Do excuse the numerous attempt to try and post this message as HTML. It failed, miserably! :-(

Have been following the chain which draculaz posted with interest and while this was meant to be posted as a reply to it, decided to post this as a new thread. One of the reasons being its such a short post! ;-)

Criticism is defined as the practice of analyzing, classifying, interpreting, or evaluating literary or other artistic works. This is an activity with a purpose of course, and as such, the purpose behind the activity defines the means by which one goes about criticising.
If the purpose is to identify with the artists objectives and then analyse and interpret the art, one offers encouragement by identifying with those aspects of art, which appealed to you as a viewer, offer alternative to the creative process to broaden the artists horizon, share techniques and principles to push the creative envelope of the art and artist further. This form of criticism is generally labelled as constructive criticism and the basis of this criticism is do onto others as you would have others do onto you.

There are other forms of criticism of course. There is the form of proving personal superiority. The mode this criticism takes is generally declarations, unsupported by any analysis, witticism bordering or infringing on sarcasm, and as the case generally isthe declarations are varying, relative and completely subjective! The basis of this criticism is generally self-aggrandizing as the primary focus then is neither the artist nor the works, but the art and the artist becomes a means to draw attention to the critic. This form of criticism is generally labelled as negative criticism.

Renderosity is a community and as such, like any other community, I feel should offer the freedom to all to be what they want to be, either as creator or as critics, and express themselves freely, as they want to. Im not sure Id like to ask draculaz to temper his opinions. For two reasons:

• Then we ourselves become as judgemental as his own judgements are. One can appeal to him of course or offer constructive criticism (as this chain is doing) to his means of criticism, but then it must be left to his free will to which kind of criticism he would like to indulge in, after all we are free to accept or reject the kind of criticism that comes our way.
• The second reason is a healthy respect for the process of nature. It takes a bit of dirt to grow into a pearl! Imagine all oysters spitting out that dirt which settles in them. Creation would be devoid of pearls! The point Im trying to make over here is, it was draculazs comment which has opened up a healthy discussion on criticism. After all it is bits of turbulence which initiate change. If we were to stop all turbulence, we might be curtailing change itself!

I think this offers us an opportunity to inspect another means of pushing our envelope of how we create with Bryce. That is feedback!
I for one definitely welcome criticism of my entry, http://www.renderosity.com/messages.ez?ForumID=107&Form.ShowMessage=892736, positive or negative. It helps me see my work through others eyes and not necessarily in words which are meant to accommodate my sensitivities, but rather as a hair down gut feel reaction. Personally it helps my creative process grow more holistically. The purpose of a challenge is to push ones limits of application. The true winners are those who have pushed themselves that much more. The winner, as declared, is just a favourite of the peers. It is a position of prestige undoubtedly, but it doesnt surmount the achievement which is achieved at an individual level.
I personally found this challenge to have tremendously superior entries, and will be honest enough to admit that the point system, which we had initiated, seems inadequate now, given the tremendous quality, which is at show here!

I have liked Pmoores, for the work of love and aesthetic quality which shows in his work while maintaining a style unique to himself.

I thought Pidgy brought out the original concept of the challenge Landing on Planet X clearly and with finesse.

I loved the cleanliness of Vasquez toon feel, which is something not easily conceived when people think in terms of using Bryce, yet the reason I might have ranked them will not the same as somebody else!

Yet in all this I loved the tangy humour brought out by Airflamesred. What do I vote for? The innovativeness or the technical capability shown?

Loved the whimsical turn that Electroglyph brought in.

I thought the landscape which Fwtempest has done was tremendous, cos of his use of textures, but how was he highlighting the aspect of landing and the interaction with the new planet which the topic seemed to demand?

Loved the colours gregsin has achieved and would love to share with him how he could make his spaceship all that more believable to make the picture look more believable. What about the unusual perspective and the comic feel yet a sci-fi illustration look achieved by mboncher, using very recognised textures and yet give a very believable sense of tremendous scale? Doesnt the execution merit more interaction?

Loved Mindvisions moody feel, yet missed something which would convey a sense of scale about the spaceships. Thought nukeboys concept was great. But could we as community give him alternatives to him achieving the same concept in a more evolved manner?

The lighting and reflections achieved by nuski is tremendous, yet detailing on the space suits makes it a little less believable.

What Rayraz has done is not very appealing aesthetically (to me) but what he has achieved in terms of modelling and the use of the texture editor is MINDBLOWING!!!!!

The mood in Rochrs image is tremendous, but missed out on the details in the image to judge how much he has pushed the envelope in Bryce with this topic to come to any conclusion.

Loved the whimsy feel of tuttlebut the terrain seemed like it got a step sister treatment as compared to the main figure and all the other objects of the image seemed as a bit of an after thought, not taking the style and detail of the central character forward.

Well these were but a few of the images on which I commented. But personally, more then points its this feedback which, I feel, would help all of us develop that much more as an artistand towards this Im thankful to draculaz to have brought this out into the forefront. The question ishow do we structure our challenge to accommodate it?

I invite all to give in their feedback and thoughts herenot only on the artists whom you have voted your points but to any whom you feel your comments will help improve or just something about their image which you might have liked or disliked!

And in final defence of draculazRochr did make a helluva imageso why hold it against him for appreciating it? :-D

Avi