a whole bunch, but, yes, I do write. For those who don’t know me, welcome to my... tutorial of a sort.

I have noticed that when commenting, many viewers do it in a rather unsatisfying manner. Yes, I will acknowledge that there are people who have trouble expressing themselves through words, so don’t flame me accusing me of not knowing the entire situation. Trust me I have done research, the dork I am, before I started on this. Anyway, here I will instruct viewers on how to comment on a deviation in order to
1. Make the artist happy, first and of utmost importance,
2. Have a 95% chance to receive a response by the artist, and
3. Make it seem like the artist has at least one competent viewer.

You stumble upon a deviation, whether you have been watching this person and found it in the devwatch section of your messages or found it in the recent submissions or however you found it is completely up to you. In any case, you see a deviation…

STEP NUMBER ONE--- FULL VIEW!
Not only will you receive a bigger eye candy, the artist will be ecstatic to know that people want to see their deviation up close with every tiny detail in clear view!

STEP NUMBER TWO--- READ THE COMMENTS THE ARTIST MADE ON THE DEVIATION!
Why? Because the artist could have mentioned troubles he or she had that you can help cheer them up about (which makes them happy and, who knows, maybe they’ll try and be a friend cause you were nice to them), the artist might have mentioned tools he or she used (which you can use for experimentation to maybe improve your own art), AND the artist may have mentioned what series it is from (if it was fanart) or some other background information so you won’t look like an idiot asking, “what series is this from?” when the artist has already mentioned it! Trust me on this one people, you’ll save a lot of time, space, face, and sanity… if you only read what the artist had to say!!

STEP NUMBER THREE--- MENTION A SMALL DETAIL!
Artists like to play hide-and-go-seek. They put tiny details either hidden and covered well within their art, but nothing pleases them better than when a viewer finds this and comments about it! Why do we hide things? Heck if I know; I just like to do it! Why don’t we just put them out in the open? Then it’s no fun that way!! Come on, it’s not that hard… just mention a detail you like then you can say something about the entire deviation.
Example: The chin looks a bit too far off to the side, but otherwise it’s a beautiful piece!
OR  I like the smirk on the his/her face. It looks like he/she is up to something! Great job!
See? Simple!

STEP NUMBER FOUR--- DO NOT DO THE FOLLOWING:
1. Favorite without a comment--- We are honored and all, but some of think if it’s good enough for it to go into your favorites, then by whatever deity you worship it’s good enough for a few words! Some people, including me, like words of praise better than a random (or at least it seems that way to me) favorite.
2. Write down only the name of the subject as a comment.--- Look, we know who it is we drew, we don’t need clarification from our viewers; what we DO want to know is how you like how we drew him/her!
3. Write down only an emoticon.--- Maybe some things can’t be expressed by words… but… please try your best! All the emoticons that deviantART has put together will never amount to the joy we will feel if we received a simple, “the anatomy is good and the coloring gets an A for effort!”
4. Give a flame.--- Not only is it hurtful, but it’s rude, disrespectful, and an insult to your own intelligence. I mean, please, “you’re making those great characters gay” or “I can’t believe you’re pairing those to up! So-and-so and some-other-so-and-so are soooo much better” then telling us to STFU is just immature. We like what we like, we draw as we please, if you don’t like it, swallow it, curse us to Hell, and forget we even exist. We don’t fucking care what you think unless it’s a HELPFUL criticism.
I don’t like Inu Yasha and Kagome together, but I still gave helpful or nice criticism on some deviations with that pairing because I liked their art! Yes, it IS possible to like a deviation that contains a pairing you don’t like. So if you stumble upon something that has something you don’t like, either say something that’ll help us draw better or just leave it as we never existed to each other. There’s no need for petty insults. Not to mention it’s against DA rules, so if you don’t want to be a banned or permanently banned member, I suggest you stay the good little boy or girl you are.

STEP FIVE--- SIMPLIFIED DIRECTIONS FOR CRITICIZING ART
For those who are lazy and don’t feel like reading the detailed instructions and explanations, though I’d read the to-dos and whys if I were you, here are the simplified steps:
1. Full view
2. Read comments artist made
3. Read Step Four—Do not do the following and… don’t do it. Trust me, it’s for your own image.
4. Mention a small detail, find a hidden meaning if there is one; we love to read your interpretations! There is no wrong answer!
5. Leave a HELPFUL criticism, even if you think the artist you’re viewing is better than you or especially if you think you’re better than the artist (or if you already know we worship you). We drink each and every helpful criticism that may influence our art to improve!
6. Be friendly! Acting like a stranger will make us feel awkward; try to be a friend and we’ll loosen up and try to be one back!

Again, I’m not forcing you to follow these instructions. I don’t know how to force anyone to do anything on the internet! I’m not telling you to write a two-page analysis of the deviations like I do either, one or two sentences is enough, just make sure it is HELPFUL and COHERENT, you know? Hope I helped you improve in criticizing art!