I'm a 23 year old art student. Instead of "I will never make a masterpiece like this" I recently started going: "Wow! This looks like fun, I want to try doing that!" when I see an amazing artist. And then I'll try drawing an illustration like Kim Jung Gi, or try designing a creature as charming as Bobby Chius - and of course I won't succeed, but I will have spend so much time studying their techniques, that I'll feel happy and satisfied in learning so much from a great artist. I don't go "I'll never reach this persons level" anymore, my attitude has changed to "I'm not as good as that artist, and I don't think I'll ever be - but I want to see how far I can go!"
This is such an important topic! I feel that when beginner artists see the works of the professional concept artists with their amazing landscape designs rendered to perfection, it can be discouraging. I for sure know from experience :) Thanks for covering this, Adam!
For every great artist, there are dozen of other artists who are still learning or are upset with their work. Just think that there are hundreds of people in the same situation as you and that you're not the only one who thinks they suck.
I was an accomplished painter years ago, selling work, the object of admiration and envy of others. Other artists saught my opinion. I was doing well. But then, profound life losses started piling up and I stopped working. I haven't painted in a long time. For years. And now ... I experience envy of artists who even just show up and work. Even though I, too, once had "wind in my sails" I can no longer create. I can only sit still, tending to hurt and grief. I hope one day I can come back and bring my art to the world again. Beautiful video, Adam. Thank you. Edit: I think you and Jim Carrey would have a wonderful conversation. I hope you can make it happen.
I've suffered from art envy for my entire art journey, and I've always seen that as a weakness of character. I see now that it's not, it's a normal thing, and good to know that I'm not alone. Thanks Adam.
This was such a beautifull way to explain this topic ! I still have to remind myself to stop looking at other artists as competition,I think social media made this behavior worse for artist. The way social media make us more competetive against each other and the algorythm is so toxic for artist, specially begginers.
I think we are always so stuck in the bubble of the artistic skills that we just don't realize that we love the art we love because it resonates with our beings deep inside... awesome talk as always, Adam!
Writing my thoughts on this, before listening what Adam has to say 😅 If you envy someone's art, then also envy all tons of struggles, pains, looses, tragedies, traumas, etc life things, that artists been through. Because if you're not then all you'll get - would be an empty canvas. There's unique journey every human being walks through till they get to the place they are now to do things that you envy to. You could try follow exact same life pass, have same experiences, spend same amount of time and learn hot to make perfect copies of things you envied, but still you'll be doing it in your way, with your hands, with your arms, with your shorter\longer bones, your more\less muscular\fatter fingers, less\more sweater palms holding lighter\harder brushes, etc etc And don't forget about person you envy - they can't stay frozen in time waiting for you to catch up, they'd evolve and become even better, or change their tastes, styles, or worse they'll got sick like really bad, or loose limbs in car accident, or could start loosing sight from age or gone blind, or start drinking, or some unexpected really weird shit like: the most stupidest war in recorded human history would suddenly breakout and that artist apartment will catch an airborne rocket right through the balcony window behind their back while they were drawing another art, you envy for.
ooof :'D mine is so dramatic and guilty\shaming\blaming, meanwhile Adam's is more forgiving, explanatory, compassionate, inspiring >:D sasuga, a real sensei
oh damn that's one way to go about it. Though I suppose I have to agree. To remember each artist had their share of pain, misery, dull boring days, and all sorts of stuff to get to making the art that gets admired, is really important. It lets you take each boredom, struggle, demotivation and the like in a way that you can better forgive yourself for being, well... human.
Adam, I´m really glad you put this video out. I have been in a relationship with another artist for a few years and that person cannot stand watching me work on anything related with what I love doing... It has been really weird on that side, she often has a lot of art block and doesn't try to learn or push herself. I have realized that I'm not the things that I make and that is how I deal with studying and pushing forward. It takes a toll on me that this person gets really upset after watching other's works, or even when I look for inspiration in others. I'm stuck and don't know what to do, I don't know if it's envy of putting the work... the reality is that she has way better skill at art than me and is very egotistical about it saying she doesn't need to put in the work at all and that she keeps growing without anyone, I know this isn't relationship advice but I really needed to vent this out somewhere.
I'm an artist, I'm not going to say I'm very good, but I've practiced enough to being told I'm amazing and people wanted to be like me , at first I felt happy, this had pushed me to do my best more , but it start to get worse when people started to tell me that you've got nothing in your life, you're just drawing, or when they see me doing something else but not art , they tell me , if I got your talent I will be drawing all the time ... even my meetings with people is all about art and my personal art life, I started avoiding them , and I started to hate what I'm doing, and I told myself many times that they see me interesting for them because I'm an artist, if I'm not drawing no one would care about me.. them people expecting me to be perfect all the time, it tired me ,I'm still struggling from it because I don't think I deserve all of this, I'm just someone who loves art and drawing but I also got a personal life I should take care of ..
Your art doesn't define you, as a complete noob my goal with art is being good enough to be able to leave something behind for someone (Anyone who's willing to look) to feel something. As a proof that I existed. Never forget that you're valuable regardless if you draw or not. Do your art for your own sake for that is all that really matters.
My biggest problem with art jelousy is when i know i spent 7 years of my life on art (it doesnt look like it) and because i have a short memory spam its hard to me to remember stuff long term, and im getting really envious when theres 15 year old drawing like 30 year old, when i discovered at 20 about it i drew maybe only 5 peaces in 2 years. It broke me even if i was telling myself that you need to study, and understand certain aspects but i couldn’t deal with it mentally. The feeling and thought that there are these people in the world just unmotivated me and caused me to be depressed for 2 years, and i couldnt even tell myself anything or ignore that feeling, i just wish i could get rid of it, but i don’t know what to do anymore. I dont wanna be envious anymore. I wanna be hard worker and committed to the art but i cant. After deleting all the social medias i still cannot help myself.
When you talked about how we put talented people on a pedestal and then explained how in reality they're just as normal and human as we are, it made me tear up. I knew that before but sometimes we need reminders you know? And I loved the part when you said you viewed them as friends. 😭 Thanks so much for the video.
Thank you! I have depression and a bad case of the Comparisons. Sometimes I feel so bad about my own work that I freeze or my brain goes Squirrel! when I try to draw.
Great episode Adam. It's not something that's a quick fix and takes time to overcome. A few years back I REALLY struggled with this. Not with artists that I admired but my own colleagues, that I thought didn't "deserve" the recognition that they were receiving. It's taken alot of self reflection of what I was doing as an artist. A big part of overcoming this was to stop comparing the work I did with their type of art. They are offering a part of themselves to an audience that resonates with that artist's experiences. They bring something different to the table than I do, and my work will do the same. Focusing on doing me, my art, is what has helped. I still have ugly moments and I have to sit with it, acknowledge it and ask why...then get over it, sat it aside and do my own thing. You're point on comparison is bang on! I hope this helps someone else.
So the advice I get from this is to view artists you're envy of as people. Okay, so now I view them as people, they're my best friends, I respect them a lot, and I see them as normal people instead of gods... now what? It doesn't change the fact that despite well over a decade of art being the centerpiece of my commitment, practice and sacrifice at the expense of my health, living other life experiences, having friends, sunlight, or a significant other, my work is still invalid compared to the innumerable artists who draw in my same style, same ideas, same concepts, same characters, all without my flaws or shortcomings or any more experience. They are still essentially the better version of myself and I have no reason to exist, because I have no right to demand anyone to tolerate the worse version of myself when they have the best with no restrictions or compromises. And I guess I'm just supposed to be okay with that now. That's my problem with a lot of help on this subject. It just seem like they're trying to get you to be complacent with your mediocrity in a world where there's too much easily accessible talent to tolerate anything less than excellence from experienced artists. Just numb the pain of the reality that the best you can be is be the discounted worse version of other people. The tarnished bronze medal given solely out of pity. When Bart gets an F despite pushing himself to study and do his best, just accept and be okay with that! I can deny the truth to make myself feel better, which honestly I've done. I've spoken to artists I am envy towards, shared our insecurities and all of that... but eventually the truth comes back. You cannot run from reality forever, because the atomic bomb cares not for illusions or lies as it decimates your world. It's hard to say how I feel is the illusion, because I can see the truth in the art. It's pelvic thrusting in my face, reminding me where I fail and how my best just isn't good enough. Yes, I've studied them, yes I've copied, yes I've done all of that, it just. is. never. enough. Never enough to attain that bare minimum standard of quality that too many people attain to accept anything less, and there's just no excuses left for me to give. I HAVE to be that good, it HAS to come together that way, it is all I have left to show that I can do something well in this world, if not to anyone else but myself. I just don't know how to deal with it when all the advice is just trying to get you to ignore and deny. Maybe this is good advice only for people who have things in their life other than art worth living for.
I've only just been able to learn this after focusing my art on what I love, being a little nerd for my corner of art. I can now look at art and I think wow, this is wonderful, but what part of this could I learn from for my small focus area. Its a cycle, looking for what you can learn helps you focus what you want to draw, which makes it easier to look at art, not with envy, but with admiration and a hunger to learn. Which then, helps you see the artists as people, as obtainable, as someone you want to walk next to, on your own path with your collection of skills and admiration. You no longer feel the need to be them, but to work hard enough to better give yourself that feeling of admiration looking at your own art, as all these artists gifted you along the way. At least, that's what I've found for myself. Also thank you for always being such a great source of finding artists. I had lost Tyler Edlin after having loved his work quite a while ago. On a whim searched him up as you've mentioned him so many times. Was a great surprise to realise I already knew his stuff. :) Watched so many videos that I now recognise quite a few of the names you bring up a lot.
I am just beginning my art journey. I don't even understand what I don't know yet. I love that you addressed this because I see it every time I look at art. The reason I am starting to try and learn art is so I can put what I see in my head on paper. Though as a beginner in a way, I hear about this and think, another thing I need to learn.
I want to study art and game design at the same time. I have attempted to do so for over a month, but the moment I just PICKED JUST ONE, I was able to stop procrastinating, and I'm getting the work in that I need. I decided to do game design first, and so, as I am typing this, I am working on my first video game ever! It's a horror game, and I hope to succeed at becoming a game designer as fast as possible so I can have the skills necessary to get a job out of it. And in doing so, my education can also go back to the art skills I also want. Though, personally, I consider game design as art also - that's why a previous comment of mine mentioned how I realised that I was truly an artist at heart right now, not a scientist or whatever. I'm going all into my real-time passions, but doing so THE RIGHT WAY. I have you to thank for that honestly, I just felt like letting you know again, (though I doubt 'again' since you probably haven't been able to see the original comment on an earlier video you made).
"Well of shame that is Artstation" - OMG that is so true! I scour "image sites" all over the place, depressing myself that I'll never be that good - WHY do I keep painting? Yeah, you're right - we've got to stop doing that to ourselves.
I think maybe changing the way you look at it would be a better solution. I love Art Station. Allows me to find artworks, usually at a professional level, that speaks to me. Gives my inspiration for what I want in my own art.
@@An.Unsought.Thought Oh I LOVE Artstation, don't get me wrong. And I'm well aware this is a "me" thing as far as comparing my art to others' art when they often have FAR more experience than I do. Like, one of my favorite artists is Michael Whelan - one of my inspirations as far as technique and visual clarity. Wonderworks was a book given to me as an early teen, and it's falling apart from how many times I've flipped through it. I do NOT forsee my art hitting that level, but he's amazing to look at and admire. The "WHY do I keep painting?" was sarcasm - I'm gonna keep painting. I just need to stop "comparing" my stuff with art I admire.
Oh definitely - it’s an amazing source of inspiration, confided you have that fragile artist ego in check lol - otherwise it’s a dark oubliette of what thou art not
I was struggling with a lot of self-doubts and I keep procrastinated to do art I listen to this video a few months ago and I loved it but it didn't change the thought that I always had, I felt like my art won't be worth any of anyone attention and it won't go anywhere, when I made them I always compare them to EVERYBODY, likes and all that, I try to 'fixed' my problem by focusing on my fulltime job instead I told myself that art is not for me and gave up, however, I keep feeling these urges to draw when I watch new shows on TV or the thoughts was pop up my head. sorry for rambling but I keep thinking back about your words in this video, it didn't get through to me the first time but as the time got by I kinda get what you said everyone is just a simple human. I'm back making art it's still a struggle but all I can do is keep drawing, I just wanna say thank you to you for making this kind of video I follow you for a long time and your advice help me a lot. hope you have a great day
Thank you for this video. Makes me feel not so bad about being envious of other artists even at 49 yrs old. I’m struggling with art envy now with a former friend who is a fantastic artist and I consider way better than me. Her art trumps mine in many ways so I’m trying to find the good in my art to keep going and also study off her style. And study other artists style to improve my style
Art guit was smth I struggled with for quite some time but then I started comparing my progress from me two months ago and realized how far I had gotten. I get it, artists like losih and even you adam when I look at your work it's absolutely mind boggling to me how amazing your work is and how you create it but I also know that's because you both have been doing this for way longer than I am and if I continue working towards this dream i'll also reach that point in my life one day. I may not be really good but my advice for most people is that they should not compare themselves with people who have been doing this for way longer than you. Instead learn how that work with shadows, break that work down and learn cause if you have the courage to continue doing art for as long as they have been doing, you'll get there no matter what. Your journey will be completely different from other artists but you will surely achieve what you wish to achieve in this world.
This might be the most beautiful talk that I heard from you Adam. I'm trying to reflect on what it is that made me start drawing. I always thought it was the insane skill of the artists I admire (such as Kim Jung Gi, Karl Kopinski, Ahmed Aldoori, Takehiko Inoue - the list goes on forever. In truth, it was always the fcing "cool factor" 😆. I just love their art for what it is, but I'd always get hung up on HOW they do it, and how I'd never make anything close in a thousand years. Love what you said about comparisons. We're the first people to spot what we "lack", and the last to see our interesting/traits, especially when being in toxic environments. I made this promise to myself few years ago, that I won't hesitate to say what my interests are/what I'm into if somebody asks. This little promise has helped me connect with some of the most beautiful souls ever since, people that I'd just pass on in the past. The opposite is also true, I'm way better at not caring/letting go of people who are just toxic/manipulative and genuinely have no place in my life. I remember many instances when my passions/interests would make people smirk to themselves and make me feel embarrassed. I'm so happy that I no longer care 😆 Thank you Adam for the constant reassurance and genuinely heartwarming vibes. You are like a kindred soul to me, even if we're years and miles apart 😂 Have a good one!
I constantly tell my friends that idolize art to stop and realize that what you are seeing is a fraction, the best, most carefully cultivated fraction, of the work that artist actually does. I always encourage my art friends to share their trash publicly. Normalize the truth that not every single time you put pen/pencil/brush to canvas the result is a polished, presentable clickable end product. For your own mental health as an artist to alleviate the pressure of success and for the budding hobbyists and artists of the future to alleviate the fear of having to make every project a finished piece.
23 year old Self Taught artist this is an AMAZING topic I need to hear for my growth. I plan to take the journey of art for the rest of my life and I've been struggling as I feel soulless and don't know who I even am.
Before you read this comment, whoever you are, just know that this is pretty depressing, probably off track and kinda self demeaning and useless rant that i am writing mostly because i am having a crisis. Do not feel responsible for me feeling this way, nor for anything: i just wabted to use this little space online to dump my instinctive thoughts. Sorry for my egocentrism too, i will try to leave some thoughts for the end. Okay, here we start: I spent the last three years studying at a private comics school, and the first sentence my first teacher said was "Nobody needs you. There are many others who will want your job, and are much better at it. You have to put so much practice just to think you can have a career." And even before, in my high school, whenever i submitted my subjects they were never "diverse enough. Do something else!". This just because i wanted to sculpt dragons and mythological creatures and i loved to use them as symbols for various meanings. So, with this background in mind, in the last three years i toned down myself and my sufavourite subjects to study technical skills. One of my classmates, instead just did what he felt right to him: he just had his own dragons and creatures, just like me in high school. He received technical critiques but was overall applauded in character design inspired by bugs and animals, whereas i could barely start a character sheet because i felt so overwhelmed by my teacher's expectations to "start working once out of the school" and "propose something different from the norm". The last three years i barely published something on social media, and painted anything at all. I feel like a machine who needs a code to function, not at artist. Not at all. I was better at ideas when i was still drawing with no anatomy, because nobody was telling me i had to "upgrade if i wanted to eat and pay the bills". I started feeling anxiety when i had to draw, even a personal work: and then there was this classmate, very sensitive guy whom i supported in his choices, but never helped me in return. And I started to hate and envy him. I was good technically, but he had the ideas, and could execute them. And when i turned to him tho, he never so much as offered me an hand, but just a "he. Its must feel shitty." I knew him first as a human being, then as an artist. Even tho he isn't the most technical artist, he is way better than me right now, and i feel worse and worse around him now. I don't envy his personality nor his life, just his vision and extreme phantasia while i have a fairly high degree in aphantasia and probably adhd, which leads me to bonk against the wall repeatedly. I feel shitty because i feel not only boring, plain and normal, but because i helped someone who felt like that fee better, but never did it in return. Not that he was responsible, but now that no one sees me online nor my work, i feel like a total nobody, that i wasn't "cool enough" to support, and now have less and less evidence to show my inspirations. So yeah, don't mind be plain, boring and normal, everyone is: but remember who you are despite the skills you have. Soffucating that artistic streak to blindly search a cure for "the same face syndrome", "the patchy texture" or "the boring scene" can kill any artwork before it is even born or finished if you are so susceptible to technicality. People wont mind your skills too much anyway if you have a good idea, and just do what you love with the good amount of study everyone needs. Sorry for the long, depressing comment, but it would mean the world to me if even just one person felt understood by my word vomit. I plan to get better mentally, and so should you.
The worst thing I can do for my creativity is try push it when it doesn't come naturally. I can't brute force it. And so I work around this flaw of mine, with varying degrees of effectiveness, with knowing that any sane person needs references, and so I should be prepared to use twice as much. I let myself sketch anything, play around and cut that pesky braining out for a while. I guess I ended up writing quite the essay as well, and I don't mean to say I know how to fix myself let alone anyone else. But I guess we could all do with some kindness on ourselves- not everyone has the same struggles, so even if it feels dumb (which as someone who wants to be a designer but struggles with creativity, I often feel dumb), there's at least a glimmer for all of us to work around our challenges to be just a great artist and just as complete as a human being.
I feel the exact same way, thinking that I'm probably the smallest person in the room - so small that I'm technically invisible. I am very introverted, and I have few friends. I've tried sharing on social media, things that I felt proud about. And when it doesn't do well, my thoughts turn sour and I question, "What's wrong with me? Why am I so terrible?" I'm studying the fundamentals and from real life, several hours per day. But it's difficult, because I don't have much support. Seeing artists from Twitter or other places, sharing their art and getting appraisal and tens of thousands of likes, when I can't even get one, makes me want to not try to share my progress anymore. Maybe it makes me shallow to compare myself to them, but it feels awkward. I'm still practicing, because I want to create cool characters. Drawing is part of me. I just don't have the confidence to put myself out there anymore. It's not worth the disappointment for me, knowing that I'm sharing for nothing. That said, I'm still trying to go forward despite my mindset. I purchase art classes online, and I follow artist livestreams where they break down character poses and designs.
@@Interstellar643 it's not shallow, it's just human. Especially because there is rarely a determined finish line waiting for us. At the beginning everybody feels like that. But what nobody fan judge is your own artistic streak. The irony, the poetry and the feelings you want to convey are your brushes regardless. Study, but also nurture that part of yourself. Nevertheless, you will need it even more in the future once you start understanding the fundamentals.
Hi Adam! I recently came across your channel and I wanted to take a moment to thank you for sharing your thoughts and personal journey as an artist and as a human being. I was feeling very stuck with my own art (I am a digital sculptor) and after listening to this video of yours "if you're an artist about to give up on their dreams, watch this first.", I felt such relief! I since then started listening to more of your videos while sculpting. You are truly inspiring and soothing. Thank you very much for your time and effort.
I always find it incredible how you create videos about the exact things so many people are struggling with, thank you Adam, and of course Zach for the idea
Thank you Adam for such a video, this is an incredibly important topic for me. I think that my whole artistic life this jealousy was the thing that was stopping me most. Actually it wasn`t just stopping, it completely immobilised me. I`m only 18 years old and I`m on second year in graphic design university and this envy also applies to my friends that I study with. I always see so many talented people, see their skill and their incredible artworks and sometimes feel so awful about myself because of that. I have so many ambitions and dreams of becoming a great artist and working on many great projects in game industry, I mean right now i even feel a bit stupid writing about it, like, i`m only 18, there is an entire life ahead of me and I`m hating myself because I cant draw that stupid hand..? That`s certainly not very rational of me. Yeah, and what I`ve noticed is that this jealousy only works when I actually get to painting or drawing, I spend a lot of time looking at artworks and collecting pins in pinterest instead of actually doing something. Well, that`s primarily because of the fact that I`m in graphic design academy and some subjects are focused on the logo designs, web design and some other thigs so I don`t allways have the time to do things that i like more. Also, I feel like I understand some design principles better and I feel that it would be much easier for me to become a graphic designer, than an artist, because whenever i do something like common commercial design or logos, I don`t feel the burden that I have to be good at it. I just go with the fllow, look for some references, do it and than deliver it to the teacher, they comment on my work and then I continue working. But sometimes when I do some illustrations, I criticize myself all the time for not beeing able to draw that damn hand or whatever; not beeing able to make my idea real on paper, this is so weird, the main thing that`s stopping me is myself. Instead of patiently collecting references, planning my artwork, trying some composition sketches, I`m impatiently trying to make a masterpiece, and if it doesn`t work, I feel like shit. Yeah, I feel like patience is also a problem I have, the lack of it. Perhaps that`s an idea for a video, huh? Anyways, thank`s for reading this if anybody did, sometimes making such long comments might actually help. I`m writing this as I`m actually trying to draw an idea that i head in mind for a while, but for some reason I can`t really work on it for a long time, idk. I have so many assigments and I really should be working a lot to complete them all, but I feel depleted. I envy my friends that are working all the time, methodically improving step by step and I really see them becoming great. I mean not everybody is like this, but I compare myself only to them. That`s also an interesting thing about me.. Anyways, I don`t want to turn it into a personal diary note, but it already looks like one. Thanks to anyone who read that, I appreciate that.
Adam , how is it that when ever i find myself sitting on my butt almost ready to shut the pc down, you make the next perfect video for me at the time i need it HOW 😂 awesome video , also props to the wonderful person that brought this subject to you're attention
Around the 20 minute mark, I am really relating. I got to a point where I was feeling so intimidated and out of my league, even though I had worked on some of the same properties that these people I was in awe of, I felt that impostor syndrome kicking in. I was so caught up in my shortcomings technically that I became somewhat paralyzed. Perfectionism kills. I'm still struggling to get back in touch with doing it for the love of it and the "cool factor" without stressing so much about the "technical perfection". But at least I now recognize what I had been doing to myself that was keeping me stalled.
Havent listened to one of your videos in a while. Great to hear your voice and advice again. Would love to hear you talk about Revenge Bedtime. Not being able to sleep because you want to keep working!
i always look forward to your videos adam! thank you for sharing your thoughts and advice, you always explain it in a way that resonates and helps me think about it in a different way. so calming and wonderful, truly.
It is awesome that that is your experience. Personally the more love, affection and care, I show to people, the more they want to run away from me, because they want me to impress them, with superficial things and they want to do the same to me and when that is not an option, because I give them unconditional attention, love and admiration, they feel inadequate, because they don't feel like they can do the same, every relationship I have had has been the constant struggle of them wanting it to be an exchange and competition. Treasure the people that you have, they are rare.
This is something that I've struggled with for years, and hearing your advice on it really put things into perspective: even though I consciously knew that artists were ordinary people, I was still unconsciously putting them on this pedestal of unattainable talent, telling myself that I would never be able to do what they can do. Thank you for this video.
Thank you Adam. I always tend to envy artists who are better than me, even I have compared myself with others in real life too. I always judge how someone does not deserve the attention the get. This puts me into a horrible position. I am aware of this problems, and I am trying do better. Your video has showed me a new direction. Thank you so much !
For me, art is simply not a competition and at the same time, I deeply believe, that the techniques of creating artworks are not magic or talent, but work. So for me it is not "oh my, how good, I will never be as good", but it is more the question "Would I like to do something like that?". Once you come to that point, you also realize, that the challenge is not technique, but passion. It is very easy, to train your skillset, but it is not easy, to find a piece or technique to start, that you are deeply passionate about. Forget technique as a barrier, everyone can learn to draw.
You never fail to get me back into the calm and creative zone again with your vids, after all the stress and drama of daily life. Thank you, other Adam.
Love your work so hard! it's kind of that good envy that transforms into inspiration for my own pieces! Thanks for these H.P. art series and all the job you do in the channel!
one of the best topic I've watched. and I swear this comes out in the rightest times. like I was feeling envious on one of my favourite artist. then I saw this. I both laughed and feel enlightened by this. Thank you Adam and Zach for making this!
Thanks so much, Adam. I'd love I'd that interview happened too. Carrey seems like a truly engaging person and the interviews I've seen where he's not needing to play it up give such an insight behind the persona people may think of first. Also, this talk is exactly what I needed to here. I've been struggling comparing in various ways and through it, I'm still making a small collection of small works that mean a lot to me to attempt and express, but I'm not sure they'll turn out and I'm certainly not sure any one will care about them in the way that artists often wish they would be for the sake of validation. Always a good reminder that each person's journey is their own and entails so much more than is being communicated at any given time.
9:00 if it isn't relatable lol - when you're on your own you start inspecting things you have going for you and you look at other guys and stuff and you start feeling less. I get that and it's a process to move past that. Very insightful talk as always. Cheers, Adam!
I noticed recently that I'm only envious of mysterious artists. By mysterious, I mean the artists I've not seen in videos, artists who don't teach, don't speak and post work with little text, if any. They're like unobtainable skill without a face haha, almost too cool and too skilled to bother showing themselves or talking about their work, rendering me extremely envious and intimidated. The more I see or know about an artist, the quicker they fall into my 'motivational and inspiring' category. Artists who share advice online in text or video form (like yourself) are so relatable, inspirational and likeable because I can see the person BEHIND the impressive art and understand that they are humans like me and make me feel like I have it in me to one day achieve what they have.
Great subject. I very much appreciate your distinction between sheer technical skill versus the passion, expression or intangible "cool" factor. Very well said!
This played out well after my recent comment that for me you sometimes make artists seem like these super interesting people, that have their shit together! :D
Great video. I’m not a great artist, but my art is starting to gain traction and I’m even starting to make supplemental income with it. Still though, I can’t help but feel inadequate when seeing my art on social media next to a lot of artists I look up to. I have to constantly remind myself, “lots of people like your art, too, so it can’t be THAT bad”. I was sent into an anxious spiral when one of those artists actually followed me back. Not only did I feel inferior to them, but now I felt pressure to always be on top of my art game so I wouldn’t embarrass myself in front of them.
I'm happy I saw this; I struggle with this almost on a daily basis I'm happy to have found your channel you seem to have vids on problems I've been dealing with a lot. thank you for sharing your experiences and stories. I've never thought my art was good even though people i know they said was I was just always thinking ah there just being nice or maybe they haven't seen much art, where online I see all those other artists who are just gods compare to me, but this video help me see it them at a different light.
I need this video so much I notice I stop liking other people artwork or reduce liking other artwork outside my own to the point I question my artistic ability.
I find it interesting that I have worked in some really brutal healthcare settings (mental, palliative nursing etc.) and developed into efficient and cold blooded machine working up to the highest standards even during emergencies there, but when it comes to drawing my anime cat / fox / bunny girls I tend to be weak, undecided and pretty envious. Thanks for sharing your thoughts on the subject.
I have art envy, looking at other people's work of art always makes me feel a lot of emotions simultaneously while viewing the person's art, I feel inspired and awed of their works at the same time I also feel "maaaan, I am never doing that" but one thing that I know for a fact that I've been doing whenever something like that happens is that I never ever discouraged myself in fact instead of feeling down whenever someone says my art is amateur-ish or is lacking something I join in on them I go deep in to the technical aspects that I am lacking and point it out myself and even though I do that I still love my art, my drawings, every work of art that I did. This lead to me thinking that I am no artist but I still want to do art and instead of focusing on the technical aspects of art whenever I draw I just focus on having fun and making things that look cool to me, practicing it does make it perfect but the more I practice the more I lose having fun in doing art so I just did it little by little, while for sure I can admit that a little bit of progress has been made in terms of my skills the thing is I am glad that I am able to draw and paint, I wasn't making art just to show to people I was making art for me.
Thanks for the video and a nice drawing. I cannot figure you out Adam. Looking at what you do for a while now and in one moment you seems to be an open minded, accepting, empathic and tolerant person, and in another second a total opposition. And one can't be both, I think. Good luck.
This used to be a constant problem for me. Somtimes, I used it as a motivator, like, "I gotta get better than them." To some extent, it worked. But past a certain point, it just made me feel awful about my own work. Luckily, I've come to realize the things I'm good at and what's good about my own style. Where I still run into problems is that I feel I'm mostly reliant on technical skill, so sometimes I don't feel I have the visual flair to stand out in crowd. It's still something that's constant, but not nearly as bad as it used to be
I went to school for graphic design. And as someone who is both an artist and a graphic designer, a line that my instructor told me stuck with me: Design is made for other people. Art is made for yourself. As in, design is made to market and attract potential buyers/investors/etc at the end of the day. Art is self expression.
This felt like therapy. Thanks, man. And I'm so sorry your ex was like that, it's disgusting and no person like that is worth your time. I'm so glad she's an ex now and you're moved past that. Thank you for being so honest, raw and vulnerable for your audience in order to help us. It shows you're not only a skilled artist but a kind, mature and intelligent man. Unfortunately for me though, and many others I'm sure, the damage to our ego actually began very young with an abusive family. Runs deep as veins and makes literally any hobby, skill or interest so difficult when you feel fundamentally flawed, annoying, bad, stupid, useless, unloved, etc. I've found art envy (and many envies, I pray to God to free me from this awful sin) to be absolutely crippling to my progress. I see someone better than me and instead of being inspired, I shut down. But wow...with your culture metaphor, wow. You had much good insight with this video, thank you so much. And as a Latina, I'm touched you got so into our beautiful cultures. 😊💜💜💜 Anyone respectful is always, ALWAYS welcome to partake! Please always do!
I'll be honest, I've never had art envy. I've always looked at other peoples artworks as a source for inspiration. We live in a day and age where you can find thousands of paintings with a few taps on a screen. But the art and the styles that speak to you is like your own artistic fingerprint. It may overlap with other people's, but it is unique to yourself. Finding the art that speaks to me is like revealing more of that fingerprint. I see a lot of great art, but only a fraction of them "speak" to me. Those are the ones that I "like" or add to a collection on Art Station for the purpose of going back to for inspiration. Whether its a technique or style choice. Eventually, like most artists, I'll have a body of work that displays that fingerprint... and maybe one day will be someone else's inspiration for their own artistic fingerprint.
Hi I'm young artist and this video is amazing! I'm currently on an art block and I'm lacking self-confidence and motivation. Every day I have to force myself to draw, to open that sketchbook and hope to get something done. My dream is to be an art teacher, to make an impact in this accrued world. -Jasuel
i kind of found it ironic that as an art STUDENT(self study) i have to learn art technicalities when i know i'll let it all go to reflect myself, my wants, and this thing called passion on my art soon after i learnt it all. but the EGO of wanting a PROPER ART (even tho idk if it does reflect me) makes me wanna study tbh. i just end up wishing or believing it will all get paid off soon
At a glance I, an animation student that has drawn maybe 2 figures in my life, feel overwhelmed by the complexity of this creature and do envy to achieve this level of skill, to make things this cool! If I sit back and think about what I've learned about design I only wonder "what did he do to make it look this way?" Design isn't some special technique that you could never hope to achieve in an equal form compared to another artist; it's a process. Learning process and relating processes in other forms of art media makes you a better artist and designer. Now, time to shut up and draw something cool myself :)
I will have you know I very much envy your ability to come up with these monsters and make them look so cool 😂 though I have never felt drained by looking at art I wish I could make, it pushes me and gives me direction. I have been drawing seriously for 2 years. I am just at the start of my journey and I’m proud of what I have done so far. The work I’m doing today would have felt impossible to me on day 1. The work I’m going to be doing 2 years from now will look impossible to me today. That’s just how learning new skills works. I loved what you said about the Oscars situation too. I see a lot of people confused by Will Smiths behaviour (mostly the laughing to smacking to crying emotional journey he took) and you couldn’t have put it better. It’s just because he is human, and he lost control of his emotions in a big way in front of the whole world. That’s the problem I have with “roasting” comedy especially when people didn’t really sign up for it, you never know what sort of hurting is going on with people, funny can become hurtful easily.
Exactly! I may not be where I want to end up, but now it's slightly less about the final destination, but rather making strides each day that I know will add up to make myself proud for every part of the journey I will forever be on.
I struggle with this alot. Especially with outstanding animator's that upload awesome stuff they make on twitter. It's hard to actually enjoy animation now n days because i just want to make something as good not for people but for myself, making an awesome animation is just so fucking frustrating and difficult.
In my case nothing can help me, because i have so many problems with mental health and genetics from my mentally sick parents and traumas. I've born with asphyxia (strangled by the umbilical cord), after i born i was not breathing and after some attempts doctors saved my life (and i don't think it's a luck, it's unlucky, because now i should live this awful life and endlessly suffering in agony without any possibility to be happy and healthy and living a full and normal human life, they committed a crime against me, they shouldn't have saving me, i hate them so much). Consequently i've got a lack of oxygen so my brain broke forever and some of his areas doesn't work at all (i found about this after i scanned my head), and this is a very HUGE catastrophic problem, i can't learn almost anything because my brain just don't work and don't understand anything no matter how many times and how hard i'm trying to understand, my brain just crashes instantly from the slightest load, i've got another nervous breakdown, i'm start crying and screaming, stop understanding anything and everything becomes very blurry in my sight and i'm just falling asleep (brain defense mechanism to calm me down from destruction probably), so i just can't learn anything no matter how much i'm drawing and how many hours i'm practicing and watching tutorials and some "useful" videos from other artists on youtube and so on... Second problem is that i'm living in awful country (Russia) and since very beginning of my life i'm always were bullied from everyone around, from my inadequate and toxic parents who ruining my nerves and screaming at me every day and just destroying myself and controlling my life totally, and they don't understands that i have a serious and REAL problems and that everything is so terrible with my health and i need to get help because it becomes only worse every day my whole life, they devaluing my problems and makes fun of it, school's 9 years bullying (and attempt to kill me in 8th grade, my classmates tried to choke me right under cameras and in front of everyone's eyes) no one ever cared at all in my life about my life and me. But my country doesn't have a good psychotherapists and they are pretty expensive, but how should i pay them and get a therapy if i can't work at all due to all my mental diseases and brain problems. Also i'm always in danger while i'm living in this country, because i'm a "white crow" here and people always stalking me and beating me threatening to kill me next time they'll see me, police protecting bandits and not normal people, i'm rather would be arrested for self-defense than them would be ever punished anyhow for making crimes against me and ruining my life and violating my human rights. My family is overprotective toxic type, so in my 20's i'm completely immature and non-independent at all, i can't do anything without my parents, i can't work, i can't thinking clearly and good enough, i'm always in depression and my head always in fog, i'm reacting to anything like a 5 years old kid and scared of entire world, of everything and life itself, i can't live an adult life, i am incapable and disabled person. I have chronic depression, i have ADHD or something worse than this (thanks to asphyxia), my grandmother have a bipolar-disorder or schizophrenia (doctors do not specify her diagnosis, but it's something very serious and untreatable) and i have very high chances to get those problems from her to me by genetics (and i'm keep noticing my whole life that i have many similarities with her and it's scares me so much) and i can't get a qualified check of myself to make me clearly know what i have and what not and what exactly is wrong with me and can i cure it or i can't, it's making me go insane from unstoppable overthinking and panic. My country doesn't have any ever thing close to "good" and "good quality of life" and "safe" and "humanly" and "civilized", i'm living in second fascist Germany from WW2 times, i can die any day here and i don't have any rights and laws here and any even little freedom (i'm almost never moving outside of home, because it's too dangerous for me, i've been beaten for last few years already so many times and i don't want to die) i can be jailed for nothing in any day and being tortured by police (especially with the fact that i have worldview that goes against Putin, so it's only a matter of time when this would happen), but i can't escape from this country anyhow, i don't have any money, i can't work, i can't learn language, i am non-independent, i am disabled and incapable, i have so many problems with my health and my psyche, what country ever need a person like me? no one! i probably just would die soon here without any chances to feel happiness in my awful and tragic unfair life even once. So now to the main point of this topic, i never ever liked anything in my life, i did not liked any things and i didn't wanted to do anything, but in autumn of 2016 after i played Undertale something fired up in my dead, empty soul and after this i started to draw and after i get some money from streaming (only 12$ for few months and hundreds of streams) i bought my first tablet (Huion 420, honestly i bought it for playing in osu, but after i slowly started to draw and liking it) and firstly i enjoyed it but then i started suffering more and more and in the end after 5 years of sufferings and attempts to become a good artists and somehow get a money from this to living i just died as artists and as person totally, complete burnout and mental death, i am walking corpse now, i cannot enjoy anything, it's only makes me suffer, i can't learn anything it's only makes me suffer and destroying myself further, i can't cure myself, i can't escape from this hell and endless cycle of agony and despair, and i can't create any beautiful designs, characters and worlds and stories and so on, my brain just can't do this, but i want to..... And what the most painful that people just don't understand how serious my problems and situation is, they keep being toxic optimists, who devaluing my problems and talks about some motivational and inspirational crap (which is not work for me, i am not you, i don't have my problems, i can't get motivated or inspired anyhow, i only keep demotivating from anything in this world and suffering further) and they keep blaming me and make fun of me like: "you just make excuses, what a miserable person, abomination", i hate humanity, i hate this society and this world, which people created, it's a hell on earth. So i writing it just because i can't find any places to share my problems and just want to be heard and want to get any help somehow, i don't know... Sorry for all this mess in comments from me. I want to survive...
I know this wasnt the topic of today's video, but toxicity started to cross my mind. It's so important to leave toxic people. Even if they're your family members. Even if they're just normies, you don't deserve alot of people out there, just in general; i'd say. Learning to see things from someone's view will keep you from turning into them. You will abandon toxicity, stagnation and masochism, only after you see what it's done to those horrible people around you. For some of us out there, at least.
I wonder if the idea that you have to be born with natural talent to reach the level other people do, contributes to a pessimistic sense of envy to other people's work. Things such as unique or quirky art styles seem simple, which may give off the impression that people who make them managed easily.
I'm a 23 year old art student. Instead of "I will never make a masterpiece like this" I recently started going: "Wow! This looks like fun, I want to try doing that!" when I see an amazing artist. And then I'll try drawing an illustration like Kim Jung Gi, or try designing a creature as charming as Bobby Chius - and of course I won't succeed, but I will have spend so much time studying their techniques, that I'll feel happy and satisfied in learning so much from a great artist.
I don't go "I'll never reach this persons level" anymore, my attitude has changed to "I'm not as good as that artist, and I don't think I'll ever be - but I want to see how far I can go!"
this is a really good way of looking at things :)
Love that!
I know this is a year old comment but THANK YOU for sharing this. I needed to read this.
This is such an important topic! I feel that when beginner artists see the works of the professional concept artists with their amazing landscape designs rendered to perfection, it can be discouraging. I for sure know from experience :) Thanks for covering this, Adam!
For every great artist, there are dozen of other artists who are still learning or are upset with their work. Just think that there are hundreds of people in the same situation as you and that you're not the only one who thinks they suck.
I was an accomplished painter years ago, selling work, the object of admiration and envy of others. Other artists saught my opinion. I was doing well. But then, profound life losses started piling up and I stopped working. I haven't painted in a long time. For years. And now ... I experience envy of artists who even just show up and work. Even though I, too, once had "wind in my sails" I can no longer create. I can only sit still, tending to hurt and grief. I hope one day I can come back and bring my art to the world again. Beautiful video, Adam. Thank you.
Edit: I think you and Jim Carrey would have a wonderful conversation. I hope you can make it happen.
Thank you for sharing this beautiful story. I pray for your healing. I believe deep down you still have the passion within you!
I've suffered from art envy for my entire art journey, and I've always seen that as a weakness of character. I see now that it's not, it's a normal thing, and good to know that I'm not alone. Thanks Adam.
This was such a beautifull way to explain this topic ! I still have to remind myself to stop looking at other artists as competition,I think social media made this behavior worse for artist. The way social media make us more competetive against each other and the algorythm is so toxic for artist, specially begginers.
I think we are always so stuck in the bubble of the artistic skills that we just don't realize that we love the art we love because it resonates with our beings deep inside...
awesome talk as always, Adam!
Writing my thoughts on this, before listening what Adam has to say 😅
If you envy someone's art, then also envy all tons of struggles, pains, looses, tragedies, traumas, etc life things, that artists been through. Because if you're not then all you'll get - would be an empty canvas. There's unique journey every human being walks through till they get to the place they are now to do things that you envy to.
You could try follow exact same life pass, have same experiences, spend same amount of time and learn hot to make perfect copies of things you envied, but still you'll be doing it in your way, with your hands, with your arms, with your shorter\longer bones, your more\less muscular\fatter fingers, less\more sweater palms holding lighter\harder brushes, etc etc
And don't forget about person you envy - they can't stay frozen in time waiting for you to catch up, they'd evolve and become even better, or change their tastes, styles, or worse they'll got sick like really bad, or loose limbs in car accident, or could start loosing sight from age or gone blind, or start drinking, or some unexpected really weird shit like: the most stupidest war in recorded human history would suddenly breakout and that artist apartment will catch an airborne rocket right through the balcony window behind their back while they were drawing another art, you envy for.
ooof :'D mine is so dramatic and guilty\shaming\blaming, meanwhile Adam's is more forgiving, explanatory, compassionate, inspiring >:D sasuga, a real sensei
oh damn that's one way to go about it. Though I suppose I have to agree. To remember each artist had their share of pain, misery, dull boring days, and all sorts of stuff to get to making the art that gets admired, is really important. It lets you take each boredom, struggle, demotivation and the like in a way that you can better forgive yourself for being, well... human.
Adam, I´m really glad you put this video out. I have been in a relationship with another artist for a few years and that person cannot stand watching me work on anything related with what I love doing... It has been really weird on that side, she often has a lot of art block and doesn't try to learn or push herself. I have realized that I'm not the things that I make and that is how I deal with studying and pushing forward. It takes a toll on me that this person gets really upset after watching other's works, or even when I look for inspiration in others. I'm stuck and don't know what to do, I don't know if it's envy of putting the work... the reality is that she has way better skill at art than me and is very egotistical about it saying she doesn't need to put in the work at all and that she keeps growing without anyone, I know this isn't relationship advice but I really needed to vent this out somewhere.
When I typed in search section “how to deal with art jealousy”… and I found your video. Didn’t think I’ll find a video like that.
Thanks for sharing!!
I'm an artist, I'm not going to say I'm very good, but I've practiced enough to being told I'm amazing and people wanted to be like me , at first I felt happy, this had pushed me to do my best more , but it start to get worse when people started to tell me that you've got nothing in your life, you're just drawing, or when they see me doing something else but not art , they tell me , if I got your talent I will be drawing all the time ... even my meetings with people is all about art and my personal art life, I started avoiding them , and I started to hate what I'm doing, and I told myself many times that they see me interesting for them because I'm an artist, if I'm not drawing no one would care about me.. them people expecting me to be perfect all the time, it tired me ,I'm still struggling from it because I don't think I deserve all of this, I'm just someone who loves art and drawing but I also got a personal life I should take care of ..
Your art doesn't define you, as a complete noob my goal with art is being good enough to be able to leave something behind for someone (Anyone who's willing to look) to feel something. As a proof that I existed. Never forget that you're valuable regardless if you draw or not. Do your art for your own sake for that is all that really matters.
My biggest problem with art jelousy is when i know i spent 7 years of my life on art (it doesnt look like it) and because i have a short memory spam its hard to me to remember stuff long term, and im getting really envious when theres 15 year old drawing like 30 year old, when i discovered at 20 about it i drew maybe only 5 peaces in 2 years. It broke me even if i was telling myself that you need to study, and understand certain aspects but i couldn’t deal with it mentally. The feeling and thought that there are these people in the world just unmotivated me and caused me to be depressed for 2 years, and i couldnt even tell myself anything or ignore that feeling, i just wish i could get rid of it, but i don’t know what to do anymore. I dont wanna be envious anymore. I wanna be hard worker and committed to the art but i cant. After deleting all the social medias i still cannot help myself.
Same man. Seeing people who are younger and better just sucks and is so demotivating :(
When you talked about how we put talented people on a pedestal and then explained how in reality they're just as normal and human as we are, it made me tear up. I knew that before but sometimes we need reminders you know? And I loved the part when you said you viewed them as friends. 😭 Thanks so much for the video.
Thank you! I have depression and a bad case of the Comparisons. Sometimes I feel so bad about my own work that I freeze or my brain goes Squirrel! when I try to draw.
Great episode Adam. It's not something that's a quick fix and takes time to overcome. A few years back I REALLY struggled with this. Not with artists that I admired but my own colleagues, that I thought didn't "deserve" the recognition that they were receiving. It's taken alot of self reflection of what I was doing as an artist. A big part of overcoming this was to stop comparing the work I did with their type of art. They are offering a part of themselves to an audience that resonates with that artist's experiences. They bring something different to the table than I do, and my work will do the same. Focusing on doing me, my art, is what has helped. I still have ugly moments and I have to sit with it, acknowledge it and ask why...then get over it, sat it aside and do my own thing. You're point on comparison is bang on!
I hope this helps someone else.
So the advice I get from this is to view artists you're envy of as people. Okay, so now I view them as people, they're my best friends, I respect them a lot, and I see them as normal people instead of gods... now what?
It doesn't change the fact that despite well over a decade of art being the centerpiece of my commitment, practice and sacrifice at the expense of my health, living other life experiences, having friends, sunlight, or a significant other, my work is still invalid compared to the innumerable artists who draw in my same style, same ideas, same concepts, same characters, all without my flaws or shortcomings or any more experience. They are still essentially the better version of myself and I have no reason to exist, because I have no right to demand anyone to tolerate the worse version of myself when they have the best with no restrictions or compromises. And I guess I'm just supposed to be okay with that now.
That's my problem with a lot of help on this subject. It just seem like they're trying to get you to be complacent with your mediocrity in a world where there's too much easily accessible talent to tolerate anything less than excellence from experienced artists. Just numb the pain of the reality that the best you can be is be the discounted worse version of other people. The tarnished bronze medal given solely out of pity. When Bart gets an F despite pushing himself to study and do his best, just accept and be okay with that!
I can deny the truth to make myself feel better, which honestly I've done. I've spoken to artists I am envy towards, shared our insecurities and all of that... but eventually the truth comes back. You cannot run from reality forever, because the atomic bomb cares not for illusions or lies as it decimates your world. It's hard to say how I feel is the illusion, because I can see the truth in the art. It's pelvic thrusting in my face, reminding me where I fail and how my best just isn't good enough. Yes, I've studied them, yes I've copied, yes I've done all of that, it just. is. never. enough. Never enough to attain that bare minimum standard of quality that too many people attain to accept anything less, and there's just no excuses left for me to give. I HAVE to be that good, it HAS to come together that way, it is all I have left to show that I can do something well in this world, if not to anyone else but myself.
I just don't know how to deal with it when all the advice is just trying to get you to ignore and deny. Maybe this is good advice only for people who have things in their life other than art worth living for.
I relate to this waaayy too much😭
I've only just been able to learn this after focusing my art on what I love, being a little nerd for my corner of art. I can now look at art and I think wow, this is wonderful, but what part of this could I learn from for my small focus area. Its a cycle, looking for what you can learn helps you focus what you want to draw, which makes it easier to look at art, not with envy, but with admiration and a hunger to learn.
Which then, helps you see the artists as people, as obtainable, as someone you want to walk next to, on your own path with your collection of skills and admiration. You no longer feel the need to be them, but to work hard enough to better give yourself that feeling of admiration looking at your own art, as all these artists gifted you along the way.
At least, that's what I've found for myself.
Also thank you for always being such a great source of finding artists. I had lost Tyler Edlin after having loved his work quite a while ago. On a whim searched him up as you've mentioned him so many times. Was a great surprise to realise I already knew his stuff. :) Watched so many videos that I now recognise quite a few of the names you bring up a lot.
I am just beginning my art journey. I don't even understand what I don't know yet. I love that you addressed this because I see it every time I look at art. The reason I am starting to try and learn art is so I can put what I see in my head on paper. Though as a beginner in a way, I hear about this and think, another thing I need to learn.
I want to study art and game design at the same time. I have attempted to do so for over a month, but the moment I just PICKED JUST ONE, I was able to stop procrastinating, and I'm getting the work in that I need.
I decided to do game design first, and so, as I am typing this, I am working on my first video game ever!
It's a horror game, and I hope to succeed at becoming a game designer as fast as possible so I can have the skills necessary to get a job out of it. And in doing so, my education can also go back to the art skills I also want.
Though, personally, I consider game design as art also - that's why a previous comment of mine mentioned how I realised that I was truly an artist at heart right now, not a scientist or whatever. I'm going all into my real-time passions, but doing so THE RIGHT WAY.
I have you to thank for that honestly, I just felt like letting you know again, (though I doubt 'again' since you probably haven't been able to see the original comment on an earlier video you made).
"Well of shame that is Artstation" - OMG that is so true! I scour "image sites" all over the place, depressing myself that I'll never be that good - WHY do I keep painting? Yeah, you're right - we've got to stop doing that to ourselves.
I think maybe changing the way you look at it would be a better solution. I love Art Station. Allows me to find artworks, usually at a professional level, that speaks to me. Gives my inspiration for what I want in my own art.
@@An.Unsought.Thought Oh I LOVE Artstation, don't get me wrong. And I'm well aware this is a "me" thing as far as comparing my art to others' art when they often have FAR more experience than I do. Like, one of my favorite artists is Michael Whelan - one of my inspirations as far as technique and visual clarity. Wonderworks was a book given to me as an early teen, and it's falling apart from how many times I've flipped through it. I do NOT forsee my art hitting that level, but he's amazing to look at and admire. The "WHY do I keep painting?" was sarcasm - I'm gonna keep painting. I just need to stop "comparing" my stuff with art I admire.
Oh definitely - it’s an amazing source of inspiration, confided you have that fragile artist ego in check lol - otherwise it’s a dark oubliette of what thou art not
I was struggling with a lot of self-doubts and I keep procrastinated to do art I listen to this video a few months ago and I loved it but it didn't change the thought that I always had, I felt like my art won't be worth any of anyone attention and it won't go anywhere, when I made them I always compare them to EVERYBODY, likes and all that, I try to 'fixed' my problem by focusing on my fulltime job instead I told myself that art is not for me and gave up, however, I keep feeling these urges to draw when I watch new shows on TV or the thoughts was pop up my head.
sorry for rambling but I keep thinking back about your words in this video, it didn't get through to me the first time but as the time got by I kinda get what you said everyone is just a simple human. I'm back making art it's still a struggle but all I can do is keep drawing, I just wanna say thank you to you for making this kind of video I follow you for a long time and your advice help me a lot. hope you have a great day
Thank you for this video. Makes me feel not so bad about being envious of other artists even at 49 yrs old. I’m struggling with art envy now with a former friend who is a fantastic artist and I consider way better than me. Her art trumps mine in many ways so I’m trying to find the good in my art to keep going and also study off her style. And study other artists style to improve my style
Art guit was smth I struggled with for quite some time but then I started comparing my progress from me two months ago and realized how far I had gotten. I get it, artists like losih and even you adam when I look at your work it's absolutely mind boggling to me how amazing your work is and how you create it but I also know that's because you both have been doing this for way longer than I am and if I continue working towards this dream i'll also reach that point in my life one day.
I may not be really good but my advice for most people is that they should not compare themselves with people who have been doing this for way longer than you. Instead learn how that work with shadows, break that work down and learn cause if you have the courage to continue doing art for as long as they have been doing, you'll get there no matter what.
Your journey will be completely different from other artists but you will surely achieve what you wish to achieve in this world.
This might be the most beautiful talk that I heard from you Adam. I'm trying to reflect on what it is that made me start drawing. I always thought it was the insane skill of the artists I admire (such as Kim Jung Gi, Karl Kopinski, Ahmed Aldoori, Takehiko Inoue - the list goes on forever. In truth, it was always the fcing "cool factor" 😆. I just love their art for what it is, but I'd always get hung up on HOW they do it, and how I'd never make anything close in a thousand years.
Love what you said about comparisons. We're the first people to spot what we "lack", and the last to see our interesting/traits, especially when being in toxic environments. I made this promise to myself few years ago, that I won't hesitate to say what my interests are/what I'm into if somebody asks. This little promise has helped me connect with some of the most beautiful souls ever since, people that I'd just pass on in the past. The opposite is also true, I'm way better at not caring/letting go of people who are just toxic/manipulative and genuinely have no place in my life. I remember many instances when my passions/interests would make people smirk to themselves and make me feel embarrassed. I'm so happy that I no longer care 😆
Thank you Adam for the constant reassurance and genuinely heartwarming vibes. You are like a kindred soul to me, even if we're years and miles apart 😂
Have a good one!
I constantly tell my friends that idolize art to stop and realize that what you are seeing is a fraction, the best, most carefully cultivated fraction, of the work that artist actually does. I always encourage my art friends to share their trash publicly. Normalize the truth that not every single time you put pen/pencil/brush to canvas the result is a polished, presentable clickable end product. For your own mental health as an artist to alleviate the pressure of success and for the budding hobbyists and artists of the future to alleviate the fear of having to make every project a finished piece.
23 year old Self Taught artist this is an AMAZING topic I need to hear for my growth. I plan to take the journey of art for the rest of my life and I've been struggling as I feel soulless and don't know who I even am.
Before you read this comment, whoever you are, just know that this is pretty depressing, probably off track and kinda self demeaning and useless rant that i am writing mostly because i am having a crisis.
Do not feel responsible for me feeling this way, nor for anything: i just wabted to use this little space online to dump my instinctive thoughts.
Sorry for my egocentrism too, i will try to leave some thoughts for the end.
Okay, here we start: I spent the last three years studying at a private comics school, and the first sentence my first teacher said was "Nobody needs you. There are many others who will want your job, and are much better at it. You have to put so much practice just to think you can have a career." And even before, in my high school, whenever i submitted my subjects they were never "diverse enough. Do something else!". This just because i wanted to sculpt dragons and mythological creatures and i loved to use them as symbols for various meanings.
So, with this background in mind, in the last three years i toned down myself and my sufavourite subjects to study technical skills. One of my classmates, instead just did what he felt right to him: he just had his own dragons and creatures, just like me in high school.
He received technical critiques but was overall applauded in character design inspired by bugs and animals, whereas i could barely start a character sheet because i felt so overwhelmed by my teacher's expectations to "start working once out of the school" and "propose something different from the norm".
The last three years i barely published something on social media, and painted anything at all. I feel like a machine who needs a code to function, not at artist. Not at all. I was better at ideas when i was still drawing with no anatomy, because nobody was telling me i had to "upgrade if i wanted to eat and pay the bills".
I started feeling anxiety when i had to draw, even a personal work: and then there was this classmate, very sensitive guy whom i supported in his choices, but never helped me in return.
And I started to hate and envy him. I was good technically, but he had the ideas, and could execute them. And when i turned to him tho, he never so much as offered me an hand, but just a "he. Its must feel shitty."
I knew him first as a human being, then as an artist. Even tho he isn't the most technical artist, he is way better than me right now, and i feel worse and worse around him now. I don't envy his personality nor his life, just his vision and extreme phantasia while i have a fairly high degree in aphantasia and probably adhd, which leads me to bonk against the wall repeatedly. I feel shitty because i feel not only boring, plain and normal, but because i helped someone who felt like that fee better, but never did it in return. Not that he was responsible, but now that no one sees me online nor my work, i feel like a total nobody, that i wasn't "cool enough" to support, and now have less and less evidence to show my inspirations.
So yeah, don't mind be plain, boring and normal, everyone is: but remember who you are despite the skills you have. Soffucating that artistic streak to blindly search a cure for "the same face syndrome", "the patchy texture" or "the boring scene" can kill any artwork before it is even born or finished if you are so susceptible to technicality. People wont mind your skills too much anyway if you have a good idea, and just do what you love with the good amount of study everyone needs.
Sorry for the long, depressing comment, but it would mean the world to me if even just one person felt understood by my word vomit. I plan to get better mentally, and so should you.
The worst thing I can do for my creativity is try push it when it doesn't come naturally. I can't brute force it. And so I work around this flaw of mine, with varying degrees of effectiveness, with knowing that any sane person needs references, and so I should be prepared to use twice as much. I let myself sketch anything, play around and cut that pesky braining out for a while.
I guess I ended up writing quite the essay as well, and I don't mean to say I know how to fix myself let alone anyone else. But I guess we could all do with some kindness on ourselves- not everyone has the same struggles, so even if it feels dumb (which as someone who wants to be a designer but struggles with creativity, I often feel dumb), there's at least a glimmer for all of us to work around our challenges to be just a great artist and just as complete as a human being.
I feel the exact same way, thinking that I'm probably the smallest person in the room - so small that I'm technically invisible. I am very introverted, and I have few friends. I've tried sharing on social media, things that I felt proud about. And when it doesn't do well, my thoughts turn sour and I question, "What's wrong with me? Why am I so terrible?"
I'm studying the fundamentals and from real life, several hours per day. But it's difficult, because I don't have much support.
Seeing artists from Twitter or other places, sharing their art and getting appraisal and tens of thousands of likes, when I can't even get one, makes me want to not try to share my progress anymore. Maybe it makes me shallow to compare myself to them, but it feels awkward.
I'm still practicing, because I want to create cool characters. Drawing is part of me. I just don't have the confidence to put myself out there anymore. It's not worth the disappointment for me, knowing that I'm sharing for nothing.
That said, I'm still trying to go forward despite my mindset. I purchase art classes online, and I follow artist livestreams where they break down character poses and designs.
@@FS-bg1yb absolutely agree, sometimes the best is just to start
@@Interstellar643 it's not shallow, it's just human. Especially because there is rarely a determined finish line waiting for us.
At the beginning everybody feels like that. But what nobody fan judge is your own artistic streak. The irony, the poetry and the feelings you want to convey are your brushes regardless. Study, but also nurture that part of yourself.
Nevertheless, you will need it even more in the future once you start understanding the fundamentals.
Hi Adam! I recently came across your channel and I wanted to take a moment to thank you for sharing your thoughts and personal journey as an artist and as a human being. I was feeling very stuck with my own art (I am a digital sculptor) and after listening to this video of yours "if you're an artist about to give up on their dreams, watch this first.", I felt such relief! I since then started listening to more of your videos while sculpting. You are truly inspiring and soothing. Thank you very much for your time and effort.
I always find it incredible how you create videos about the exact things so many people are struggling with, thank you Adam, and of course Zach for the idea
Thank you Adam for such a video, this is an incredibly important topic for me. I think that my whole artistic life this jealousy was the thing that was stopping me most. Actually it wasn`t just stopping, it completely immobilised me. I`m only 18 years old and I`m on second year in graphic design university and this envy also applies to my friends that I study with. I always see so many talented people, see their skill and their incredible artworks and sometimes feel so awful about myself because of that. I have so many ambitions and dreams of becoming a great artist and working on many great projects in game industry, I mean right now i even feel a bit stupid writing about it, like, i`m only 18, there is an entire life ahead of me and I`m hating myself because I cant draw that stupid hand..? That`s certainly not very rational of me. Yeah, and what I`ve noticed is that this jealousy only works when I actually get to painting or drawing, I spend a lot of time looking at artworks and collecting pins in pinterest instead of actually doing something. Well, that`s primarily because of the fact that I`m in graphic design academy and some subjects are focused on the logo designs, web design and some other thigs so I don`t allways have the time to do things that i like more. Also, I feel like I understand some design principles better and I feel that it would be much easier for me to become a graphic designer, than an artist, because whenever i do something like common commercial design or logos, I don`t feel the burden that I have to be good at it. I just go with the fllow, look for some references, do it and than deliver it to the teacher, they comment on my work and then I continue working. But sometimes when I do some illustrations, I criticize myself all the time for not beeing able to draw that damn hand or whatever; not beeing able to make my idea real on paper, this is so weird, the main thing that`s stopping me is myself. Instead of patiently collecting references, planning my artwork, trying some composition sketches, I`m impatiently trying to make a masterpiece, and if it doesn`t work, I feel like shit. Yeah, I feel like patience is also a problem I have, the lack of it. Perhaps that`s an idea for a video, huh? Anyways, thank`s for reading this if anybody did, sometimes making such long comments might actually help. I`m writing this as I`m actually trying to draw an idea that i head in mind for a while, but for some reason I can`t really work on it for a long time, idk. I have so many assigments and I really should be working a lot to complete them all, but I feel depleted. I envy my friends that are working all the time, methodically improving step by step and I really see them becoming great. I mean not everybody is like this, but I compare myself only to them. That`s also an interesting thing about me.. Anyways, I don`t want to turn it into a personal diary note, but it already looks like one. Thanks to anyone who read that, I appreciate that.
Adam , how is it that when ever i find myself sitting on my butt almost ready to shut the pc down, you make the next perfect video for me at the time i need it HOW 😂
awesome video , also props to the wonderful person that brought this subject to you're attention
my yt reccom is getting TOO PERSONAL now. btw im glad you cover on this cuz we all could agree that we often face this.
Around the 20 minute mark, I am really relating. I got to a point where I was feeling so intimidated and out of my league, even though I had worked on some of the same properties that these people I was in awe of, I felt that impostor syndrome kicking in. I was so caught up in my shortcomings technically that I became somewhat paralyzed. Perfectionism kills. I'm still struggling to get back in touch with doing it for the love of it and the "cool factor" without stressing so much about the "technical perfection". But at least I now recognize what I had been doing to myself that was keeping me stalled.
Havent listened to one of your videos in a while. Great to hear your voice and advice again. Would love to hear you talk about Revenge Bedtime. Not being able to sleep because you want to keep working!
i always look forward to your videos adam! thank you for sharing your thoughts and advice, you always explain it in a way that resonates and helps me think about it in a different way. so calming and wonderful, truly.
It is awesome that that is your experience.
Personally the more love, affection and care, I show to people, the more they want to run away from me, because they want me to impress them, with superficial things and they want to do the same to me and when that is not an option, because I give them unconditional attention, love and admiration, they feel inadequate, because they don't feel like they can do the same, every relationship I have had has been the constant struggle of them wanting it to be an exchange and competition.
Treasure the people that you have, they are rare.
I deal with this on a daily basis to a point where i severally want my idols to crash and burn
I loved everything about this. Thank you for your insight.
This is something that I've struggled with for years, and hearing your advice on it really put things into perspective: even though I consciously knew that artists were ordinary people, I was still unconsciously putting them on this pedestal of unattainable talent, telling myself that I would never be able to do what they can do. Thank you for this video.
I don't know how you do it but you upload the perfect videos at the perfect time
Thank you Adam. I always tend to envy artists who are better than me, even I have compared myself with others in real life too. I always judge how someone does not deserve the attention the get. This puts me into a horrible position. I am aware of this problems, and I am trying do better. Your video has showed me a new direction. Thank you so much !
For me, art is simply not a competition and at the same time, I deeply believe, that the techniques of creating artworks are not magic or talent, but work. So for me it is not "oh my, how good, I will never be as good", but it is more the question "Would I like to do something like that?". Once you come to that point, you also realize, that the challenge is not technique, but passion. It is very easy, to train your skillset, but it is not easy, to find a piece or technique to start, that you are deeply passionate about. Forget technique as a barrier, everyone can learn to draw.
You never fail to get me back into the calm and creative zone again with your vids, after all the stress and drama of daily life.
Thank you, other Adam.
Love your work so hard! it's kind of that good envy that transforms into inspiration for my own pieces! Thanks for these H.P. art series and all the job you do in the channel!
Thank u…as always, your video are so powerfull and some days are my only light… again thank your from the bottom of my heart!!
one of the best topic I've watched. and I swear this comes out in the rightest times. like I was feeling envious on one of my favourite artist. then I saw this. I both laughed and feel enlightened by this. Thank you Adam and Zach for making this!
Thanks so much, Adam. I'd love I'd that interview happened too. Carrey seems like a truly engaging person and the interviews I've seen where he's not needing to play it up give such an insight behind the persona people may think of first.
Also, this talk is exactly what I needed to here. I've been struggling comparing in various ways and through it, I'm still making a small collection of small works that mean a lot to me to attempt and express, but I'm not sure they'll turn out and I'm certainly not sure any one will care about them in the way that artists often wish they would be for the sake of validation. Always a good reminder that each person's journey is their own and entails so much more than is being communicated at any given time.
9:00 if it isn't relatable lol - when you're on your own you start inspecting things you have going for you and you look at other guys and stuff and you start feeling less. I get that and it's a process to move past that. Very insightful talk as always. Cheers, Adam!
I noticed recently that I'm only envious of mysterious artists. By mysterious, I mean the artists I've not seen in videos, artists who don't teach, don't speak and post work with little text, if any. They're like unobtainable skill without a face haha, almost too cool and too skilled to bother showing themselves or talking about their work, rendering me extremely envious and intimidated. The more I see or know about an artist, the quicker they fall into my 'motivational and inspiring' category. Artists who share advice online in text or video form (like yourself) are so relatable, inspirational and likeable because I can see the person BEHIND the impressive art and understand that they are humans like me and make me feel like I have it in me to one day achieve what they have.
Great subject. I very much appreciate your distinction between sheer technical skill versus the passion, expression or intangible "cool" factor. Very well said!
This played out well after my recent comment that for me you sometimes make artists seem like these super interesting people, that have their shit together! :D
in a last few days i realised how much im a just looking for praise with my art, i have no clue how to try work this out, but this video helps a ton
In conclusion, those we envy are humans, and we should remember that always. It's a good way to deal with that feeling, thank you!
This is one I've needed badly for a bit. Thanks for doing a talk on this.
Great video. I’m not a great artist, but my art is starting to gain traction and I’m even starting to make supplemental income with it. Still though, I can’t help but feel inadequate when seeing my art on social media next to a lot of artists I look up to. I have to constantly remind myself, “lots of people like your art, too, so it can’t be THAT bad”. I was sent into an anxious spiral when one of those artists actually followed me back. Not only did I feel inferior to them, but now I felt pressure to always be on top of my art game so I wouldn’t embarrass myself in front of them.
this was such a helpful video. I really cant help comparing my art to others I admire and this has helped give me a new perspective
I'm happy I saw this; I struggle with this almost on a daily basis I'm happy to have found your channel you seem to have vids on problems I've been dealing with a lot. thank you for sharing your experiences and stories. I've never thought my art was good even though people i know they said was I was just always thinking ah there just being nice or maybe they haven't seen much art, where online I see all those other artists who are just gods compare to me, but this video help me see it them at a different light.
Your drawings are really cool, Adam. I'm sensing a huge book of Adam Duff creepy crawlies to eventually hit shelves.
I need this video so much I notice I stop liking other people artwork or reduce liking other artwork outside my own to the point I question my artistic ability.
This was such a beautiful beautiful video. Thank you for sharing your wisdom and this beautiful artwork!
This is the best I have heard in a while and I totally relate to what you said. Thanks
I find it interesting that I have worked in some really brutal healthcare settings (mental, palliative nursing etc.) and developed into efficient and cold blooded machine working up to the highest standards even during emergencies there, but when it comes to drawing my anime cat / fox / bunny girls I tend to be weak, undecided and pretty envious. Thanks for sharing your thoughts on the subject.
Thank you so much for making this, Adam
My pleasure Zach - and thank you again for the suggestion
I have art envy, looking at other people's work of art always makes me feel a lot of emotions simultaneously while viewing the person's art, I feel inspired and awed of their works at the same time I also feel "maaaan, I am never doing that" but one thing that I know for a fact that I've been doing whenever something like that happens is that I never ever discouraged myself in fact instead of feeling down whenever someone says my art is amateur-ish or is lacking something I join in on them I go deep in to the technical aspects that I am lacking and point it out myself and even though I do that I still love my art, my drawings, every work of art that I did. This lead to me thinking that I am no artist but I still want to do art and instead of focusing on the technical aspects of art whenever I draw I just focus on having fun and making things that look cool to me, practicing it does make it perfect but the more I practice the more I lose having fun in doing art so I just did it little by little, while for sure I can admit that a little bit of progress has been made in terms of my skills the thing is I am glad that I am able to draw and paint, I wasn't making art just to show to people I was making art for me.
Thanks for the video and a nice drawing.
I cannot figure you out Adam. Looking at what you do for a while now and in one moment you seems to be an open minded, accepting, empathic and tolerant person, and in another second a total opposition. And one can't be both, I think.
Good luck.
Wait, what do you mean?
Thank you Adam! I really need this video right now💕
The intro is super cool!
This is really good. It took me years to understand the ideas you are talking about.
Always great Adam!
This used to be a constant problem for me. Somtimes, I used it as a motivator, like, "I gotta get better than them." To some extent, it worked. But past a certain point, it just made me feel awful about my own work. Luckily, I've come to realize the things I'm good at and what's good about my own style. Where I still run into problems is that I feel I'm mostly reliant on technical skill, so sometimes I don't feel I have the visual flair to stand out in crowd. It's still something that's constant, but not nearly as bad as it used to be
I went to school for graphic design. And as someone who is both an artist and a graphic designer, a line that my instructor told me stuck with me: Design is made for other people. Art is made for yourself.
As in, design is made to market and attract potential buyers/investors/etc at the end of the day. Art is self expression.
This felt like therapy. Thanks, man. And I'm so sorry your ex was like that, it's disgusting and no person like that is worth your time. I'm so glad she's an ex now and you're moved past that. Thank you for being so honest, raw and vulnerable for your audience in order to help us. It shows you're not only a skilled artist but a kind, mature and intelligent man.
Unfortunately for me though, and many others I'm sure, the damage to our ego actually began very young with an abusive family. Runs deep as veins and makes literally any hobby, skill or interest so difficult when you feel fundamentally flawed, annoying, bad, stupid, useless, unloved, etc. I've found art envy (and many envies, I pray to God to free me from this awful sin) to be absolutely crippling to my progress. I see someone better than me and instead of being inspired, I shut down.
But wow...with your culture metaphor, wow. You had much good insight with this video, thank you so much. And as a Latina, I'm touched you got so into our beautiful cultures. 😊💜💜💜 Anyone respectful is always, ALWAYS welcome to partake! Please always do!
Oooo a new intro!! Looks amazing!
Beautiful!🔥love all the mirroring shapes that lead me to look at that face! The lighting just 👌🏻🤌🏻💯
Good talk too 😌
I'll be honest, I've never had art envy. I've always looked at other peoples artworks as a source for inspiration. We live in a day and age where you can find thousands of paintings with a few taps on a screen. But the art and the styles that speak to you is like your own artistic fingerprint. It may overlap with other people's, but it is unique to yourself. Finding the art that speaks to me is like revealing more of that fingerprint. I see a lot of great art, but only a fraction of them "speak" to me. Those are the ones that I "like" or add to a collection on Art Station for the purpose of going back to for inspiration. Whether its a technique or style choice. Eventually, like most artists, I'll have a body of work that displays that fingerprint... and maybe one day will be someone else's inspiration for their own artistic fingerprint.
today s painting was amazing
I swear your videos are so timely..I just had an experience where I was having art nevy a week ago and it lingered way too long
May you be Happy
May you be Free
May you be at Peace
Thanks Adam
Can you make a video of how to develop patience with improve traditional art skills?
Hi I'm young artist and this video is amazing! I'm currently on an art block and I'm lacking self-confidence and motivation. Every day I have to force myself to draw, to open that sketchbook and hope to get something done. My dream is to be an art teacher, to make an impact in this accrued world.
-Jasuel
Jim is a bit of an artist also, I imagine you could have some talks in that aspect :)
Yeah. Before listening to it, I knew I need to listen to it. :)
Oh thats a really nice intro
Has a bit of an MKBHD feel to it - I like it too :)
It would be awesome to have a drink with you as well because you seem like an amazing person! 👍
Your drawings and illustrations look like they could be part of any Diablo game, or Call of Cthulhu !!
They’re directly based on Lovecraft lore (mi-go, Gug etc…) so your assumption is spot on
i kind of found it ironic that as an art STUDENT(self study) i have to learn art technicalities when i know i'll let it all go to reflect myself, my wants, and this thing called passion on my art soon after i learnt it all. but the EGO of wanting a PROPER ART (even tho idk if it does reflect me) makes me wanna study tbh. i just end up wishing or believing it will all get paid off soon
At a glance I, an animation student that has drawn maybe 2 figures in my life, feel overwhelmed by the complexity of this creature and do envy to achieve this level of skill, to make things this cool! If I sit back and think about what I've learned about design I only wonder "what did he do to make it look this way?" Design isn't some special technique that you could never hope to achieve in an equal form compared to another artist; it's a process. Learning process and relating processes in other forms of art media makes you a better artist and designer. Now, time to shut up and draw something cool myself :)
I will have you know I very much envy your ability to come up with these monsters and make them look so cool 😂 though I have never felt drained by looking at art I wish I could make, it pushes me and gives me direction. I have been drawing seriously for 2 years. I am just at the start of my journey and I’m proud of what I have done so far. The work I’m doing today would have felt impossible to me on day 1. The work I’m going to be doing 2 years from now will look impossible to me today. That’s just how learning new skills works.
I loved what you said about the Oscars situation too. I see a lot of people confused by Will Smiths behaviour (mostly the laughing to smacking to crying emotional journey he took) and you couldn’t have put it better. It’s just because he is human, and he lost control of his emotions in a big way in front of the whole world. That’s the problem I have with “roasting” comedy especially when people didn’t really sign up for it, you never know what sort of hurting is going on with people, funny can become hurtful easily.
Exactly! I may not be where I want to end up, but now it's slightly less about the final destination, but rather making strides each day that I know will add up to make myself proud for every part of the journey I will forever be on.
I struggle with this alot. Especially with outstanding animator's that upload awesome stuff they make on twitter. It's hard to actually enjoy animation now n days because i just want to make something as good not for people but for myself, making an awesome animation is just so fucking frustrating and difficult.
hopefully one day I'll have that feeling of omg I finally drawing like them lol.
i had just send a link of this video to Jim`s Acount, let`s see what happened, maybe we bouth get luck and get the postcast
i can't do it, everytime i feel worse
Thank you
thanks you,
i like that gradient at the top how to achieve that on windows
In my case nothing can help me, because i have so many problems with mental health and genetics from my mentally sick parents and traumas. I've born with asphyxia (strangled by the umbilical cord), after i born i was not breathing and after some attempts doctors saved my life (and i don't think it's a luck, it's unlucky, because now i should live this awful life and endlessly suffering in agony without any possibility to be happy and healthy and living a full and normal human life, they committed a crime against me, they shouldn't have saving me, i hate them so much). Consequently i've got a lack of oxygen so my brain broke forever and some of his areas doesn't work at all (i found about this after i scanned my head), and this is a very HUGE catastrophic problem, i can't learn almost anything because my brain just don't work and don't understand anything no matter how many times and how hard i'm trying to understand, my brain just crashes instantly from the slightest load, i've got another nervous breakdown, i'm start crying and screaming, stop understanding anything and everything becomes very blurry in my sight and i'm just falling asleep (brain defense mechanism to calm me down from destruction probably), so i just can't learn anything no matter how much i'm drawing and how many hours i'm practicing and watching tutorials and some "useful" videos from other artists on youtube and so on... Second problem is that i'm living in awful country (Russia) and since very beginning of my life i'm always were bullied from everyone around, from my inadequate and toxic parents who ruining my nerves and screaming at me every day and just destroying myself and controlling my life totally, and they don't understands that i have a serious and REAL problems and that everything is so terrible with my health and i need to get help because it becomes only worse every day my whole life, they devaluing my problems and makes fun of it, school's 9 years bullying (and attempt to kill me in 8th grade, my classmates tried to choke me right under cameras and in front of everyone's eyes) no one ever cared at all in my life about my life and me. But my country doesn't have a good psychotherapists and they are pretty expensive, but how should i pay them and get a therapy if i can't work at all due to all my mental diseases and brain problems. Also i'm always in danger while i'm living in this country, because i'm a "white crow" here and people always stalking me and beating me threatening to kill me next time they'll see me, police protecting bandits and not normal people, i'm rather would be arrested for self-defense than them would be ever punished anyhow for making crimes against me and ruining my life and violating my human rights. My family is overprotective toxic type, so in my 20's i'm completely immature and non-independent at all, i can't do anything without my parents, i can't work, i can't thinking clearly and good enough, i'm always in depression and my head always in fog, i'm reacting to anything like a 5 years old kid and scared of entire world, of everything and life itself, i can't live an adult life, i am incapable and disabled person. I have chronic depression, i have ADHD or something worse than this (thanks to asphyxia), my grandmother have a bipolar-disorder or schizophrenia (doctors do not specify her diagnosis, but it's something very serious and untreatable) and i have very high chances to get those problems from her to me by genetics (and i'm keep noticing my whole life that i have many similarities with her and it's scares me so much) and i can't get a qualified check of myself to make me clearly know what i have and what not and what exactly is wrong with me and can i cure it or i can't, it's making me go insane from unstoppable overthinking and panic. My country doesn't have any ever thing close to "good" and "good quality of life" and "safe" and "humanly" and "civilized", i'm living in second fascist Germany from WW2 times, i can die any day here and i don't have any rights and laws here and any even little freedom (i'm almost never moving outside of home, because it's too dangerous for me, i've been beaten for last few years already so many times and i don't want to die) i can be jailed for nothing in any day and being tortured by police (especially with the fact that i have worldview that goes against Putin, so it's only a matter of time when this would happen), but i can't escape from this country anyhow, i don't have any money, i can't work, i can't learn language, i am non-independent, i am disabled and incapable, i have so many problems with my health and my psyche, what country ever need a person like me? no one! i probably just would die soon here without any chances to feel happiness in my awful and tragic unfair life even once. So now to the main point of this topic, i never ever liked anything in my life, i did not liked any things and i didn't wanted to do anything, but in autumn of 2016 after i played Undertale something fired up in my dead, empty soul and after this i started to draw and after i get some money from streaming (only 12$ for few months and hundreds of streams) i bought my first tablet (Huion 420, honestly i bought it for playing in osu, but after i slowly started to draw and liking it) and firstly i enjoyed it but then i started suffering more and more and in the end after 5 years of sufferings and attempts to become a good artists and somehow get a money from this to living i just died as artists and as person totally, complete burnout and mental death, i am walking corpse now, i cannot enjoy anything, it's only makes me suffer, i can't learn anything it's only makes me suffer and destroying myself further, i can't cure myself, i can't escape from this hell and endless cycle of agony and despair, and i can't create any beautiful designs, characters and worlds and stories and so on, my brain just can't do this, but i want to..... And what the most painful that people just don't understand how serious my problems and situation is, they keep being toxic optimists, who devaluing my problems and talks about some motivational and inspirational crap (which is not work for me, i am not you, i don't have my problems, i can't get motivated or inspired anyhow, i only keep demotivating from anything in this world and suffering further) and they keep blaming me and make fun of me like: "you just make excuses, what a miserable person, abomination", i hate humanity, i hate this society and this world, which people created, it's a hell on earth. So i writing it just because i can't find any places to share my problems and just want to be heard and want to get any help somehow, i don't know... Sorry for all this mess in comments from me. I want to survive...
I know this wasnt the topic of today's video, but toxicity started to cross my mind. It's so important to leave toxic people. Even if they're your family members. Even if they're just normies, you don't deserve alot of people out there, just in general; i'd say. Learning to see things from someone's view will keep you from turning into them. You will abandon toxicity, stagnation and masochism, only after you see what it's done to those horrible people around you. For some of us out there, at least.
I wonder if the idea that you have to be born with natural talent to reach the level other people do, contributes to a pessimistic sense of envy to other people's work. Things such as unique or quirky art styles seem simple, which may give off the impression that people who make them managed easily.
You should just pick one artist and have this attitude: "I'm going to kick that ass one day"