A critique checklist gives you the same questions to ask about every piece, so your review finds causes and not only feelings. It works best after a first draft, while you can still change something.
This lesson is part of SPM subjects and learning resources. It goes together with describing the development of your own idea.
The six questions
Ask these questions in order and write one line for each.
- Idea: what is the work trying to say?
- Focal point: where does the eye go first, and what causes it?
- Hierarchy: what does the eye see second and last?
- Elements and principles: which line, shape, colour, texture or rhythm choices support the idea?
- Process: which decision changed the work most?
- Next step: what is one specific change you would make?
Each answer must point to something you can see in the work. “It feels strong” does not count. “The dark border frames the lit window” does.
Worked example: a poster for a school recycling week
A student plans a poster with a large paper-cut style turtle made of plastic bottles on a blue background.
1. Idea. Plastic waste harms sea life, and the turtle made from bottles shows the link at once.
2. Focal point. The eye goes first to the turtle’s shell, because it is the largest shape and its bright white bottles contrast with the deep blue ground.
3. Hierarchy. Second, the eye follows the turtle’s head to the small slogan at the lower right. Last come the thin wave lines, which are quiet on purpose.
4. Elements and principles. Repeated bottle shapes create rhythm and texture on the shell. The limited blue and white palette keeps the message calm and clear.
5. Process. The biggest change was replacing a realistic turtle with bottle shapes, which made the idea immediate.
6. Next step. The slogan is too small and too pale, so the reader may miss it. Next I would enlarge it and darken its colour to match the shell’s contrast.
The last answer is a specific action with a cause.
The mistake that costs marks
A weak review is: “I think the poster is good because the colours are nice and it is neat. I would make it better next time.” It gives no cause and no action.
Use the checklist to fix it. Replace “nice” with the colour choice and what it does. Replace “better next time” with one change you could make today, and say what it would fix.
Check yourself
Imagine an original painting of a rainy bus stop. The grey wash covers the whole page, the only bright object is a yellow umbrella at the left, and the people are pale outlines. Answer questions 2 and 6 of the checklist.
Answer
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Focal point: the eye goes first to the yellow umbrella, because it is the only bright colour in a grey scene.
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Next step: the pale outlines disappear into the grey, so the scene feels empty. I would darken a few figures slightly so they form a second level of hierarchy without beating the umbrella.
If your answer said “the umbrella is nice”, add the cause. If your next step was “improve it”, name the exact change.
What to study next
Practise the checklist with the original practice set. The structured-answer self-review tool also helps you check that each written answer has a finding, a cause and a next step.
If you want a teacher to go through the checklist with you on your own work, see online one-to-one Visual Arts tuition.