Why I Can't Stop Comparing My Art to Others
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- Опубликовано: 24 авг 2024
- Mohammed Agbadi talking about art things i hate and the art advice making artists feel depressed and how comparism is ruining artist's mental health
artists in the thumbnail:
likelihoodart
rossdraws
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This a commentary video on the instagram art community, art tips, art commentary, art advice, bad art advice and fixing art.
The Awful Reason Why Artists Are Sad...( and the art community too )
Happy New Year! Say it back...
Happy new year
Happy New Year
🥳 HAPPY NEW YEAR🥳
Happy new year
Happy New Year
Comparing art is literally horrible. Once, someone sent me and entire paragraph saying how I should “change” my art style because it was so similar too another artist. Messed me up a lot.
that's so sad. some people just give the worst advice without considering the artist
@@MohammedAgbadi I know right? It’s sucks.
Don't people realize that literally every artist is influenced by another artist?
Wtf that's some whole level of toxic!
@@xcalibur64 very true
I didn’t expect to see my art here🙈 this was a great video with many good points on this topic (which is also something I struggle with occasionally too) Happy new year! 💕
Your art is truly an inspiration to me!
Lucky you buddy
Happy New year!
Your arts been everywhere recently and I'm so happy about it!
Omg hi!!!!! I really love your art
It give me motivation to draw again :3
I usually compare myself to myself. i get pretty upset because i think i'm not getting any progress or that i'm not doing enough, but at the end of the year i look back and see the stuff i made and i'm pretty proud of it. It usually helps me just taking a look at stuff i did 5 or just even 2 years ago from time to time in general.
me too. it always helps when you look at your work and see all the progress you have made eventually even when it seems like you're making no progress at all
I actually *did* stop progressing... I looked at what I drew when I was 19 at age 24 and realized nothing had changed. Immediately ruined any enjoyment I had from drawing haha. I mostly stick to colouring now 🤣
Same,i thought it would be never be progressed but I did the same at it helps me too :DD
I like to compare my old art with my new art to see how much I’ve progressed over the years lol
@@Kiss_My_Aspergers well, that's rough, but taking breaks is actually helpful. I stopped drawing for 3 to 4 months, no real reason actually, and just started tracing some stuff in my phone (nothing for social media or stuff, just 'cause boredom) and when I tried taking back a pencil and paper. Damn, I couldn't draw a simple head. So I learned how to drawn again and finally can see a lot of improvement.
Right now might see that there's no progress and that everything's on a dead end, but taking a long break helps sometimes
Watching this made me realize how truly miserable i’m becoming from constantly comparing myself to 13y/o on tik tok who are just so much better than me. hearing you put it into words calmed me, i was having a rough day with my art, i wanted to quit trying to get into art school for college at some point. It sucks always feeling inferior to others and feeling like my hard work will never be enough. This is all i can do and i have no other ambitions for life so my art is pretty much my life support at this point so if i feel like my art isn’t good enough it seriously feels like i’m dying.
Hi. This isn't a spam. Just dropping a recommendation 'the pet girl of sakurasou', cause I think it might be helpful.
Just keep trying, put in your best, believe in yourself, remain consistent in learning and reevaluating, and I'm sure one day, you'll be super proud of the effort you had put in the years before. Best of luck
Wow are you me??
Please don't be discouraged! Keep trying, keep hoping and keep working; it will pay off one day💕 Hope things are going better now!
Happy New Year Mohammed!! Glad ur back! I'm loving the new hair haha 😄
💕💕💕HAPPY NEW YEAR THUM! lowkey I miss my hairrrrrrr!!
@@MohammedAgbadi its okay u can always grow it back 😤
I stopped learing art in high school cuz i noticed a girl who didnt care for art was WAYY better than me. It was extremely demotivating cuz i thought id never be good and that i was just untalanted. This was my biggest mistake, comparing art and stopping. I started back again in 2020 and love it more and the thing that made me improve was to not expect perfection and just have fun.
I can definitely relate. In primary school there was a guy who was so good at art and everyone loved his work. He was the guy the class turned to when there was an art assignment. I was just kinda... there. But I'm glad I remembered to make art for myself, not for my class. That's something I wish I had remembered for longer, but I'm working on it!
Happened to me too! But instead, I accepted the other people skills and grinded everyday even though if my drawings looked doo doo.
Little did you know that girl who "was WAYY better" was taking private lessons and intentionally told people she never took lessons to mess with their minds. Seriously, never take anything seriously which anyone says. Reminds me of that person who spent hours and hours every day studying to get very high grades, but claimed otherwise.
Oh this one hurts cuz its true
Go check out and watch the pet girl of sakurasou. It talked about talent comparison and the self expectations we place on ourselves. It's a really good watch.
I thought I was the only one. I'd look at my art and be proud of myself of all the improvement i made, only to get on instagram and see all my motivation just disappear. Seeing people so much younger than me that seemingly have a better grasp on the the fundamentals that I struggle with always made me insecure. Not only that but thanks to the shitty algorithm I've been stuck at the same amount of followers for months no matter how much effort I put into my work. It sucks.
Something I find wild to think about is that the same artist that I am admiring and wishing that I had a similar style is the fact that they will likely also hop onto instagram or other art apps and have the same sort of thoughts
Same. And then I thought I wasn't a good person because I was jealous of other people who did art infinitely better than me. Like, I understand that I'm improving significantly for my level of skill and the time I've been painting, especially since I rarely get to practice due to irl responsibilities, but it was still hurtful seeing others do so much better than you. Nowadays though, I'm trying to look at these other artists' works as what I want to become. I still sometimes go on the path of 'I'll never be good enough' but mostly, it's inspiration.
@@safala practice makes lots of perfect! my old art is not all that good, but now im confident enough to say its good
This is what absolutely blows my mind. Art is supposed to be about self expression (at least initially), but now it seems more about ego and who can out do who. It's very disheartening. I myself am very guilty of this..it's absolutely horrific. You have to understand that life is just that, life. Everyone has to go through struggles and when it comes to art some people can adapt quicker than others, that's literally it. The rise of social media had just made it more apparent. Honestly you (not you lol) have to stop. It literally will kill all of your creativity. You are you and that's it. Your art is yours no matter what your level is right now you can move past it.
If social media didn't make art seem like a competition i would post more. But due to the increasing amount of critics who expect more out of you than what you can do and seeing other people who run the game better than i do. It just makes me feel like shit. If i have to live up to other peoples expectations of me then i dont want to do art at all. To me art is a very personal thing. My art isn't meant for anyone specifically. But its nice when someone finds enjoyment put of something i created. And it makes me realize theres something out there for everyone. One mans trash is another mans treasure. If someone can find enjoyment in what i create i feel content in it just being what it is instead of trying for it to perfect.
Theres no winning or losing in art
Everyone shouldn't be a winner. But at least can we get a participation award.
So true XD. I get that people get egoistic because a lot of people do compliment artists. I’m even guilty of this.
I feel this all the time, though, I also get discouraged because my art doesn't get as many likes and views as I wish it did, people who didn't even put effort in their art gets hundred of likes, whilst I sit here, drawing for 7 hours, and I can barely get 10...
I did this for fun, but its just so discouraging for me, I stopped drawing consistently for a long time now, I just don't have the time nor the motivation to anymore.
This. I feel you here.
Thats why I usually only show my art to a few ppl these days, a lot of drawings out there get popular mostly due to being fanart or current trends. Just focus on getting better at drawing your favorite subjects. Get inspiration from Pinterest, is a lot better than google images.
(Oh lord this is longer than I meant to and I kinda just talk about my experiences, sorry!!) I feel you. For the past year or so, I've been exhausted with posting art. It felt like I had to force myself so that I could post something, yet it would get pretty much no likes. But over the past month I slowly realized, that I didn't need to push myself. I forgot how I started making art for fun, for *myself.* And I had slowly started making art for Instagram instead, which would get me to notice how many people liked it.
When I went on hiatus, I remembered how I didn't start posting so I could get likes and internet fame, I started posting so my art would have a place to be. An archive of how much I've grown as a person and as an artist. I won't post as often, because I don't want to get trapped in that cycle again, but I'll post sometimes to increase the amount of art I can look back on when I'm older
@@Game_Erica That, honestly helps me
I did start drawing for myself because I enjoyed it, I admired an artist alot and her alone inspired me to start drawing, and now she's my friend.
I started posting art because... I honestly don't know ^^'
I was 12 when I started posting and I don't think I had any reason of doing it other than "I wanted to" , but maybe seeing things in your perspective will help me rekindle that passion for drawing , so I thank you for that!
( And no need to say sorry - it isn't really that long, I love reading and I appreciate every word typed out in there! )
@@Game_Erica honestly apps are more of a folder for my art then they are for instagram itself. See i keep my art on Instagram and deviantart cause my phone doesn't have enough storage space, the amount of files i keep on my phone slows it down and doesn't work properly. And they will get lost and forgotten if i deleted them by accident. I remember cleaning out my phone one time. And freaking out because i just realized i couldn't get that file back.
For people who feel discouraged, remember that no one is born knowing how to draw, even prodigies needed to study and practice to get good at drawing, only with hard work we get somewhere.
It kinda depresses me when I’m on TikTok and I like an art post, then I see the creator is 12-17 years old. Then I block them.
My parents didn’t let me draw, nor did we have the finances to buy art supplies / digital art stuff till last year. I don’t know how I got accepted on my animation course and I thank God for that but I feel like I’m not improving in my art and I feel so so behind everyone else :(
Honestly I feel like it's good that you block them because it bothers you so much, why keep looking at something that brings you negativity?
I stopped drawing after my dad passed away 5 years ago, and I just started again and I feel like I suck, however I know I haven't been drawing consistently and am just gonna keep trying.
I hope you feel better, you're never too old to improve your skill! You got this! Set your boundaries and if that's staying away from tik tok then that's what you gotta do, nothing wrong with that
Im sorry you feel that way, i think im on the other side of that..I feel extremely bad that the way i draw could make someone feel so hurt.. so i dont really post my art. But people like to tell me im a 15 year old art Prodigy when they see it, I'm going off of what others have told me but i know im advanced for someone my age. We arent the happiest people either i tell you that.. the reason im so far advanced at art myself is because of alot of factors. Including social rejection having me dive deep into my notebook on the playground instead of playing with the other kids, im a deeply unhappy person, but my art has always let me have an escape.
I dont think you should doubt yourself as an artist, hard to say considering we are all our worst critic, things are different nowerdays because of the ammount of resources out there for these kids aswell. Theres so many tutorials, art influencers, pintrest and twitter tutorials, alot of which was not available when you were younger. Also keep in mind that the internet makes things seem alot louder than they are, in the real world you'll only find a few younger artist prodigies, but on the internet its more vocal few.. it seems like the bar is constantly raising faster than you can reach; perhaps you considered that you don't see the other young artists because only the skilled ones rise to the top, there could be millions of them you aren't seeing! Its normal not to be them ^^
Its okay to not be a prodigy artist, they have their doubts too because even younger artist's are way skilled too. Its okay to learn at your own pace and have your fun :-) dont let a vocal minority of artists who are ageist pull you down!
Weirdly enough I never had this problem. I always find it interesting and fun to figure out how other artists draw things and I am quite successful in that (even in replicating results too). My problem is that I cant force myself to put all of that into practice and it gets me often flustered. "Just sit and draw", sounds so easy but its incredibly hard for me. And the fact that I actually improve quite fast when i put effort in general makes all of it even more frustrating. But hey, at least that makes me appreciate everyone who is putting effort into drawing no matter how good or bad their art is.
Lol I feel like I ghost wrote this comment. I will learn a skill, then practice it once and never be motivated enough to actually make art with what I learned even if I may have retained the info. Why does practicing have to be so boring?
This maybe bad idea, but the solution might be in the project itself, not the skills you need to learn them. I do concentrated practice on specific skills from time to time oh, but I honestly learn best outside of a vacuum, by picking up skills as they become necessary. To me, rote practice can help you refine a skill, but unless the skill is in service of a project that you really love, you will never really see how it works IRL.
THIS!!! I'm the same way. I improve easily and I'm not one of these insecure artist. It's inspires me seeing an artist to look up too. And then eventually surpassing em. (at least in my head) . But my problem is sitting down hours at a time. I take my time. It my take me a week to make a picture... You know that's probably why these people ain't improving as fast as they like. They're not taking time to analyze their mistakes
this is so me
completely. literal, artists go to ruin for comparing their art work with other artists, I always do that and it really is horrible, to hell with everything, seriously, apreciate your progress a lot without comparing yourself.
appreciate your progress and embrace your own journey. it's the best thing!
My sister has been drawing for almost 20 years. I've never seen her upset about it, but she's never really posted it anywhere or even compare it to her own art. She draws because she enjoys it. She's also not a 'normal girl' so i wouldn't tell most people to take this advice
She kind of has a point though. I usually only post my art on my personal facebook, my friends over there seem to enjoy what I'm up to, even if its just sketches. But when I post somewhere else, says Reddit for example, I get very few upvotes, and the occasional "your artstyle is weird". Cue to few seconds later, seeing something far less detailed and finished than what I post over there getting 5x times the amount of upvotes. I've been posting my work less and less outside my personal FB, in order to not forget my main purpose of drawing, to enjoy the process, abd the sense of achievement of something done.
And yes I'm working on improving my art. Im trying to include backgrounds to avoid white voids as much as I can, and using real life references.
It’s weird, for me I don’t like showing my work to anyone. I’m an art student so I’m comfortable with my teachers and classmates but i don’t like showing my art to my family or friends (trauma is to blame). And online I only post stuff I’m not attached to, so if judged, it’s not harsh 😅
honestly if you're not mentally feeling great about art and you can afford a break (as in it's not your career atm) it's incredible advice. social media really breaks our hearts because it's easy to think our art is bad when it doesn't get high engagement. Taking a big ol break from social media has really helped me start to shift the way I view my art-social media had really ruined my passion for drawing there for a while.
i would to share my experience with this.
I used to post my art online back in the day but after getting hate on Facebook and low engagement most of the time (7 to 20 likes), i decided to stop posting.
and kept on practicing of course.
so after a while my drawer got stacked with sketch paper and decided to start a page on Instagram to post things I would like to keep online.
i get around 10-20 likes but I'm pretty indifferent towards those numbers, if someday it grows then whatever, because actually doing this was what made me eventually grow both in skill and mentality toward my work.
Well that took a turn 0_o
This is EXACTLY what I've been going through for the past month. I've been obsessively comparing myself to other artists, and it's been doing more harm than good to me. I've been feeling like I'm not good enough, and I'll never grow as big as some of my favorite artists. It was even making me grow a resentment towards them on the inside, not because of the artists themselves, but due to my own insecurities.
Now, what I'm trying to do is just accept and embrace where I'm at on my art journey. Plus, I don't have a reason to compare myself to other artists because I am not them, I shouldn't want to be like them, and I didn't go through the same things they went through. I just have to keep walking my own path and find my own success without worrying about others.
It's a bit sad to say that I had to delete my social media because I kept comparing myself with others who are much better than me. My admiration got turned into something bitter and it just made me feel like shit.
I'm at a point where I need to figure out what I want to do for college and maybe that part has been stressing me out. I don't feel that I'm good enough to take an art course. I compare myself with others because I just feel that if I weren't on their level then maybe I can't do well.
I'm just tired and stressed out. I can't make any finished pieces and it's frustrating. At least I can sketch occasionally.
you are a carbon copy of me
@@viintagevenus hmmm guess we both are unhappy
Comparing yourself to other artists can totally break your mind/heart. That's what happened to me last year. I was so obsessed with trying to become better that I literally ended up hating every drawing I made, and among the huge amount of drawings I made, I only had the courage to post just a few on social medias. I was so disgusted by my drawings that I wasn't improving at all, and I stopped drawing altogether. It's been almost 4 months since I've used my graphics tablet and drew something. The only positive thing is that I miss drawing and I want to start doing it again, but I'm a little scared. Fear of not improving and stagnating. If I had just continued to draw what I liked to draw without caring about the rest, I wouldn't be here, stuck in this state of mind, not getting better at all. I wanted to do better too fast but spent a year trying to do like the artists I loved, and it was a big mistake :( Don't be too harsh on yourself please. Try to understand that all things take time and that it is important to enjoy what you're doing. That's the most important
Are you a mind reader because I JUST EXPERIENCED this and went to RUclips to cheer myself up, I got so discouraged and despaired. This was the first video to pop up for me 😭❤️
you are okay trust me!! don't get into your head too much!
@@MohammedAgbadi thank you so much and for your blessed content as well
I was having trouble improving between 18-20, after losing motivation at 17. I was always called talented, and growing as an artist was easy and fun until I hit a big road block. And comparing my work to those of the artist my age was painful, but in my case, it became fuel to get me back on track. I’m still nowhere near where I want but looking back at my progress this couple of years (I’m 22 now) makes me look forward to the future and how I will improve. Don’t get discourage! It’s not a race and art should be enjoyed at all stages of the learning process!.
_"These artist are depressed and can't make better art."_
Vincent van Gogh was a depressed artist who lost his ear yet he was motivated to make such beautiful paintings full of colors and strokes and brought to life.
It's always good to tell people that Vincent didn't make great art *because* he was depressed, he did it *despite* being depressed. It's a lot more motivational, (especially for someone who's been dealing with it for more than a solid decade now). Also helps with stopping the frequent romanticizing of mental illness in general.
I don't think Vincent van Gogh is the target subject here and everyone works differently
Also, not sure if he would have made art if he had access to Twitter where people would tell him he was garbage? Remember ppl didn't really like his art when he was alive, but I'd imagine it was easier to block out the haters. And he didn't have a ton of images every day to compare himself to. Also I think he just made it out of manic desperation. Mania is weird. But that's all speculation. Who knows. Maybe he would have thrived in 2022.
It should be noted that Van Gogh made most of the art we know him by today while recieving psychiatric help at a mental hospital (as well as significant help from his brother Theo and a support network of other artists).
He was motivated only when his mental anguish had abated, when it had gotten bad he was barely able to even pick up a brush let alone work on a painting (this would sometimes last for months straight).
While anguish and pain played a part in inspiring some of his paintings there was also a lot of love and joy in what he painted as well. He made things of beauty despite and inspite of the sadness that plagued his life.
@@sennnia There is a Doctor Who episode where the Doctor took Vincent to the future to visit the museum and meet an art critic who enjoyed his work, much of Vincent's tears of joy.
Instead of comparing my art to others', I just study it and absorb their wisdom lol.
It feels so good to do it, because you're actively working on improving your skills using your favourite artists as a reference rather than just looking at their work and drowning in misery without doing anything about it and then asking yourself why you can't be like them. That's why I love doing master studies and could never understand why so many of my friends see it as a waste of time. It's an extra lazy, convenient, comfort zone method of learning that doesn't seem like much, but for me it has been an integral part of my growth and developing my style.
I love the fact that I found this video when I was crying over how pathetic and hopeless me and my art are
Perfect timing
I ain't gon lie, idk what really goes on in the art community, but your videos really help inform me about current situations in the community, really love your vids bro👌🔥
thank you so much! I appreciate that
As someone who’s started art later the emphasis that is often put on age can get you a bit down. Age doesn't matter, a younger artist can still have years more experience over me. Not everyone gets the chance to start from a younger age, or sometimes life gets in the way and you end up taking a break. It's not helpful to worry over lost time and it's also never too late to start something.
One thing I always recommend is redrawing your old art. I like to redraw old art to see what has changed. You may think the piece is either better or worse than the original one, but at the end of the day, your art style changes as you grow as an artist. Things will change along with you. Many times I've looked at a redraw and went "Oh... this looks worse", but it strangely motivated me to keep working. Then when I redraw the redrawing, you can see the change of your art in those three drawings.
Also another thing for artists, don't push yourself too hard to create art, I'm still mentally exhausted because a few years ago, younger me thought it would be a good idea to do 10+ fully colored digital drawings per week for like two or three months for my two followers. Still regret that to this day lmao
I see this mostly with younger/beginner artist, as a younger artist I’ve improved so much though just this past year but that’s because of this issue, it’s awful your so drained from practicing starting over and hating your art, my advice is to take a break from looking at others art and look at yours from a year or 5 ago it’s a great refresher
I get how comparing your art can be bad, but on the other hand it can be encouraging to study other artists style, specially if you understand how the art was made. You can develop your own art syle and techniques. I try to look at someone else's drawing more with an "analysing eye" than " jealousy".
It's simple, we different and art takes time, we should just set fundemental goals, and compare our art to our own overtime, plus drawing exactly like the artist that you admire won't really make you unique. It's good to compare, but not for the sake of tracking your progress but to learn and improve. Art ain't only a talent but also a skill, some people are super talented and it comes easy and some not, but it don't mean it ain't possible to go from drawing horrible art to beautiful art.
I honestly dislike the word talent. Telling someone they have talent, at least in my opinion, undermines all the hard work, effort, and practice they put in to get where they are. I dont think there is such a thing as talent honestly, there is only skill. I don't get mad when people say I have talent though. I know they're trying to compliment me, so I take it as just that, a compliment. From someone else's perspective it may seem like art comes easily, but I can assure you everyone is bad at art when they first start, no matter how much they try to deny it. Of course people progress at different paces, but that doesn't necessarily mean those who progress especially quickly have a natural talent for it. Anyway sorry for such a long response lol
@@v4n1ty92 Aye you honestly makes a fair point not gon lie, but one could also define talent as how someone thinks not necessarily how skilled they are, that's why not all of us are artists and not all of us are athletes or gamers. Gamers don't usually think like artists and artists don't usually think like athletes
For me, I have this older sister who is really great at art and I always used to feel jealous of how good she is. However, I came to realize that we both are progressing in our own way and I think my art has become pretty decent.
Comparing my art to others made art a miserable experience for me. For a while I thought I could lie to myself enough and turn my envy at others' success into something benign, but honestly spending that much effort on just trying not to listen to the toxic thoughts I had of my art and the talents of other, more successful artists just broke my motivation entirely. Most of the time these successful artists were friends of mine, and it felt like absolute hell trying to even look to compare and see where my next benchmark was going to be. These were my friends, and I didn't want to be toxic towards them in any capacity even as I expressed my grievances to try and take the edge off of that internalized toxicity.
I feel like most of the time I could blame social media but I think it’s more have to do it the way we normalised having competitiveness from either upbringing or schools among peers. Art is the only area that has no race.
I am starting to get into digital art and in all honesty, I suck, and it can be discouraging seeing artists I look up to being 10 times better then me but I have to remind myself they have been doing it for YEARS before me, so even though my progress is slow I’m sure after putting as much effort as they did I’ll be just as good in the far future from now, but yes I do agree seeing younger artists better then me does somewhat sting- but I mean good for them that they can draw well, I’m happy for them but just- ;-;
Being the very best is even worse, and I learned this from my past experiences.
When I was young, my art skills were WAY past my page, to the point where people don't even believe I was the artist to my own work, and when they find out I really am, they're always extremely surprised. I was just used to getting compliments on a daily basis, and being 100% sure of the fact that nobody can be better than me, or even being slightly close to my level, everytime when meeting new people. Of course, Everything changed when I become older. Although I'm still near to the top, I realized that some people ARE better than me, and I basically went through the worse days of my life. This sounds like I'm simply a terrible person, but trust me, if you experienced losing the crown, you would feel terrible too. Just imagine, being treated like a god at something, but then turns out that you're just good, and many people are way pass your skills. I wish I could say that I'm used to it now, but I still get mad knowing I'm only "good" sometimes, though it's gotten way better. The first times were devastating.
I understand that. It was similar but for maths and those subjects. Realized that I'm wholy shit compared to these 5 year olds in Harvard or whatever😂
As for arts, i'm an absolute noob so for me it hits me like I can't ever become anywhere near good enough and that I'll never improve.....
Nah man it's understandable, same thing happened to me as well. Around me I'm the best but online oh of course not, but i don't feel devastated i just feel motivated to get even better
Art is something strange. There is NO WAY you can compare it because there is no "standart" on how it should look like. Draw a circle and it's aleady art! No matter how "good" or "bad" it looks.
I relate to this so much!! I used to live in Japan and although that was one of the best times of my life, it was also the most damaging time for my art! I constantly found myself jealous of my little sisters friends who at the time were primary students while I was a high school student. Feelings of inferiority and imposter syndrome really creeped in and planted a huge seed of self doubt and negative self criticism which lead me to ultimately stop doing art. Luckily art is something that I truly enjoy doing and I hope to purse it further in the future😁. It has only been a year since I started doing art again but seeing myself improve and pushing past the limitations I had put on myself is super cool ☺️ that’s why thank you for this video I think it was much needed ❣️❤️
I think it's important for all artists to remember to allow their growth to happen naturally. When we see more talented artists post their work on social media, we often forget that they've been through the same experience of feeling not good enough. But the reason they got better is because they didn't stop, and kept going.
I ended up taking a very long break from social media because of this, a lot of self-comparison that was slowly eating at me and contributing to my art block. It's easy to get discouraged when you have a constant stream of everyone's best work at any given minute. Stepping back to focus on myself has made a huge difference and I'm finally drawing for fun again!
To be honest, I never understood how people get unmotivated when they see an artist they deem better than themself. If anything that gets me even more motivated to practice and study because when I look at a professionals art, I think, “man, if I practice enough one day I can make art as good as this!”. Every artist has wished to be as skilled as another, but only those who dedicate themselves and tuff out the rough times can see true and total improvement. What made improving so easy to me is really nailing the fact into my head that becoming an amazing artist isn’t an overnight process, it takes time, practice and repetition. Just believing in yourself is one of the best things you can do as an artist.
4-5 years ago, i used to compare my art a lot. Especially on 2020, when i had my instagram. I can assure you. I compared myself so much, i felt like my art was getting worse and worse. It was a horrible thing. On 2021, i uninstalled insta, because it was draining me, because i was trying to keep up with the algorithm. Since then, i started to focus more and more on improving instead of draining myself. Today, i am really happy with my art. I can see more improvement than ever. I am still learning, but i can tell you that it helped me alot ^^
Edit: I downloaded insta back and I feel better than ever now that I made progress. I am not intensely comparing my art anymore!!
You will continue to learn until the end of your life because there are so many new things to learn in the art world. I am happy for you that you deleted Instagram. Instagram is a toxic, corporately run platform run by a corrupt billionaire jerk who also run Facebook. Social media hardly has a true community. It is just all about profits to these greedy social media owners/CEO's. Social media is also a sick reflection of the offline world, and it encourages shallow, materialistic, egoistical behavior on to people. In a capitalist society, it was deliberately design to make people feel bad for not having what successful people have. Even in this capitalist society, it wants people to congratulate and worship successful people while shrugging off the people who are struggling or poor. And also, once that person gets to that successful level, it gets into his or her egos. On Instagram, while popular artists get shower with good feed back and likes, he or she never look at other people's work UNLESS those artists are up there in the same level with them. Any artists who does not have a big following base, a lot of likes and such, just get thrown under the bus! It is like that in offline world too. The capitalist world is mean as hell. Humanity and even the art world needs to be saved from capitalism.
I'm deciding to take a break from looking at other people's art while I work on getting familiar with my own. It does make me feel like I'm feel like I'm not improving, because I want my art so much to look like what I see. For me, making art is becoming about accepting the way that my art looks, and that I do have an inherent style that won't ever be molded into someone else's.
I can't copy what someone else is doing, I don't like it. I get frustrated by this, and it used to make me so angry that I couldn't even sketch without tearing up the paper and crying. I hate drawing fan art because it makes me feel like I'm not any good if I can't replicate its original style.
I feel like I am ready to practice accepting the art that I can make right now. It took a really long time for me to get to this point, and I'm hoping taking time off from the internet will help me to be less critical of and unsatisfied with myself.
this is too relatable it's scary, i felt my vulnerabilities exposed
I'm 24 and I have been drawing since I was 12. I have never go to art classes due to the cost, and only recently I got a drawing tablet and PC good enough to run it thanks to my older brother.
I'm now working so my time to practice drawing is, at best, 1 hour a day.
I see younger artists become amazing in just a couple months. I want to draw but seeing how bad I am despite all this time is making me want to quit. Maybe I'm to old, I missed my oportunity...
You have the best timing ever.
Since the beginning of December I’ve felt some sort of competition towards my artist friends and subscribers.
I’ve never compared my art to the old one again and see my own progress by my own but now I always compare it to others.
It makes me so uncomfortable and I want to stop this bad habit so bad so I tried to talk about it to my friends but I didn’t have that much answers.
We need to highlight this topic once and for all because it begins to be more and more toxic...
I 100% agree. i compare my art to other artist and to myself as well. It can be discouraging and i ended up getting art block. It sucks but i'm trying to get myself out of this negative mindset, i want to have fun drawing again!!
There are times where improvement and mastery feel impossible. I'll look at the artwork of Ariel Olivetti or Richard Corben and aspire to draw like them, but my limitations quickly catch up with me while other artists seem to further their craft with minimal issues. The comparison can certainly create a lot of negative feelings and demoralization.
Thank you so much to make this video. I can't relate more than that...
Last year, even though I was in an art school, I almost stopped drawing in the second half of the year because I started to hate my art. I started to do music and 3D exclusively.
The main reason behind that, is because I've seen a lot of people criticizing drawing that already was SOOOOO much better than mine, and I was like "if THIS is realy that bad, then my drawing are pieces of trash".
I started to recover some assurance when a friend of mine, which I love the work, said that he LOVED my pixel artworks.
You will NEVER find any supports on the internet, this is why you should NOT focus on posting on social medias
Heck yeah I was waiting for you 🌺✌️
i'm backkkk!!! my backkk
@@MohammedAgbadi :D
I know that artist, i follow her youtube channel. Her art is amazing!
she's amazing! literally!
I loved art since I was like 5 years old, loved drawing all the time. I wanted to be an artist. I finished my high school as digital artist.
Now I almost don't draw at all. It's sad for me but I got so stuck in my own head that i don't find it pleasing anymore. I wanted people to like me because of it, but it only brought me more anxiety and deppresion.
I’m still having problems with this
It has gotten to a point where i just start nitpicking problems in my own and other peoples art, not in public ofc but it’s still bad nonetheless and i just can’t stop doing it
If i see a 14 year old who is better then me i get an aneurysm or if i see someone who isn’t interested in an art career
1. Dude you're ripped dafuuuq
2. Yaschas Massif theme FTW!
3. That's why I'm scared of going back to have an art account and all that jazz. Since I've got a full-time job, I don't have much time to improve anymore, I only end up drawing on weekends/holidays and vacations. But once a full moon, I post something I did on Reddit, and no matter how much effort I put on, it only gets a handful of upvotes, and the occasional "your art is weird".
Because of that, I end up drawing for myself and only show to a few friends here and there. I know what I need to improve, and try to practice in those areas whenever I can, but I really miss having some sort of small art community for mutual improvement.
IMO, instead of all these few huge discord art chats, a higher amount but with only 10~15 members each would encourage more people to reach out instead of trying to improve in a bubble with high opacity.
I think because being an artist is usually looked down upon, artists feel the need to validate their existence. Its almost like if youre not a 'good' artist you cannot justify being in this field.
I'm just gonna put this right here. In 2 years, my art have never improved. I really like to improve my art, but i just feel like I can't. 99.9% of my drawings just feel "not good enough". I look at videos and some people have insane improvement in just 3 years while I'm stuck here comparing my drawings to everyone else like an idiot. I wish i could get better, but it's just... Damn
The title is everything
yasss
In general, if i want to be good at something i don't just compare myself to others, i compare myself to my past self, looking at your growth is just really amazing, you can look at the flaws you would like to fix and tbh, i have grown a habit of trying to fix myself if i find a mistake so I can guarantee success in the future.
I know this is late and happy new year to everyone. I have a friend who uses instagram and she's an artist. She hated instagram because the algorithm is unfair. She hardly gains any followers, her artworks are not seen even though she's using a relevant hash tags. Instagram is so unfair to small artists. Instagram is a massive bs and I do not recommend any artists to use this crap at all unless you want to damage your self esteem.
It happens to all artists. I know it's easier said than done, but you gotta convert art comparison to drive with a bit toughness like "I'm gonna make art like this some day". Just don't expect it to be so soon. Give time to it and know that hard work is always involved, whether you're gifted with talents or not.
Comparison is the enemy of fun. Always remember that
Happy New Year! The haircut looks sharp dude!
I've kind of stopped worrying about posting art on Instagram all the time. It's taken some of the pressure off of doing art tbh.
I've also learned over the years to accept my style, while still appreciating and learning from other artists. Deciding to focus on my own goals for improvement has been constructive. I draw when I can, and set attainable goals to improve my drawing skills, but I'm no longer worried about my art looking exactly like someone else's. My style is my style, and I don't really want to water it down. Still, I will always appreciate and learn from other artists work, but I'd rather my work be distinct, than become an exact mirror of a style that I admire.
Wanna know what's good for my mental health? I've accepted that I'm not good. I'll never be good. I'll never reach those dreams I had when I was young. Artists who are literally worse than me and are toxic in the community will build much larger audiences than me. I'll live and die a nobody. The only value I have to anyone is my smaller following that they want to acquire. I'm a stepping stone.
I solved the soul crushing anxiety from creating art by simply no longer creating.
I do have something to admit There's that time when i was 13-14 ish i had an artist that i always admire so much to the point where i start to compare my art do theirs after i did this i saw how far i was i starting to feel envious (i was idiot that time ok?) I started to hate the the artist that i used to admire until i changed my mindset in 16 now whenever i see that artist uploads a new art i started to feel happy it felt like a gas that gives me motivation to reach their level surely it was hard for me but now i enjoy my current progress and always keep a note next to me so i can always remember and keep this kind of good mindset! That's why i started an art account on Instagram so i can track my progress followers and fan and supporters can give you motivation you know? :)
Well, as a “late-bloomer” myself, I’m reminded of the adage that we use in martial arts training….”The only person I’m trying to be better than is the person I was yesterday!”
I have been drawing ever since I can remember. I always wanted to draw comics and cartoons, but for years I didn’t put much effort into it because I felt intimidated by professional level artists, and never thought I’d ever be on their level.
Finally at age 34, did I finally get off my butt and self-publish my first mini-comic in 2004. That got the ball rolling, and now there’s hardly a day that passes where I’m not drawing or doing something creative.
Like a lot of us who draw and create webcomics, we just keep saying…”It’s NOT a sprint, it’s a MARATHON!” As you said, the more serious practice you put into it the more it will pay off in the long run!
Great videos! Thanks for everything you do!
I was comparing myself with other artists for a long time. I even stopped drawing for four years, because of that. In my childhood I was drawing with pencil on paper. I was happy how it was looking, while filling my sketchbook with drawings. But at from one year, I started comparing myself with others, I saw that I wasn't improving like others and even though many were telling me that they liked my drawings I've made the worst thing, artist can do. I took my sketchbook and all drawing, I gave to art teacher, to hang on school's walls and destroyed them all. After that I've stopped drawing for four years.
But at a third year of my art crisis, I started regaining some of that love for art and I went on one year course of computer graphic design. Year later, when I become 18 years old, I joined on one Discord server, where I met acquaintances that were drawing digitally. In short they and some art youtubers, reignited my love for art, but this time digital one. I bought my first tablet, a very small XP-Pen one and started drawing again.
I had one more close call of quitting art again, because of comparing myself, but my acquaintances (yeah, I am not calling them friends. It's my different problem will not be talking about) helped me understand, that comparing myself in a bad way is well... bad. And also that I may be learning much longer than everybody else, but I am still learning. Well, it helped. I stopped looking at other artists work to compare. I started looking at them as references for my studies.
And now, I am improving, slow, but I'm improving and loving art again.
Honestly the problem isn't comparison, it's envy. Work on your feelings of envy and you'll do a lot better.
"Perfect" art is extremely boring and i feel that it lacks a lot of expression and connection. We are not perfect, why should art be ? Art needs to be free, not perfect
Thank you so much your tips have helped me alot in my art journey . HAPPY NEW YEAR
You are so welcome! happy new year!
This video helped me realize more that my problem at the moment with drawing isn’t comparism or skill, it’s time. I’ve found that I start a drawing, get bored, stop and take a break and then I never get that motivation back. So I think I need to start finding the right times to draw and finish a drawing. Definitely start keeping entertained with RUclips on another electronic or whatever to keep myself from quitting on that drawing.
I feel the pain regarding how a much younger artists is god tier skill my personal time investment that doubles his life span. One said "you either are born with skill or talent, while others struggle and achieve nothing".
I think I really needed this video because one of my best friends has always been a better artist than me and we've often taken art classes together. And, I've always felt like I lived in her shadow. I've always been happy for her when she gets into art shows or programs or whatnot, but I feel so disheartened at the same time because I feel like i haven't grown that much with my art despite attending art school. I can say that my knowledge of programs has certainly improved.
Thanks for making this video! It was very helpful.
for me, seeing that improvement is more towards the "well if they did that, i can do that, even if it takes me a bit longer"
everyone has different lives/talents/hobbies etc, so that means my favorite artist, that is way better at art than i am, probably isnt as good as, say, playing rhythm games than me
i think its good to think like this ^^ because you dont get discouraged
Comparing does sucks. I spent so much time comparing that I literally lost the ability to draw or even doodle anything even though I have all these ideas in my head.
Hell I haven't drawn anything this whole year
Then again Ive always had a problem with only being able to draw what I see rather than what's from my imagination. And both of these issues combined I think I've ultimately lost my creativity because I can't independently produce thoughts without a pre-existing image
What Mohammed said about people being different is true if you come from a 3rd world country and art isn’t taken seriously I am sure you won’t be just as good as someone from the US,Canada or UK that was my story with this I didn’t feel so bad about it and it wasn’t my fault too but I am glad a got a pencil again and bought some paints ✨
Thank youu for putting up an actual subtitle into your video! I usually watch videos without audio, n RUclips auto-generated subtitles usually are inaccurate. I can't thank you enough for this effort!
If you seen your best work from a year ago and it looks terrible now, that's a good thing. That means that you are getting better at visualizing what is more appealing or not. I appreciate the fact that it took me a long time to get it right, there is always a challenge there.
I used to compare my work to others a few years ago..it was a tough hurdle to overcome, but now I look at others' works and feel inspired. I know there's always room for improvement, and I keep drawing for mostly fun. It's hard to get noticed, sure, but don't let likes or lack of likes on social medias get to you. Keep improving and look back at your old work to see your growth. Remember, we're all in different parts of our art journey. It sometimes takes a bit longer to reach a point that we're happy with, and that's ok.
It is irony the younger me compared myself to the younger "prodigy" and actually felt hurt because of how talentless I am.
But the fact that I felt "hurt" because of they are younger and are "prodigy" just like an insult because I ignored how much effort they invest and how much they struggled to reach that point.
Younger me wished to have talent, Present me wish to have more practice time.
this video hits too close to home, I have been in an artist group in discord and there's this person that compares everyone's art to each other and he told me that my art is just way better to my other friend's art, this lead me to get insecure with them and I begin to despise their art saying things like, their art is not even unique or, it's just anime and stuff. I feel bad for feeling like that since I didn't really felt that way with their art in the very beginning. me and that friend (the one that has an anime artstyle) where already friends when the other person (the one who compared) came to my life. I was genuinely impressed by his art whenever I see it. But when the comparison starts, I started to have this feeling of jealousy whenever that person talks about my friend's art. This is why I think in a group of artist friends, we should always be unbiased and always support each other wholeheartedly. Because being biased might lead to some of your friends be insecure and stuff.
The best thing to do is start when you can and don't let anything stop you....❤❤❤
I actually gave up on art cause people younger than me were so much better, i can't get back into it it makes me sad
I'm going to be 40 this year. I've really only sold pieces to family and friends. I'm an amateur and that's okay. I still enjoy it and it's an outlet. I used to do the same thing. Constantly comparing my art to others when I was younger but I had an epiphany one night when trying to draw like someone else. This isn't me and I dont enjoy it. I'm in no position to give advice but I can post my own struggles and mindsets over the last, let's say, 35 years. (Actually, I really enjoy looking at the stuff I did as a child) Love this channel and feel like you're one of the most genuine art channels on here.
as someone who has become professional as multiple areas in life, at the age of 35, when I see someone's progress shots from 5-13, it's inspiring to know that I need to apply the same obsessive formula that I have for other areas of my life, once again, towards a task I wish to get better at. I can see how people age 14 get discouraged, thinking they are behind. I felt this way for a year but I kept focusing on art and making it enjoyable for me so I would keep showing up. I used to do graphic design when I was 20, but it was so unenjoyable, and I got burned without a contract. That was far more discouraging to me, i missed out on 15 years of art education, that was also 2007, when youtube did not have the mass amount of knowledge that is available today, pen displays were not even a thing. Now is the best time to start learning a new skill in general, there will probably never be so much free information as there is now, the only missing ingredient is showing up daily to absorb the little tid bits.
I think a good rule of thumb for keeping a clean head space in terms of comparison is to have something like a 70-30% rule. or hell even a 80-20% rule. 80% of the time you should be concerning yourself with your own art, until you encounter a specific problem or find yourself creatively drained, in which case you should go and indulge yourself for a minute in some new art, as well as some old favourites.
If you find yourself thinking about other peoples art to a disproportionate degree, its time to turn off the phone, close out of twitter and home in on your anxieties. Tackle them, and move on, and not fall into the trap of "i suck at this, i need to find reference" and fall down a year long rabbit hole looking at all the amazing art and projects youre not making. When it comes to artistic mental friction, there's sadly no other option but to put your gloves up and fight your way out of the dark corner you've found yourself in.
RUclips really said "recommended for you" huh. I've been struggling with this for years and never improved because I hated my own art, everytime I hold the stylus my hand starts shaking, and even to the point where I feel nauseous at the idea of "drawing". I never really cared about this when I was little, but as I grow up I slowly realized that artists my age, or even younger than me, are improving a lot, while I don't. And that, that just makes me feel like I'm not trying hard enough, and that I should give up on pursuing art.
As I'm writing this comment I've decided to try again, this time only looking at other artists' works for references, and not comparing it to mine.
P/S: Thank you for the amazing video as always, and happy new year!
I took a ten year hiatus from art, and now that im starting to pick it back up regularly within the pat year- two years, I often compare myself, discourage myself, and beat myself up over all the 'time i wasted' in those ten years. The people who you claim are 'better than you' probably spend HOURS and HOURS daily just drawing and practicing and nothing else, whereas, in those ten years that i felt like I 'wasted' I was moving to another state, dealing with x y z, and the whole nine yards, just experiencing life in general really. so, you can't get TOO upset with yourself. I had a conversation with my friend the other night, I was so distraught and upset, I said along the lines of "I'm 28 years old, and my art is nowhere where i want it to be, my skills lack to make it a career imo, and I dont want to be stuck in a dead end soul sucking job thats literally destroying my mental health." I dont really have a clear answer on how to feel better about this, since I still struggle with these intrusive thoughts and i think i will at times no matter what(its human nature) but if its something you TRULY LOVE and WANT TO DO, keep freaking doing it, even if you don't get the attention or reaction or feedback you were originally looking for. Maybe try and take that negative feeling you have and turn it into something productive and proactive, use it as fuel to GET BETTER, use it as a drive to push even further so you CAN get to that level.
The worst feeling is when younger artist makes fun of your art because they're thousand times better than you. Happened to me once
realistically I started drawing from like the age of seven. I would do drawings that some what told a story like without any words or just a few words, now as I am 15 in High school I am aspiring to become a comic artist, but the one thing that demotivated me was that there was something I over heard once and it was that "(some artist's name) is way better at art than me and he is currently on instagram posting his artworks" and the fact that they said "they are much better at art than me" just broke me but what I learned is that you should never let people who say such ignorant things get to you, keep focusing on your own artwork and on the people who actually like it
Bro, your hair looks great under any circumstances. I love your current hair!
I ain't Gon lie there are some young artist that I'm just amazed at how good they are. But instead of crying and hating just GET GUD like they did. I took a break for almost 6 years and when I got back into I made the most improvement in a short time than ever before. I started drawing in 2002 and restarted back in 2017. From 17 to now I shot up. You can get good really quickly these days if you practice. There's so many artist to compare now as opposed to back in the early 2000s
This video is me in a nutshell. Every time i think i learned something, my style changes a bit and all of a sudden i do not only like my old style and skilllevel not anymore...but because i still need to practice the new things i learned so much, i also despise the new me. A never ending circle of WTF
But that’s a really good thing!!! It means you see the mistakes in your art and you can pin point what you need to work on, a lot of people settle with their art and stop seeing things they can improve on so they plateau. I would much rather dislike the state of my art and be determined to make it better than to be satisfied and stay on the same level
I used to compare my art with others, and be really upset when I saw artist that younger than me but do it better.
But now umm... I don't have favorite artist a long time so I don't have somebody to who I can compare myself???? And the second thing is... I just have a friend who younger but better, so I get used to it and now I'm not care when see somebody like that.
I still trying to be better that this friend, and for me it's like competition but I'm not sad about it anymore
I'm 42yo. I've seen SO many really young artists WAY better than me. If my kids (who are single digit ages still) continue on with their love of drawing, they're going to be WAY better than I ever was or will be. I understand feeling like you want to quit when you see so many others better than you, but I guess with age, I just don't care. I admire that kind of talent so much. It does make me wish that I tried harder when I was younger, but then just sort of shrug and keep admiring good artwork. You just gotta be happy with your own talent. It's never going to be "the best!" but you still have to learn to find the happiness in doing it and loving it all. Imperfections and all.
thats why i dont compare my art with others because i still need alot to improve, my best way to see if I did any improvements is I compare my new art to my old art and see the things I can improve on. I'm still trying to have my own style so people knows my style
I'm... Older than i'd like to admit. I've wanted to be an artist since I was 17. Comparison has stumbled my progress a lot. It has its benefits in small doses, for sure though. Between that and chasing "likes" for validation, it's easy to lose one's way.
I know I'm a better artist than I believe I am. I just need to convince myself of that fully.
Was always confident in my art in hs but got really fucked up in college. I realized that I was in a pond (hs) but when I went to the ocean (college), there are TONS of artists WAAAYY better than me by about 100x. Really messed up with my confidence and lost interest in art for the last few years, I just went thru art school by making art to pass the course and not for myself.
Recently, I've taken a more healthy mindset and started doing art again but comparison really kills. It took a good 3-4 years to get over that depression.
That's what I been saying. I never compare my work with anyone else. i always tell people your work does not reflect you as a person
this is true. it's always good to go at your own pace and focus on your own growth.
ive only started doing art this year and while im still pretty garbage i get a lot of motivation from comparing my art to the artists i look up to. i feel like the contrast between my art and theirs is the quickest way for me to see what specific parts i need to work on.
I compare my followers or popularity. That’s why I had to stop posting online because I get really anxious compared to other artists but it is my goal to have a better online presence this year when I’m ready
Man, still up to this point, i can't value my art as much as other people do, i look at some artist's sketches and to me they look better than my finished pieces, and it's been like that for years now, and i mean, over the years i did improve, but seeing other's improve much faster than i do kinda just makes me not want to improve anymore, plus my difficulty at making a presence online, seeing other artists grow constantly while i just stayed static on the same place for all those years they've just been growing just makes me want to give up
I used to do it a lot. Over years I've slowly grown to a point where I don't compare myself directly to other artists. The underlying logic is the same reason i dont compare my vocal tone to how closely it resembles Mohammed's and beat myself up when it sounds different- that's his voice and its always gonna sound different to mine cause we're different people. I see his/other's artworks as no less unique to their creators.
If i compare now, its only to ascertain what someone is doing that im not, usually because they achieved a result that i aspire to emulate. Its part of my learning process, but it says nothing about my quality as an artist and thats something i had to come to realise in my own time.
Im also lucky not to currently rely on it for work or anything, really. Im fortunate enough that i just dont care about my end result and so i place no expectations on it. If i improve, fantastic. If not, as long as I'm happy spending my time that way its still a win for me. Thats why i love drawing so much - i cant lose! 😁
I really like your comment, because I've recently been working on doing the same. It certainly is freeing and more healthy to compare art this way, and to learn and take inspiration from other artists, instead of getting discouraged/downing your talent. That way you can improve your art and stay motivated💯💕.