A note on comments. To me, comments are generally in two categories, subjective and technical. I think the latter is helpful, while the former is really just a personal opinion, usually based on what that particular artist likes to see in his own work. These can be helpful too, the only problem is often it doesn't fit the image or the balance of the image. For instance, in my Dolphin Cove picture, the two dolphins out in the water are very large compared to the image scale. Some artists could call me on that and say that yeah, they are too big, but what they would find out if they were doing the image is that making them smaller would not balance the image and make them a useless element. So, I took some artistic liberty from reality and made them the size they were. I honestly don't believe that any of us, even the best, are qualified enough to look into the artist's mind and see what they were wanting to present from a strictly creative viewpoint. Also, such comments, right or wrong, seem to start a flow of comments that say "Yeah, I notice that too..." even though if someone hadn't said something to begin with, it would have gone unnoticed or even not been considered an issue.

Technical comments, on the other hand, like there is no shadows or the main subject is not the image's focus for example are very important to learn the proper scene setup when creating their visions. Knowing that a flickering candle, for example, creates light that is uneven on the walls, etc. These help add more believability to the image if that is what the artist is hoping for.

Again, art is expression and only the artist can express themselves. All we can do is encourage other artists and teach them the technical tools they will need to create what they see in their minds eyes, not yours, mine or anyone elses.

Also when commenting, we have to take into consideration how advanced they may be in the program. A lot of "mistakes" in art, are not because they do not know it's wrong (in fact, many are very accomplished traditional artists), but just that they haven't yet learned howt o pull that same thing off in the program. Saying, "That would work better with a particle plugin and global illumination." only tends to frustrate someone who probably doesn't even know what that means...

My 2c once again...