See, the thing I hate about these damn threads is that pretentious roosters like to come out of their caves and insult every goddamn photo they see.
There's one thing that is giving tips to a novice (I'd never use the world amateur for as an artist I'd think we'd want to bring more people into our craft rather than scare them away) and then there's just being mean because "you know your stuff."
First of all, I think Sirrus' picture is pretty loving clever. It's an interesting take on the illusion of reflection and I like how it plays on how you can't tell if you're upside down or not.
That's art, really at its core, messing with the brain so that 2d images can bring about 3d emotions in the viewer. Sure, that's pretty ambiguous, and I question a lot of modern artists intents (like splatter art to me isn't really art, or at least, isn't on the same caliber as other painters), but for the most part anyone can be an artist. The problem we have is that people who think they know art are constantly attempting to put down others who don't do things they way they like them or hold them to this universal standard (which is loving ironic as how can something like art can have a standard).
How do you know the guy you just told off about his art isn't the next Vincent VanGough? He was utterly despised during his life and died poor and alone. Then people start wising up to the idea that maybe art isn't something set in stone and that maybe this impressionist was doing something beautifully revolutionary after all. Then he's esteemed, yet tragically he never actually got to see.
So yeah. Let's quit being loving richards and start acting like loving artists and appreciate the things posted here. If you have a suggestion, you can make it but do so in a manner that's not threatening. "Hey, you know if you want I can tell you about this cool thing called the rule of thirds, it'll really help you out" rather than "oh wow, this loving sucks, too much space, holy forget where's your subject, why so many dutch angles? forget."
