One of the great things about taking art classes in college was being taught how to give constructive criticism, and seeing how other people do it.

Here is my method:

1. Begin with at least one positive observation about the art. Yes, about the art. Not the description, not the signature, not the background story or character names. You can always FIND SOMETHING, even if it's just one small part of the whole drawing. Examples:

The composition is dynamic.
The coloring is vibrant.
The contrast is striking.
The linework is consistent.
The anatomy is good.
The expression is good.

2. After pointing out what is good, expand. Tell the artist why you think this or that works in the piece. This is every bit as important as pointing out what doesn't work, because otherwise the artist might not realize it, and those good things could disappear after that piece! The artist might have been experimenting, and is unsure of how well the effect turned out, and thus may conclude it was bad or simply nothing special, and abandon it.

3. The touchy part: What does not work. You must do this or improvement will simply never happen. Does the artist keep making an anatomical error in their pieces? Say so. Does the composition look too stiff for what's supposed to be going on? Point it out, but not in a mean way. It helps that you've already talked about what you like.

4. Expand on what was mentioned for #3. Explain whatever you feel you need to, like why the arm cannot bend that way, or why the sky's coloring looks so flat. This goes into...

5. Tips/solutions. You can redline if you like, but it does help to have an explanation to go with it. Not enough contrast? How can I get darker shades without the shadow going flat? How do I prevent the character from having an inadvertant lazy eye? What are the general proportions of the human body?

6. Conclude. Give your overall impression and encouragement for future work from that artist, which, with your help, will continue to improve.

So, the general format is:

"I like ________ because __________. ___________ also works because ___________. However, I think you can improve on _____________ by doing ________________ and __________. Overall, I ___________________. Keep it up! I look forward to seeing more!"

THIS ENTRY BROUGHT TO YOU BY THE LETTER P AND THE NUMBER EIGHT.

Edit: Made public for random passersby. Maybe it will do some good.