Tutorial on writing quality comments

Being on dA already a few years and observing commenting habits I thought I would write a journal about this topic.
I often hear from people that they would like to receive quality comments instead of just a plain “That’s awesome!”, “cute” etc. Others do not receive many comments at all while some commenters complain that they do not know what to say.
I was looking for a journal or tutorial that would give comment examples and ideas, but I was unable to find something . And so I decided to write my own !
I hope this can be useful for you! Please tell me if it was and please tell me if you have further ideas !
 
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First off: you don’t have to be an art connoisseur or have great speech skill to write a good comment!
When you fave a piece you must like it for one or the other reason. Let the artist know why!
If you find it hard to find aspects to compliment, try considering the following topics:

COLOR:
The overall chosen color theme (maybe it is painted in fall colors, cool colors, only shades of one color), the separate colors of items, clothing, hair etc. Is any color unusual or special? Does any color stick out positively? Any color you like?

CHARACTER(S):
Do you like the character(s) shown? Are they interesting/unique/sexy/etc? What can you tell about the character, when you see them? Are they sad or angry or happy etc?
Do you want to find out more about, when you see them? Why not ask the artist more about the characters in the picture?

FACIAL EXPRESSION:
Does this match the situation? Is it very expressive? Can you tell how the character is feeling by looking at their face? How do you feel about the expression of the character(s) (scared, amused, ...)?
 
FACIAL ELEMENTS:
Eyes, nose, lips, anything that sticks out? Are the eyes very pretty and detailed? Is the character handsome/beautiful/cute etc.? Don't just say "she looks cute", but explain why: "She looks cute, because of her tiny little nose and her innocent expression"!
 
POSE:
Did the artist manage a complicated pose? What does the pose look like (elegant, tense, cool,...)? Is it something you don't see every day? Tell it to the artist!
 
CLOTHING:
How do you like the clothing? Nice design? Lots of details and ornamentation? Nice pattern? Realistic drawing of folds on the material?
 
LIGHTING:
Is this a bright picture? Where is shadow and where is light? How is the shading of the objects/people? Some people do very intense shading and some people completely forget about it or are afraid to shade to much. Does the light/absence of light have another special impact (light beams, colors of light...)?
 
DETAILS:
Did the artist include many important little details? Maybe nice designs and ornamentation? Maybe little items that make the artwork interesting?
ANGLE/PERSPECTIVE:
From what direction are you looking on the subject? Does that have an interesting effect? Is the angle unusual? What direction do items point towards and where are characters looking at?
 
BACKGROUND:
Nice colors? Nice detail? Does the background match the main subject? Did the artist pay attention to the background and setting or is this rather unimportant and held simple? Simple backgrounds can have a nice effect too!

ART TECHNIQUE:
How do you like the style of the artist? Do they use special or unique technique? Is the technique interesting overall? Maybe they used an unusual medium or a medium you prefer?

IMPACT ON YOU:
Can you relate to the artwork in some kind of way (e.g. "I feel like in a dream, when I see this picture")? Is it something you have never seen before? Is there something extraordinary about it (details, style, colors, theme, etc.)?
 
COMPOSITION:
Includes all elements of the picture, setting, certain angles, certain assemblies. Do all elements of the artwork match? Are they arranged in a nice way? Does the arrangement have a certain impact on you? 


I hope that can give you a general idea of things to mention in a comment you make on an artwork .
Even if you are not a native English speaker, do not feel discouraged to make a comment. Only by practising you will eventually learn to use the language. That means you should often read and write in English (and other languages you want to learn). Use you prefered online language dictionary. Especially for German (but it also includes other languages) I can recommend www.dict.cc , because there you can look up entire phrases and not just single words. 

Last but not least I would also like to list a few things that might be good to avoid:

GETTING OFF-TOPIC:
Do not rant about things that have nothing to do with the artwork, especially if you do not know the artist. Just because the art might have reminded you of some funny story or something you ate that day it does not mean you have to share that information with everybody . In case you do know the artist and you know they find it ok, then that is different.
 
SELF-CENTERED COMMENTS:
Do not focus the comment on yourself! A comment on an artwork should be about the artwork and not about you. For example, do not comment on a baseball picture what a great batter you were in college. Of course you could mention that you have experience with the art-topic (for example you could say you have played baseball and therefore know that the pose of the character on the picture is perfectly realistic), but you should not be the main issue of the comment. 
 
LINKING ONES ART:
Do not write comments like “that is a nice artwork, now check out mine: LINK”. That is spamming . You can refer to your art if you want to related to a specific issue, but don’t start linking your own work just for the heck of promoting your own stuff. People usually do not like it and would not fall for that.

OPINIONS:
Be careful with giving your own opinions on things that are not artwork-related. For example, if the art is from a tv show, it is not helpful if you give your opinion on the latest tv episode of the season. Also if the art depicts a character do not judge the art by how much you like the character. Even if you do not like a character the art could have been well-made and show a lot of skill.
 
RUDE CRITIQUE:
In case you want to give a serious critique be careful how you say it and what you say. Take your time to browse the artists main page and comments to see if they say anything about receiving critique. Definitely do not just take the artwork, correct it yorurself or draw over it to show corrections if you do not know if the artist will like this. Some people are sensitive and feel offended if the comment is to direct or harsh. If you are not sure how the artist will react, start with a mild critique or ask if the person wants to hear ways to improve!
And most certainly do not write anything that would make the artist look like a fool! Hardly anyone appreciates wiseacres and jokes made at the expense of the artist! Do not critisize somebody just to show how great you are at picking people apart.

LANGUAGE ISSUES:
If are not a native speaker and you really want to learn English (and I highly recommend you do, if you are using an English site) do not use googletranslate for entire texts. 1. with some languages googletranslate does a crappy job. 2. this does not help you improve.
For native speakers and those who speak good English: do not make fun or start correcting every single spelling mistake people make. If it is something significat that might lead to  a misunderstanding then it is good to tell the person. But if it is a minor thing and you understand the context, there is no need to point out every little thing. People who are learning the language need positive support. In my opinion language is a learning-by-doing-thing, just like art you perfect it with time and experience. Try to show understanding for those who are on their way to improvement.

LAZY READER:
Read the artist comment before commenting to avoid asking questions that were already answered there and to avoid saying something the artist does not want to hear! It does not take ages to read a comment. Just do it ! 

SMILES:
It was also brought to my attention that smileys can be confusing. Please be careful how and when you use smileys. Overall smileys are a good thing and help people understand the emotion behind the comment. But sometimes they can be misunderstood. For example the other day I saw a "Nice art " underneath a friends art. I read the comment and was wondering if that was positve or not. The smiley has a slightly sarcastic touch to it compared to a "nice art ".

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Related Topics to check out:
What's with the FAV-s? by Csendes-Arny