Constructive Critique

I find it very hard to critically look at one of my drawings the moment it is done. In spite of my work to not focus on the pretty picture, my ego still wants the drawing to be good. When I ask myself what needs to change, I get nothing. Still, an impartial eye would find many things that could improve.

Here is an example of what I thought was a finished drawing and a corrected version I touched up a week later. Click on the first drawing to enlarge it and toggle back and forth between it and the revised drawing.

This was the final image from my step by step demonstration on how to draw an Orange-crowned Warbler. At the time I finished, I could not see it critically enough to improve it.

About a week later, I was able to make several improvements. I lightened the cheek patch and shadows, and added a hint of yellow to the stripe above the eye.

Here are some tricks to help you constructively evaluate and improve your drawings.

Start with what is working. Any drawing will have parts that are more successful than others. Find those passages in your drawing that are the strongest and that give you positive feedback. Celebrating these strengths will help you do it again and encourages you on.
Make lots of drawings. The more you have under your belt, the less ego is wrapped up in each one. The volume of work creates a buffer, making it safer to make mistakes.
Take a break. Get away from the drawing for a while. Once you think you are done, give it a rest for a few days and come back and look at the drawing again. Something you had overlooked may now pop out at you.
Draw some more. I find it is difficult to evaluate my most recent drawing. If I draw another one, that new one can become the “perfect” one, shielding my ego so I can look at the old drawing more rigorously.
Back up. Walk across the room and look at the drawing from a distance. Does the composition hold up?
Squint. You can better see the value range (light to dark) if you squint your eyes. Are you using a full range of values or is the drawing mostly pale? You may also want to look at your drawing through a red filter to convert colors to values (note that this technique will also slightly darken the blues).
Look in the mirror. Observing the mirror image of your drawing will make it look very different. You will see you composition in a new way.

In all your work the most important thing to do to improve is to make a lot of drawings. If you find that rigorously critiquing you own work deflates and intimidates you, lighten up on it and go back to cranking out drawings. If however, you find your can bring an impartial critical eye to your work and can identify what you need to do to improve, you will advance much more quickly. The ideal is a steady work flow in the face of honest and supportive feedback.