Group effort to comment

[smrr]

It can certainly be intimidating to post in other peoples sketchbooks when you feel like you yourself are only a beginner.

Yes, I agree! This has been the main reason I haven't been comfortable providing others with some kind of constructive criticism other than "keep up the good work!", I don't feel I'm qualified to do so, though I always wished I could - because I love the feeling I get when I'm able to help people.

Something unfortunate I noticed was that many of the introduction posts in the Welcome section have 0 replies.. this isn't encouraging either!

Yeeeeah I noticed that as well, D: I should get into a habit of welcoming new daggers!

The sketchbook section should be a place where artists of all levels are buzzing around each other, constantly offering their encouragement, feedback, insight and critique. The critique section is for asking for specific advice on a specific piece/technique, the sketchbook section is for getting feedback on your work as a whole and your development as a whole.

We really have to avoid the trap of our sketchbooks becoming just a log of our work output, where we're all working in isolation.. politely saying "good job!" to the other artists.

Secondly, I completely agree with this ^ although, really just a "good job!" or a "keep it up!" goes miles in terms of sparking motivation :) but like anyone (I'm sure) I'd prefer to receive some kind of constructive crit - as 90% of the time I have received such comments, I feel my understanding improves, thus I improve! Though of course the phrase "what you put into something is what you'll get out of it" comes into play here.

Here are some thoughts on the importance of giving and receiving critique from other artists:

And lastly, everything you mention after this ^ is complete gold imho! It all makes sense. I mean it's good to keep a personal sketchbook to track individual progress and reflect on your previous work (as reflection is proven to be beneficial in a learning type of environment) - but no where near as beneficial as reflecting, taking the time and sharing your thoughts on other peoples work in their sketchbooks! As mentioned previously: 'we're all at different levels' - so by taking the time to view another's sketchbook, you might find the answer you've been searching for in your own work by accident :) I know this because it has happened to me more than once while ninja'ing about in others sketchbooks. I need to get out of this habit!

There are more than enough reasons that have been stated in this thread alone (and that still out there) that should help motivate daggers including myself to just step in and join in on what this amazing community has to offer :D