I actually still like this post I made elsewhere, so figured I'd share it here too. A friend of mind suggested I share an anon ask I answered on tumblr since we think every artist has felt the same way anon has, and we're hoping this will help shed some light and give encouragement to anyone doubting their artistic ability and growth.

So here it is!

Anon asks:I feel as though I don't know what to do right now concerning with art. I feel so lost and disappointed with it, in that: I have tutorials, but rarely look at them, I don't know where to begin, have been drawing on/off again for years, believe I'll never get better, lack motivation, and get easily discouraged about it. I see all these amazing artists do great work, and it's completely deflating; be it writing, 3D modeling, or anything else. All I want to do is to be up there with them.What2do? <<<<

Hi anon! Sorry for such a late reply! I have not been in the best head space lately, and since your question is important to me, I wanted to be at my best.

That being sad, oh man, I can relate to this so hard.

This is a struggle I think all artists face, time and time again. It’s extremely hard not to compare your success and skill set to others, and feel inferior. However I think that’s where the problem starts. I don’t think comparing yourself to other artists offers any favors, at least not positively. It’s one thing to look up to them as inspiration, but it’s another thing to set them on a higher pedestal than you, and telling yourself that you’ll never be as good as them.

I think this thought process is counter productive and just stumps your own growth. Because instead of recognizing and appreciating any good you do have in your current art, it’s being over shadowed by your own expectations because it’s not like this or that artist.

Personally I don’t believe that there are superior or inferior artists. I don’t think there are artists ‘better’ than anyone, just varying and different experiences and familiarity with what they’re doing. I think the only advantage some artists may have over the other, is the amount of experience they have, or maybe just some things click more naturally, depending on how they learn and how their mind interprets things, and how easy it is for them to conceptualize things for them to understand when they are being taught.

I don’t believe in raw talent. I believe in dedication, hard work and practice.

I’m going to be frank here, if you truly want to get better, you can’t just draw on and off. [b]You have to draw all the time[/b]. You have to be studious. You have to be persistent.You have to be committed in what you want to excel in and you have to push yourself from the ground up, research, study and above all, practice, practice, and practice and [b]don’t stop[/b]. You can’t just do what you’re comfortable with all the time. If you want improvement, you have to really work for it and challenge yourself in the areas you find difficult.

Most of all, (and this is easier said than done) you have to do this for yourself, [b]NOT [/b]because you want to be like so and so. Not because you want to be popular. You have to draw because [b]YOU [/b]want to be better. Yes, recognition is very and influential and gratifying, but you can’t let that be your main motivating factor.

The artists you see doing these great works, have all felt the same way you have at some point in their lives and development. They seem flawless to you because you are not them, and it’s easier to be more self critical than to others in their works. The artists that are ‘up there’ didn’t do it over night. They started from the bottom, mistake after mistake, and failure after failure. There is non such thing as constant success. For every success, there were twice or even thrice the amount of failures. But the reason why they had a success, is because they kept going and they didn’t give up.

So please, stop worrying about how you compare to other artists. Stop worrying about how you don’t feel you can be like X artist, how you can’t do ‘great work’ like X artist. You need to stop caring about X artist as a held standard, but recognizing them as someone who is not very different from you. Someone who struggled and fought through challenges that helped get them to where they are now. Look at them as encouragement that it’s possible for you to do the same.

Just remember this is [b]your [/b]artistic journey, so the paths you take will be different than other artists, and some approaches that worked for them may not work for you and vice versa. This isn’t about competition. This is about self discovery and self improvement. So try not to get so down on yourself just because you’re not where you want to be yet. Since we’re always learning, you may never get where you want to be at because we will always set too high of a standard for ourselves and never be happy with our progress. We’re trying too hard to not have any failures, when in fact, failure is what helps furthers development, because without knowing where we fall short, we wouldn’t know where to push harder.

Instead, I personally think it’s more productive to take things one day at a time as a learning experience, and every day is an opportunity to gain more experience to do better tomorrow.

I hope this helps in some way. I apologize if I may come off as abrasive but my intention is to encourage you to look at your progress with a more positive outlook. I believe you can do it, I really do. But you have to be unafraid of today’s failure and strive for a better tomorrow.

Best of luck!